vue-docgen-api

What is vue-docgen-api?

The vue-docgen-api package is a tool for extracting documentation from Vue.js components. It parses Vue single-file components (SFCs) and generates JSON output that can be used to create documentation websites, IDE plugins, or other tools that need to understand the structure and properties of Vue components.

What are vue-docgen-api's main functionalities?

Extracting Props

This feature allows you to extract the props of a Vue component. The code sample demonstrates how to parse a Vue component file and log its props to the console.

const docgen = require('vue-docgen-api');
docgen.parse('./path/to/YourComponent.vue').then((componentDoc) => {
  console.log(componentDoc.props);
});

Extracting Slots

This feature allows you to extract the slots of a Vue component. The code sample demonstrates how to parse a Vue component file and log its slots to the console.

const docgen = require('vue-docgen-api');
docgen.parse('./path/to/YourComponent.vue').then((componentDoc) => {
  console.log(componentDoc.slots);
});

Extracting Events

This feature allows you to extract the events emitted by a Vue component. The code sample demonstrates how to parse a Vue component file and log its events to the console.

const docgen = require('vue-docgen-api');
docgen.parse('./path/to/YourComponent.vue').then((componentDoc) => {
  console.log(componentDoc.events);
});

Extracting Methods

This feature allows you to extract the methods of a Vue component. The code sample demonstrates how to parse a Vue component file and log its methods to the console.

const docgen = require('vue-docgen-api');
docgen.parse('./path/to/YourComponent.vue').then((componentDoc) => {
  console.log(componentDoc.methods);
});

Other packages similar to vue-docgen-api

react-docgen

react-docgen is a similar tool for React components. It parses React component files and generates JSON output that can be used to create documentation. While vue-docgen-api is tailored for Vue.js components, react-docgen serves the same purpose for React components.

jsdoc

jsdoc is a general-purpose documentation generator for JavaScript. It can be used to document any JavaScript code, including Vue components, but it is not specifically tailored for Vue.js. vue-docgen-api, on the other hand, is specialized for Vue.js components and provides more specific features for them.

typedoc

typedoc is a documentation generator for TypeScript projects. It can be used to generate documentation for TypeScript code, including Vue components written in TypeScript. However, vue-docgen-api is more focused on Vue.js and provides more detailed information about Vue-specific features.

README

vue-docgen-api

Online Documentation

vue-docgen-api is a toolbox to help extracting information from Vue components, and generate documentation from it.

Use @babel/parser to parse the code and analyze the contents of the component extracting methods, props events and slots. The output is a JavaScript object.

Install

Install the module directly from npm:

npm install vue-docgen-api --save-dev

API

The tool can be used programmatically to extract component information and customize the extraction process:

var vueDocs = require('vue-docgen-api')
var componentInfo
vueDocs.parse(filePath).then(ci => {
  componentInfo = ci
})

or with typescript

import { parse } from 'vue-docgen-api'

async function parseMyComponent(filePath: string) {
  var componentInfoSimple = await parse(filePath)
  var componentInfoConfigured = await parse(filePath, {
    alias: { '@assets': path.resolve(__dirname, 'src/assets') },
    modules: [path.resolve(__dirname, 'src')],
    addScriptHandlers: [
      function(
        documentation: Documentation,
        componentDefinition: NodePath,
        astPath: bt.File,
        opt: ParseOptions
      ) {
        // handle custom code in script
      }
    ],
    addTemplateHandlers: [
      function(
        documentation: Documentation,
        templateAst: ASTElement,
        options: TemplateParserOptions
      ) {
        // handle custom directives here
      }
    ],
    preScriptHandlers: [
      function(
        documentation: Documentation,
        componentDefinition: NodePath,
        astPath: bt.File,
        opt: ParseOptions
      ) {
        // replaces handlers run before the scriptHandlers
      }
    ],
    scriptHandlers: [
      function(
        documentation: Documentation,
        componentDefinition: NodePath,
        astPath: bt.File,
        opt: ParseOptions
      ) {
        // replaces all the scriptHandlers
      }
    ],
    templateHandlers: [
      function(
        documentation: Documentation,
        templateAst: ASTElement,
        options: TemplateParserOptions
      ) {
        // replaces all the templateHandlers
      }
    ],
    validExtends: (fullFilePath: string) =>
      /[\\/]@my-component-library[\\/]/.test(fullFilePath) ||
      !/[\\/]node_modules[\\/]/.test(fullFilePath)
    jsx: true,
    nameFilter: ['MyComponent']
  })
}

parse() vs parseMulti()

The API exports two asynchronous functions parse and parseMulti. The two functions take the same set of parameters. parse returns a pure ComponentDoc whereas parseMulti returns an array of ComponentDoc

When using only SFC or components that are the only one in their components, this function returns a ComponentDoc object. Using parse in most cases is simpler.

If you are creating a library and your goal is to have it as generic as possible, it might be a good idea to use parseMulti. In some cases, developer choose to have more than one component exported by a file, which make parse throw an error.

Prototypes

parse(filePath: string, options: DocGenOptions): Promise<ComponentDoc>;
parseSource(source: string, filePath: string, opts?: DocGenOptions): Promise<ComponentDoc>;
parseMulti(filePath: string, options: DocGenOptions): Promise<ComponentDoc[]>;

options DocGenOptions

alias

This is a mirror to the wepbpack alias options. If you are using alias in Webpack or paths in TypeScript, you should reflect this here.

Keep in mind aliases are not resolved adopting the same implementation as webpack, but as simple path replacement. Aliases are resolved as soon as they match in the file path, bailing out of further tests. This means the order in which aliases are defined matters. E.g. an alias @templates mapped to styleguide/templates/ should be defined earlier than the alias @ (mapped to src ) to avoid @templates/component being resolved as srctemplates/component instead of styleguide/templates/component.

modules

modules mirrors the webpack option too. If you have it in webpack or use baseDir in your tsconfig.json, you should probably see how this one works.

addScriptHandlers and addTemplateHandlers

The custom additional handlers allow you to add custom handlers to the parser. A handler can navigate and see custom objects that the standard parser would ignore.

preScriptHandlers, scriptHandlers and templateHandlers

Replaces all of the handlers by those specified. If each of those 3 handlers are set to [], the library will only parse the given component. It will not run any standard handlers anymore.

NOTE Standard handlers are available as namespaces. Import and use them this way:

import {
  parse,
  ScriptHandlers,
  TemplateHandlers
} from 'vue-docgen-api'

parse('myComp', {
  scriptHandlers: [ScriptHandlers.componentHandler],
  templateHandlers: [TemplateHandlers.slotHandler]
})

validExtend

Function - Returns if an extended component should be parsed by docgen.

NOTE If docgen fails to parse the targetted component, it will log a warning. It is non-blocking but annoying.

NOTE If you allow all of node_modules to try to be parsed, you might kill performance. Use responsibly.

jsx

Does your component contain JSX? By default, this is set to false to avoid conflicts with the <> syntax from TypeScript.

If it does, set this flag to true.

nameFilter

If a file exports multiple components and you only want one, use this option to filter the named exports.

It is noticeably useful when browsing through extended components and mixins. If left blank (undefined), will look at all exports

Using JSDoc tags

You can use JSDoc tags when documenting components, props and methods.

Props

export default {
  props: {
    /**
     * Color of the button.
     */
    color: {
      type: String,
      default: '#FCC'
    },
    /**
     * initial value to be passed but undocumented
     * @ignore
     */
    initialvalue: {
      type: Number,
      default: 0
    },
    /**
     * The size of the button allows only some values
     * @values small, medium, large
     */
    size: {
      default: 'normal'
    }
  }
}

Events

export default {
  methods: {
    emitSuccess() {
      /**
       * Success event.
       *
       * @event success
       * @property {string} content content of the first prop passed to the event
       * @property {object} example the demo example
       */
      this.$emit('success', content, {
        demo: 'example'
      })
    }
  }
}

Slots

<template>
  <div>
    <!-- @slot Use this slot header -->
    <slot name="header"></slot>

    <!--
      @slot Modal footer
      @binding item an item passed to the footer
		-->
    <slot name="footer" :item="item" />
  </div>
</template>

Full Example

For the following component

<template>
  <div>
    <!-- @slot Use this slot header -->
    <slot name="header"></slot>

    <table class="grid">
      <!-- -->
    </table>

    <!--
      @slot Modal footer
      @binding item an item passed to the footer
		-->
    <slot name="footer" :item="item" />
  </div>
</template>

<script>
import { text } from './utils'

/**
 * This is an example of creating a reusable grid component and using it with external data.
 * @version 1.0.5
 * @author [Rafael](https://github.com/rafaesc92)
 * @since Version 1.0.1
 */
export default {
  name: 'grid',
  props: {
    /**
     * object/array defaults should be returned from a factory function
     * @version 1.0.5
     * @since Version 1.0.1
     * @see See [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_colors#HTML_color_names) for a list of color names
     * @link See [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_colors#HTML_color_names) for a list of color names
     */
    msg: {
      type: [String, Number],
      default: text
    },
    /**
     * Model example
     * @model
     */
    value: {
      type: String
    },
    /**
     * describe data
     * @version 1.0.5
     */
    data: [Array],
    /**
     * get columns list
     */
    columns: [Array],
    /**
     * filter key
     * @ignore
     */
    filterKey: {
      type: String,
      default: 'example'
    }
  },
  data() {
    var sortOrders = {}
    this.columns.forEach(function (key) {
      sortOrders[key] = 1
    })
    return {
      sortKey: '',
      sortOrders: sortOrders
    }
  },
  computed: {
    filteredData: function () {
      var sortKey = this.sortKey
      var filterKey = this.filterKey && this.filterKey.toLowerCase()
      var order = this.sortOrders[sortKey] || 1
      var data = this.data
      if (filterKey) {
        data = data.filter(function (row) {
          return Object.keys(row).some(function (key) {
            return (
              String(row[key]).toLowerCase().indexOf(filterKey) > -1
            )
          })
        })
      }
      if (sortKey) {
        data = data.slice().sort(function (a, b) {
          a = a[sortKey]
          b = b[sortKey]
          return (a === b ? 0 : a > b ? 1 : -1) * order
        })
      }
      return data
    }
  },
  filters: {
    capitalize: function (str) {
      return str.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + str.slice(1)
    }
  },
  methods: {
    /**
     * Sets the order
     *
     * @public
     * @version 1.0.5
     * @since Version 1.0.1
     * @param {string} key Key to order
     * @returns {string} Test
     */
    sortBy: function (key) {
      this.sortKey = key
      this.sortOrders[key] = this.sortOrders[key] * -1

      /**
       * Success event.
       *
       * @event success
       * @type {object}
       */
      this.$emit('success', {
        demo: 'example'
      })
    },

    hiddenMethod: function () {}
  }
}
</script>

we are getting this output:

const componentDoc = {
  displayName: 'grid',
  description:
    'This is an example of creating a reusable grid component and using it with external data.',
  tags: {
    version: [
      {
        description: '1.0.5',
        title: 'version'
      }
    ],
    author: [
      {
        description: '[Rafael](https://github.com/rafaesc92)',
        title: 'author'
      }
    ],
    since: [
      {
        description: 'Version 1.0.1',
        title: 'since'
      }
    ]
  },
  exportName: 'default',
  props: [
    {
      description:
        'object/array defaults should be returned from a factory function',
      tags: {
        version: [
          {
            description: '1.0.5',
            title: 'version'
          }
        ],
        since: [
          {
            description: 'Version 1.0.1',
            title: 'since'
          }
        ],
        see: [
          {
            description:
              'See [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_colors#HTML_color_names) for a list of color names',
            title: 'see'
          }
        ],
        link: [
          {
            description:
              'See [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_colors#HTML_color_names) for a list of color names',
            title: 'link'
          }
        ]
      },
      name: 'msg',
      type: {
        name: 'string|number'
      },
      defaultValue: {
        func: false,
        value: 'text'
      }
    },
    {
      description: 'Model example',
      tags: {
        model: [
          {
            description: true,
            title: 'model'
          }
        ]
      },
      name: 'v-model',
      type: {
        name: 'string'
      }
    },
    {
      description: 'describe data',
      tags: {
        version: [
          {
            description: '1.0.5',
            title: 'version'
          }
        ]
      },
      name: 'data',
      type: {
        name: 'array'
      }
    },
    {
      description: 'get columns list',
      tags: {},
      name: 'columns',
      type: {
        name: 'array'
      }
    },
    {
      description: 'filter key',
      tags: {
        ignore: [
          {
            description: true,
            title: 'ignore'
          }
        ]
      },
      name: 'filterKey',
      type: {
        name: 'string'
      },
      defaultValue: {
        func: false,
        value: "'example'"
      }
    }
  ],
  events: [
    {
      name: 'success',
      description: 'Success event.',
      type: {
        names: ['object']
      }
    }
  ],
  methods: [
    {
      name: 'sortBy',
      modifiers: [],
      description: 'Sets the order',
      tags: {
        access: [
          {
            description: 'public',
            title: 'access'
          }
        ],
        version: [
          {
            description: '1.0.5',
            title: 'version'
          }
        ],
        since: [
          {
            description: 'Version 1.0.1',
            title: 'since'
          }
        ],
        params: [
          {
            title: 'param',
            type: {
              name: 'string'
            },
            name: 'key',
            description: 'Key to order'
          }
        ],
        returns: [
          {
            title: 'returns',
            type: {
              name: 'string'
            },
            description: 'Test'
          }
        ]
      },
      params: [
        {
          name: 'key',
          type: {
            name: 'string'
          },
          description: 'Key to order'
        }
      ],
      returns: {
        title: 'returns',
        type: {
          name: 'string'
        },
        description: 'Test'
      }
    }
  ],
  slots: [
    {
      name: 'header',
      description: 'Use this slot header'
    },
    {
      name: 'footer',
      description: 'Modal footer',
      scoped: true,
      bindings: [
        {
          title: 'binding',
          type: {
            name: 'mixed'
          },
          name: 'item',
          description: 'an item passed to the footer'
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Change log

The change log can be found on the Changelog Page.

Authors and license

Rafael Escala

Bart Ledoux

MIT License.