How to Use Doxygen to Generate Documentation for C++ Code

Introduction

Doxygen is a documentation generator for various programming languages, including C++. This guide will show you how to use Doxygen to generate documentation for a C++ project in a structured and readable format.

Step 1: Install Doxygen

Ensure that Doxygen is installed on your system. You can download it from the official website.

Step 2: Create a Doxygen Configuration File

Navigate to your project's root directory in your command line interface and run the following command to create a default configuration file:

doxygen -g

This command will generate a file named Doxyfile in your project directory.

Step 3: Configure the `Doxyfile`

Open the Doxyfile with a text editor and set the following options:

PROJECT_NAME           = "My Project"
OUTPUT_DIRECTORY       = ./docs
GENERATE_HTML          = YES
GENERATE_LATEX         = YES
INPUT                  = ./src
RECURSIVE              = YES
FILE_PATTERNS          = *.cc *.hh
EXTRACT_ALL            = YES

Adjust the INPUT path to where your source files are located.

Step 4: Annotate Your Source Code

Add annotations to your test.hh header file:

/**
 * @file test.hh
 * @brief Header file for the Test class.
 */

/**
 * @class Test
 * @brief A test class.
 *
 * More detailed class description.
 */
class Test {
    public:
        Test(); /**< Constructor for Test class. */
        int doSomething(int param); /**< Does something. */
};

And to your test.cc source file:

#include "test.hh"

/**
 * @brief Constructs a new Test object.
 */
Test::Test() {
    // Constructor implementation
}

/**
 * @brief A method that does something.
 * @param param Description of the parameter.
 * @return Description of the return value.
 */
int Test::doSomething(int param) {
    // Method implementation
    return 0;
}

Step 5: Run Doxygen

In the command line interface, navigate to your project directory where the Doxyfile is located and run:

doxygen Doxyfile

Doxygen will process the annotated source files and generate documentation in the docs directory.

Step 6: Review Generated Documentation

After Doxygen has finished, open the index.html file in the docs/html directory with a web browser to view the documentation.

Step 7: Generate PDF Documentation (Optional)

If you have LaTeX installed, navigate to the docs/latex directory and run:

make

This will compile the LaTeX files into a PDF.

Conclusion

You have successfully generated documentation for your C++ project using Doxygen. The documentation is available in HTML and optionally in PDF format.

Please note that the actual commands and file paths might need to be adjusted according to your specific environment and project setup. This guide provides a general structure to help you document your C++ project with Doxygen.

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