DocTree - Folder Documentation Made Easy

DocTree is a utility written in Lua to report on the content of a folder tree. The report is written in HTML, and contains a section for each folder in the tree listing the files and folders found in that folder.

In addition, folders may have annotation text that is included in the report. The annotations for a folder are stored in a file in that folder, so that the annotations naturally stay with the folder and are likely to survive manipulations such as ZIP archival, version control systems, or even simple file system moves and renames.

Installation

DocTree is tested and developed primarily on a Windows XP system. It should run on any version of Windows capable of running Lua. It is known to install and run on Vista, and there should be no issues with Windows 7.

To install:

  1. Download and install Lua for Windows v5.1.4.20 or newer from the LuaForge Lua for Windows download page.

  2. Download and install the latest DocTree setup package from the LuaForge DocTree download page

If not using Windows or not using the Lua for Windows package, then in addition to the Lua interpreter itself, you will need working installations of the modules Lua File System, IUP, and CD at a minimum. Note that DocTree is not tested on platforms other than Windows, so please let us know what platform you are using and how it works for you.

Please do install Lua before installing DocTree. If DocTree is installed After Lua is installed, then when setup is complete, it will offer to launch the DocTree GUI for you and will be able to do so.

Usage

DocTree may be run interactively with full control over the report configuration via the shortcut installed in the Start menu. That shortcut runs the script DocTreeGUI.wlua using the special wlua.exe provided by Lua for Windows.

DocTree may be run from the command line, batch files, or make by running DocTree.lua from the DocTree installation folder with the "usual" lua.exe standalone interpreter. In this mode, most configuration options are taken to have their default values, and the output can be saved in either HTML or Markdown depending on the output file name specified.

DocTree may also be incorporated into other Lua programs as a module loaded by the usual require"DocTree" mechanism. Documentation on its use as a module is incomplete.

Click here for a sample report of DocTree's installation folder.

Refer to the DocTree User Guide for the rest of the details.

Change Log

v0.05, released March 15, 2009

This version is another public alpha release with UI and reporting improvements.

v0.04, released March 9, 2009

This version is the first public alpha release with working report preview, full report generation, handling of several names for per-folder annotation files, and listings sorted by name, with the object's name in the first column of the table.

TODO

This utility is obviously not complete...

License

DocTree is released under the following license:

Copyright (c) 2009 Cheshire Engineering Corp.

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE 
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR 
PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS
OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR 
OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR 
OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE 
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
This is similar to the MIT license, and is the same license applied to Lua itself. It is also approved by the Open Source Initiative.
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index.htm last revised December 30, 2008