Best Practices When Using DelphiCodeToDoc for Large CodebasesDocumenting large Delphi codebases can be daunting: sprawling units, legacy patterns, conditional compilation, and sparse inline comments all make generating useful, maintainable documentation a challenge. DelphiCodeToDoc can automate much of this work, but to get clear, accurate, and navigable documentation for a big project you need good processes, configuration, and some manual polishing. This article covers practical best practices that will help you get the most value from DelphiCodeToDoc in large-codebase scenarios.
1) Prepare the codebase: clean up and standardize first
Automated documentation tools perform best when the source code follows consistent conventions.
- Standardize formatting and naming conventions across the repository. Consistent identifier casing, unit ordering, and section comments improve parser consistency and the readability of generated docs.
- Remove or archive dead code and unused units where possible. Large codebases often carry legacy units that bloat output and confuse readers.
- Replace obscure or shorthand comments with clearer summaries where feasible. DelphiCodeToDoc extracts and uses comments; concise, descriptive comments produce better doc text.
- Ensure conditional compilation blocks (#IFDEF…#ENDIF) are well-structured. If the code contains many platform-specific branches, decide which compilation settings you will generate docs for and set up a corresponding build/config profile.
2) Configure DelphiCodeToDoc for scale
Out-of-the-box settings may work for small projects but require tuning for large repositories.
- Create configuration profiles for different targets (library, application, platform-specific). Profiles let you control which units, conditional defines, and compiler options are applied when generating documentation.
- Exclude auto-generated or third-party code folders (components, packages, or vendor directories) to avoid noisy output. Use exclude lists or glob patterns in the config.
- Increase parsing resources/timeouts if the repository is very large or contains deep dependency graphs to prevent partial runs.
- Enable caching between runs. Incremental parsing reduces time for subsequent documentation generations when only a subset of files changed.
3) Organize units and modules in the output
Large output can overwhelm readers unless organized with a clear structure.
- Group related units into logical modules or namespaces within the generated docs (for example: Core, UI, Data Access, Services). Logical grouping helps navigation and reduces cognitive load.
- Provide a top-level “Architecture Overview” page manually that explains modules, data flows, and responsibilities. Automated tools rarely provide accurate high-level context, so add it yourself.
- Use cross-references liberally: link types to their usages, interface declarations to implementations, and public APIs to example pages.
4) Extract meaningful summaries and examples
Comments vary in quality; supplement the automated output with curated content.
- Add short module/unit summaries at the top of key units describing purpose and high-level behavior. These summaries are often the first thing readers look for.
- Where complex classes or methods exist, include short usage examples. Real-world snippets show intent better than signatures alone.
- For critical public APIs, write FAQ or “common pitfalls” sections describing typical misuse and recommended patterns.
5) Handle conditional compilation and multi-platform code
Large Delphi projects frequently target multiple platforms or versions.
- Decide which build configurations to document (e.g., Win32, Win64, Android) and run DelphiCodeToDoc per configuration. Clearly label generated outputs so consumers know the target platform.
- For APIs that differ by platform or compiler version, include notes in the docs specifying differences. Where practical, use side-by-side comparisons or platform-specific subsections.
- Use preprocessor-aware parsing in the tool so it respects defines you provide. This reduces mismatches between code and documented signatures.
6) Automate documentation generation in CI/CD
Keep docs current by integrating generation into your development pipeline.
- Add a documentation job to CI that runs DelphiCodeToDoc on merges to main branches. This ensures docs reflect the latest code.
- Publish generated docs to an internal site or read-only artifact store. Automate versioning of documentation by commit/tag so developers can view docs for a specific release.
- Fail the docs job only for critical parsing errors, not for minor warnings; otherwise you risk blocking merges unnecessarily. Instead, surface warnings to a report for maintainers to address.
7) Improve comment hygiene with linters and templates
Encourage consistent and useful comments across teams.
- Introduce lightweight linters or commit hooks that warn when public types/methods lack summary comments or parameter descriptions.
- Provide comment templates or examples in the coding standards so developers know what to include for effective docs (purpose, side effects, thread-safety, exceptions thrown).
- Run periodic audits that list public APIs missing summaries or examples so teams can prioritize improvements.
8) Enrich generated docs with manual content where automation falls short
Automated extraction is powerful but cannot replace human-authored high-level guidance.
- Maintain a set of hand-written pages: Architecture Overview, Getting Started, How-to Guides, Migration Notes, and Troubleshooting.
- Use generated content for API and reference material; use manual pages for rationale, design decisions, and workflows.
- Keep these manual pages alongside generated output in the documentation repository so they stay versioned with the code.
9) Use search and navigation features effectively
Large docs require robust discovery tools.
- Ensure the generated site has a full-text search that indexes comments, signatures, and example code.
- Add tags or categories for common concepts (e.g., “database”, “authentication”, “rendering”) so readers can browse by topic rather than by unit name.
- Provide “jump to implementation” links from interfaces to their implementations to help trace behavior quickly.
10) Monitor and maintain documentation quality over time
Documentation is a living artifact that needs attention post-generation.
- Track documentation metrics: pages updated per release, number of missing summaries, search query failures, and top-viewed pages. Use these to target improvements.
- Solicit developer feedback with a lightweight issue template for doc corrections or enhancement requests. Route issues directly to the owning module team.
- Schedule periodic regeneration and validation to catch stale or broken links (especially after refactors that move or rename units).
11) Performance tips for very large repositories
Optimize for speed and reliability when projects exceed thousands of units.
- Generate docs in parallel where the tool supports it, but cap concurrency to prevent resource exhaustion on build agents.
- Use incremental generation: parse only changed files and their dependents instead of the entire codebase on every change.
- Offload heavy generation jobs to dedicated machines with more memory and CPU to keep CI agents responsive.
12) Security and sensitive code considerations
Large codebases sometimes include proprietary or sensitive components.
- Exclude sensitive modules (crypto keys handling, internal test harnesses, license management code) from public documentation output.
- If publishing docs externally, sanitize examples and remove internal endpoints, credentials, or debug logging that reveal infrastructure details.
- Keep an internal private docs instance for full-authority reference and a public trimmed version that exposes only intended APIs.
Example workflow for a major repo
- Create a config profile for the main product (defines, exclude paths).
- Run DelphiCodeToDoc locally to iterate on formatting and grouping.
- Add a CI job that runs generation on merges to main; publish artifacts to an internal site.
- Maintain manual architecture and how-to pages in the docs repo alongside generated content.
- Use linters and CI warnings to ensure public APIs keep summaries and examples up to date.
- Schedule monthly audits to remove stale docs and regenerate after major refactors.
Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
- Pitfall: Generating docs for all third-party libraries — leads to noise.
- Fix: Exclude vendor folders and link to upstream docs instead.
- Pitfall: Publishing platform-specific docs without labeling.
- Fix: Tag outputs with build target and maintain separate outputs per platform.
- Pitfall: Letting generated docs be the sole source of onboarding material.
- Fix: Always add human-written getting-started and architecture sections.
Conclusion
DelphiCodeToDoc is a powerful tool for documenting Delphi projects, but its value scales with the processes and discipline you apply. For large codebases, invest time in configuration, exclusion rules, CI integration, manual high-level pages, and comment hygiene. Combining automated extraction for reference material with curated human content for architecture and usage guidance delivers documentation that developers will actually use and maintain.
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