Creating Help Project Files
Overview
Qt Assistant uses a system for managing Qt documentation that requires QDoc to generate inventories of files in a format that is similar to the old style DCF format, but with additional features.
QDoc allows configuration variables to be used to specify which pages are to be used in each documentation set it generates. These are specified as subvariables of the qhp variable with each set declared using a unique identifier as a subvariable.
For example, the configuration file for the Qt Quick documentation set specifies information about the set as subvariables with the qhp.QtQuick prefix:
qhp.projects = QtQuick qhp.QtQuick.file = qtquick.qhp qhp.QtQuick.namespace = org.qt-project.qtquick.$QT_VERSION_TAG qhp.QtQuick.virtualFolder = qtquick qhp.QtQuick.indexTitle = Qt Quick qhp.QtQuick.indexRoot = qhp.QtQuick.filterAttributes = qtquick $QT_VERSION qtrefdoc qhp.QtQuick.customFilters.Qt.name = QtQuick $QT_VERSION qhp.QtQuick.customFilters.Qt.filterAttributes = qtquick $QT_VERSION qhp.QtQuick.subprojects = qmltypes classes examples qhp.QtQuick.subprojects.qmltypes.title = QML Types qhp.QtQuick.subprojects.qmltypes.indexTitle = Qt Quick QML Types qhp.QtQuick.subprojects.qmltypes.selectors = qmlclass qhp.QtQuick.subprojects.qmltypes.sortPages = true qhp.QtQuick.subprojects.classes.title = Classes qhp.QtQuick.subprojects.classes.title = C++ Classes qhp.QtQuick.subprojects.classes.indexTitle = Qt Quick C++ Classes qhp.QtQuick.subprojects.classes.selectors = class fake:headerfile qhp.QtQuick.subprojects.classes.sortPages = true qhp.QtQuick.subprojects.examples.title = Examples qhp.QtQuick.subprojects.examples.indexTitle = Qt Quick Examples and Tutorials qhp.QtQuick.subprojects.examples.selectors = fake:example
The documentation set may include one or more subprojects, which are added to the table of contents under the name specified by title. The page in the documentation referred to by the indexTitle acts as the index page for the subproject. The page types to list under the subproject are specified by selectors. The entries are alphabetically sorted if sortPages is set to true.
Using Selectors
The selectors property specifies which page types are listed under the table of contents entry for a subproject. Multiple selectors can be listed, separated by whitespace.
| Selector | Description |
|---|---|
namespace | Namespaces |
class | Classes |
qmltype | QML Types |
qmlclass | Alias for qmltype. |
module[:name] | C++ modules or members of the module with a specified name. |
qmlmodule[:name] | QML modules or members of the module with a specified name. |
doc[:subtype] | Documentation pages with a specified subtype. Multiple subtypes can be listed as a comma-separated list. |
fake | Alias for doc. |
group[:groupname] | Documentation pages for members of a specified group, as added using the \ingroup groupname command. Multiple group names can be listed as a comma-separated list. (Introduced in QDoc 5.6). |
Available subtypes for the doc selector:
| Subtype | Description |
|---|---|
example | Examples |
headerfile | Header files |
page | Documentation pages defined with the \page command. |
For example, the following configuration would select example pages and pages that include the \ingroup tutorials command:
qhp.QtQuickControls.subprojects = examples qhp.QtQuickControls.subprojects.examples.title = Examples and Tutorials qhp.QtQuickControls.subprojects.examples.indexTitle = Qt Quick Controls Examples qhp.QtQuickControls.subprojects.examples.selectors = doc:example group:tutorials qhp.QtQuickControls.subprojects.examples.sortPages = true
Adding Table of Contents
To create a table of contents for a manual, create a subproject with a type property and set it to manual. The page in the documentation referred to by the indexTitle property must contain a list of links that acts as a table of contents for the whole manual. QDoc will take the information in this list and create a table of contents for the subproject.
For example, the configuration file for Qt Creator defines only one subproject for its documentation, including all the documentation in a single manual:
qhp.QtCreator.subprojects = manual qhp.QtCreator.subprojects.manual.title = Qt Creator Manual qhp.QtCreator.subprojects.manual.indexTitle = Qt Creator Manual qhp.QtCreator.subprojects.manual.type = manual
In this example, the page entitled "Qt Creator Manual" contains a nested list of links to pages in the documentation which is duplicated in Qt Assistant's Contents tab.