XML Documentation Comments Support for AL language in Visual Studio Code

Generate XML documentation comments for AL source code and create markdown documentation from it.

Usage

Generate context aware XML documentation comments

Note
Due to the new Code documentation comments feature released with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 2020 Release Wave 2 (17) we changed our default behavior to generate XML documentation comments.
For additional information please see Setup.

Type /// in AL source code IntelliSense will suggest XML documentation comments, matching the context of your current position in source code.

Inherit XML documentation comments

In case you're implementing an AL interface object you are able to use inherit XML documentation comments. Based on the accessibility of the interface object source code (showMyCode-flag) there are two additional comments available:

• Inherit AL XML Documentation Comment
  Creates a code reference (cref) linking to the original XML documentation comment in interface object.
  
• AL XML Documentation Interface Comment
  Copies the original XML documentation comment from the interface object.
  

Additional documentation features

In addition to the regular documentation activity you can:

• Add new lines in existing XML Documentation comment section. (/// will automatically added.)
• Use Snippets directly inside the XML Documentation comment section.

Code documentation

Sometimes it's useful to describe usage of parameters or procedures by simple example code. AL XML Documentation now supports <code> tags in <param> and <summary> documentations for procedures.

Important
Currently only one <code>-tag per <param> or <summary> is supported.

Additionally you can specify the language by using the lang-attribute in the <code> tag:

/// <summary>
/// ...
/// <code lang="json">
/// {
///     "key": "value"    
/// }
/// </code>
/// </summary>

Important
If you omit the lang-attribute, the default value is al.

Generate markdown files from XML documentation comments

The following commands are available to generate documentation files from XML documentation in AL source code:

Markdown Documentation Export

The two actions AL DOC: Export documentation and AL DOC: Export documentation for file are creating, based on the XML documentation in AL source code, markdown (md) documentation files. Using the DocumentationExportSchema setting you can specify how the documentation files are structured. You are able to decide between:

• Project File + Object File
• Project File + Object File + Procedure File

Schema: Project File + Object File

Using the Project File + Object File schema the export creates a single markdown file (index.md) in the root directory for documentation (see DocumentationExportPath setting) containing app manifest (app.json) information and a list of the containing objects, including the object documentation.

Additionally each AL object will result in a markdown file, named by the AL object name, containing the AL object documentation, object properties and all procedures / triggers including documentation.

Schema: Project File + Object File + Procedure File

Using the Project File + Object File + Procedure File schema the export creates a single markdown file (index.md) in the root directory for documentation (see DocumentationExportPath setting) containing app manifest (app.json) information and a list of the containing objects, including the object documentation.

Additionally each AL object will result in a directory, named by the AL object name, containing a index file (<Object Name>\index.md). The index file does contain the AL object documentation, object properties and a list of all procedures / triggers. Each procedure / trigger does result in a single markdown file, named by the procedure/trigger name, which contains the procedure documentation.

PDF Documentation Export

Introduced with version 1.1.0 there is the new action AL DOC: Export documentation as PDF available. The PDF export is based on the markdown export and creates a single PDF file from the created markdown. It uses Marked to convert markdown to html and Puppeteer (headless Chromium) to further convert the html to pdf. It also uses highlight.js for code highlighting.

The PDF documentation allows custom stylesheet (css) by referring to a CSS file in the PDFDocumentationExportCSS setting. Please see Puppeteer Docs for further information.

Show information from XML documentation comments as tooltip

After hovering over a procedure in your AL source code the XML documentation in the source file or symbols will be searched and presented as tooltip. The following information will be displayed in tooltip:

• Summary (only for AL-version older 6.0)
• Returns
• Remarks
• Example, including syntax highlighted code-section.

Important
Due to possible accessibility limitations of symbol files (showMyCode in AL project app.json, etc.) it's not possible to retrieve the XML documentation comments for dependencies in this case.

Diagnostic & Quick Fix actions

If CheckProcedureDocumentationInformationLevel or CheckObjectDocumentationInformationLevel configuration is set to other then Disabled every AL source file in current workspace will be checked for complete XML documentation. Incomplete or missing documentations are added as diagnostic entries and providing quick fix actions to solve.

Diagnostic Codes

Currently the following diagnostic codes and associated actions are implemented:

Snippets

Three snippets are included into the extension:

Summary XML documentation

docsummary snippet adds simple <summary> xml documentation comment:

    /// <summary>
    /// This is the description of a specific procedure, trigger or object.
    /// </summary>

Example code XML documentation

docexamplecode snippet adds <example> xml documentation comment:

    /// <example>
    /// This is the description of an example
    /// <code>
    /// if (i <> y) then
    ///   DoSomething(i, y);
    /// </code>
    /// </example>

Remarks XML documentation

docremarks snippet adds <remarks> xml documentation comment:

    /// <remarks>
    /// This are some specific remarks for the documented procedure.
    /// </remarks>

Installation

1. Install Visual Studio Code 1.55.0 or higher
2. Launch Visual Studio Code
3. From the extension view Ctrl-Shift-X (Windows, Linux) or Cmd-Shift-X (macOS)
4. Search and Choose the extension AL XML Documentation
5. Reload Visual Studio Code

Setup

The menu under File > Preferences (Code > Preferences on Mac) provides entries to configure user and workspace settings.

The following configuration parameters are available:

Important
The object directory for documentation (e.g. doc\mycodeunit.codeunit.al\) will be deleted if already exist.

settings.json

{
    "al-xml-doc.CheckObjectDocumentationInformationLevel": "Disabled",
    "al-xml-doc.CheckProcedureDocumentationInformationLevel": "Error",
    "al-xml-doc.CheckProcedureDocumentationForType": [
        "Global Procedures",
        "Local Procedures",
        "Internal Procedures",
        "Protected Procedures",
        "Event Publisher"
    ],
    "al-xml-doc.CheckProcedureDocumentationForAccessLevel": [    
        "Public",
        "Internal",
        "Local"
    ]
}

Note
DocumentationExportPath does support ${workspaceFolder} as an placeholder.

Example
"al-xml-doc.DocumentationExportPath": "${workspaceFolder}/documentations/src/"

Supported Languages

This extension is only processing AL language source code files.

Supported AL Keywords

Object Type	Supported
procedure
local procedure
internal procedure
trigger
event

Note
The purpose of the AL XML Documentation is to document your AL Source Code, not to document structures, controls or table fields.

Therefor it's currently not planned to add support for AL keywords, other the currently supported.

Supported AL Objects

Object Type	Supported
codeunit
table
page
enum
xmlport
interface
table extension
page extension
enum extension
controladdin
page customization
profile

Supported Documentation XML Tags

XML Tag	Supported
summary
param
returns
remarks
example
inherit

System Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.55.0 (or higher) - Download here

License

This extension is licensed under the MIT License.

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Known Issues

2020-04 - version 1.1.0

• In large AL files (e.g. Sales-Post codeunit, +600 procedures) the analysis of the AL object can take several seconds. In this case the updating of diagnostic information and quick fixes is time delayed
• PDF Documentation Creation is failing under MacOS.