MATLAB: Adding custom documentation to Matlab

custom documentationdocdocumentationhelpMATLAB

I'm trying to add my own custom Matlab documentation to the Matlab Help (doc).

Previously, I used custom html files which could be viewed in the Matlab browser (web), but I prefer to use the standard documentation browser such that the environment of the documentation aligns with the Matlab documentation.

I've found the article that has been written about adding custom documentation (Display Custom Examples), but I still don't get it working. This Question is related to my question, but my documentation does not show up in the Help when I follow the givern answer.

Does anyone have an example (preferably in downloadable files) that does work, which I can use as reference?

Best Answer

I've found supplemental software for Matlab which uses custom documentation and I've used this as an example. I got it working now.

Related Solutions

MATLAB: How to add the own instruction help text and pages to a GUI

You can add your help in a menu http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/creating_guis/creating-menus-in-a-guide-gui.html

MATLAB: Directly open custom documentation

It hasn't bothered me, but

doc toolbox_name

If the name is unique enough it produces a short list of search results. In my case the page of interest is the top one. One extra click needed.

Next a one-liner, which opens the documentation home page in the help browser (using a bit of magic)

web('documentation_home_page.html','-new')

However, this must be hidden from the user in one way or another and still be easy to use. A favorite doesn't really provide much of an improvement.

/R2018b

In response to comment

The magic works better for me

>> web('m2umlToolbox.html', '-new')

produces this

The function, builtin, doesn't work with doc, but How do I invoke a shadowed core MATLAB function does. Now

doc m2uml

opens the page shown above and

doc plot

opens the expected Matlab page.

Listing of doc

function    doc( varargin )
    
    persistent mdc
    if isempty( mdc )
      wch = which('doc.m','-all'); 
      isf = contains( wch, matlabroot ); % there should only be one
      wch = wch{isf};
      pth = fileparts( wch );
      old = cd( pth ); 
      mdc = str2func('doc');  % create a function-handle
      cd( old ); 
    end    
    
    switch varargin{1}
        case 'm2uml'
            web('m2umlToolbox.html', '-new')
        otherwise
            mdc( varargin{:} )
    end
end

Files and search path

I've used the word "magic" a couple of times to indicate that I don't understand how it works or what's required to make it work. I've stumbled upon one way that hasn't failed so far.

My starting point was the blog, Best Practices – Adapt, then Adopt! Posted by Andy Campbell, January 13, 2017 , which predates my R2018b. This blog "presents" the FEX-submission, Toolbox Tools 1.1 by Amy Koh, [Staff], A toolbox for developing custom toolboxes in MATLAB. This toolbox was "Created with R2017b" and is "Compatible with any release".

Important files, i.e files which I beleive are required

...\tbx\info.xml where tbx is on the search path. Used by Matlab to find the documentation (i.e. create some kind of database entry)
...\tbx\doc\helptoc.xml where doc is on the search path.
...\tbx\doc\*.html all the html-files

where info.xml (there must be exactly one info.xml with the name-tag-value m2uml)

<productinfo xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="optional">
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl"href="optional"?>
<!-- Copyright 2019 The MathWorks Ltd. -->
<matlabrelease>R2018b</matlabrelease>
<name>m2uml</name>
<type>toolbox</type>
<icon></icon>
<help_location>doc</help_location>
</productinfo>

and helptoc.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding="utf-8"?>
<toc version="2.0">
    <tocitem target="m2umlToolbox.html">            m2uml Toolbox          
        <tocitem target="Overview.html">                Overview                </tocitem>
        <tocitem target="Installation.html">            Installation            </tocitem>
        <tocitem target="Limitations.html">             Limitations             </tocitem>
        <tocitem target="IntroductoryExamples.html">    Introductory examples   </tocitem>
        <tocitem target="Options.html">                 Options                 </tocitem>
        <tocitem target="UserInterface.html">           User interface          </tocitem>
        <tocitem target="Layout.html">                  Layout                  </tocitem>
        <tocitem target="Relationships.html">           Relationships           </tocitem>
        <tocitem target="ImageRow.html">                ImageRow                </tocitem>
        <tocitem target="Examples.html">                Examples                </tocitem>
        <tocitem target="TechnicalDocumentation.html">  Technical documentation </tocitem>
    </tocitem>
</toc>

It seems, it doesn't matter which html-file (in the folder, doc) I open

>> web('ImageRow.html','-new')

works as I have come to expect (i.e. navigation panel to the left).

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: How to add the own instruction help text and pages to a GUI

MATLAB: Directly open custom documentation

Related Question