PRO/Dox

PRO/Dox by Gordon Campbell takes AutoDox in two whole new directions. First, it generates XML instead of HTML, so that documentation can more easily be rendered in other formats (Word, PDF, etc). Second, it generates wire-frame diagrams of the frames it finds in your source code!

Download

See "Attachments" below.

Support

Standard disclaimers apply. This product is provided "as is"; there is no warranty expressed or implied. If you intend to run this product on a computer that manages first-strike missile systems, please review the source code first. Many thanks to Gordon Campbell and P2 Energy Solutions making PRO/Dox available. These tools were built for P2's own projects, and contributed in the hopes that you might find them useful. Please keep in mind that "contributed" does not imply "supported".

Revision History

Version 01, 20 Apr 2006: Gordon Campbell's initial release.


Getting Started

Getting Started

You will need to change the appropriate preprocessor (Fly) in prodox.cfg to point to the correct location of the Fly executable. The other preprocessors are basically for allowing control of the colouring and text sizing etc for the widgets. You don't really need to change those but the option is available. Prodox.p - the main input screen which then calls prodox2.p
Prodox2.p - the main procedure parser which also calls prodox3.p
Prodox3.p - the frame parser and image builder routine
Prodox.cfg - include file for preprocessor declaration of configuration options


Motivation

Motivation

I had to ask - why exactly are these images useful? I should have known the answer. How many times have you seen a project launched where, as the first step of the project, someone was told to take a screenshot of every window and write technical documentation for them all? I've seen it happen quite a few times. The worst part of a task like that is: How do you know that you managed to find every window in the system? Many windows and dialogs only appear under certain obscure conditions in the application logic. Gordon wrote: "The idea of the frame data and images is to use it as the start of a base technical document. I'll use the XML file to generate a Word document with all the info contained .. including the images etc ... then a Business Analyst will go through and add business documentation. Basically, we have no documentation to speak of and this is a way of getting a fairly good start ... so not only will it aid the developer but it will also aid the BA. Also, it's useful for those legacy apps where they can't be loaded into AppBuilder --- this makes it way easier to identify which field is actually used in which frame. Should reduce maintenance costs." Judy had a good point too. Users of an application may be familiar with the data on the screen, but unfamiliar with the database schema. If they want to use tools like Crystal for generating reports, they have a tough time matching screen data to database schema. I suspect that Gordon's work could easily be extended to provide exactly what the report-writing application users need.


Pictures

Pictures

Here is a screenshot of a window, along with the PRO/Dox generated wire-frame diagrams.

PRO/Dox Screenshot 1PRO/Dox Screenshot 1

PRO/Dox Wireframe 1PRO/Dox Wireframe 1

PRO/Dox Wireframe 2PRO/Dox Wireframe 2


Requirements

Requirements

 

  • Proparse
  • Progress 4GL Development (v9 or higher)
  • fly for image generation