Syntax

Syntax of ThingDoc is very similar to Javadoc. It also uses the same comment style. All comment lines starting with @keyword have special meaning (see below), the rest is considered as a thing description.

Typical ThingDoc block:

/**
 * Slides on the x-axis with extruder.
 * @id x-carriage
 * @name X carriage
 * @category Printed
 * @using 4 m3x10
 * @using 4 m3washer
 * @using 4 m3nut
 * @using 4 bushing
 */

Keywords

@id

• sets the identifier for the thing
• this keyword is mandatory
• this is used in @using keyword for instance

 * @id x-carriage

@root

• this thing is the root of the project
• you cannot use @id for root object and you can have only one root object in the wholep project

 * @root

@name

• sets the descriptive name of the thing
• this keyword is mandatory

 * @name X carriage

@common

• thing is so common it won't be shown in things reviews etc., but will be shown in BoM

 * @common

@assembled

• thing is made up of other things, so it won't be shown in BOM

 * @assembled

@category

• sets the category of the thing
• it is used in BOM to split things into more sections

 * @category Printed

@type

• sets the type of the thing
• it is more detailed than category (e.g. RP, fastener, etc.)

 * @type Fastener

@step

• contains assembly instructions for the thing
• you can use this keyword more than once for one thing
• it will produced the ordered list in HTML and TeX
• each step can contain an image, just append [[image.jpg]] or [[image.png]] at the end of the line

 * @step Find bottle opener [[opener.jpg]]
 * @step Open beer bottle
 * @step Pour into a glass [[beerglass.jpg]]
 * @step Enjoy beer

@since

• since when does the thing exist (can be YYYY-MM-DD or some tag, e.g. "Mendel")

 * @since 2010-05-27

@comment

• can contain various comments
• can be used more than once

 * @comment this one should be made thicker

@image

• thing image (filename with extension)
• if this tag is not provided, ThingDoc will try to check whether the file IMAGEDIR/<id>.{jpg,png} exists and if it does, it will use it (<id> stands for thing id provided using the @id tag)

 * @image pulley.png

@using

• sets the dependency between things
• accept two parameters, first is the count, second is other item id
• if the first parameter is ommited then it defaults to one
• can be used more than once for one thing

 * @using m8spring
 * @using 2 m8nut

@price

• price of the part in dollars (experimental)

 * @price 1.49

@weight

• weight of the part in grams (experimental)

 * @weight 150

@time

• how long does it take to assemble the part (in minutes)
• suppose that dependencies are already done done

 * @time 10