Valid for Sitecore 5.1.1 and 5.2

AutoDoc

The purpose of AutoDoc application is to produce full and well structured file that documents a project. This can be used as a part of the systems documentation. AutoDoc may be configured quite flexibly to produce different kinds of reports.

1. Accessing AutoDoc

To launch AutoDoc select: Sitecore » Administrative Tools » AutoDoc

Or, alternatively, Sitecore » All Applications » AutoDoc

On the picture below you can see the sample output of the AutoDoc application.

2. Control Pane

Let’s take a look at the left control pane first.

The pane has just one action button – ‘Run AutoDoc’. As it is evident from the button’s name – it starts the AutoDoc process.

All other checkboxes are basically the options - detailed descriptions of each are given below. They determine what information will be displayed in the report. The report will also always include an Index, regardless of which boxes you’ve checked (except the case when none boxes are checked).

The Details group of options is used to modify the output given in different sections:

Thumbnails – thumbnails of images will be displayed in the Media Library section when this option is set.
System nodes – when this option is set, Masters section will contain information not only about the masters used in the current project, but also about all masters present in the system.
References - when this option is set, Templates section will contain information on which items use some particular template.

Every section below is triggered by the corresponding checkbox. So, when we write about ‘Layouts’ section, it is assumed that the ‘Layouts’ checkbox is checked.

3. Sitemap

This section displays a sitemap in the form of an item tree and documents information regarding each item.

The Sitemap section consists of the following columns:
ITEM, TEMPLATE, MASTERS, LAYOUT, PUBLISH, VERSION.

ITEM

The ITEM column represents the actual item tree, starting from the content directory.

Each item can be opened in the content editor by simply clicking on it.

TEMPLATE

This column represents the templates associated with corresponding items. You can click on any template to quickly navigate to it in the document (provided that templates are included in the report).

MASTERS

Indicates which master was used to create an item. You can click on any master to quickly navigate to it in the document (provided that masters are included in the report).

LAYOUT

Reserved for future use.

PUBLISH

Indicates publishing date.

VERSION

Reserved for future use.

4. Media Library

This section displays an item tree of the Media Library and documents information regarding each item.

The resulting table will contain the following columns:
ITEM, FILE, TYPE, THUMBNAIL.

ITEM

The ITEM column represents the item tree of the Media Library.

FILE

The filename of the actual file on server including the relative path to it.

THUMBNAIL

The thumbnail of an image file (Applicable for images only). Note: ‘Thumbnails’ option must be set to fill this field.

5. Masters

This section displays the list of masters present in the project. If the checkbox ‘System nodes’ is checked, all masters present in the Sitecore system will also be documented.

The resulting report will contain the list of masters with tables underneath. Tables consist of the columns:
ITEM, TEMPLATE, FIELDS.

ITEM

This column contains the name of a master.

TEMPLATE

This column contains the name of a template this master is based on.

FIELDS

This column contains the fields of a master. If there are predefined values, they will be displayed here.

6. Templates

This section displays the list of templates present in the project.

The resulting report will contain the list of templates with tables underneath, and also the ‘References’ section if the References checkbox is checked.

Note: Some parts of this section are still in development process and are reserved for future use.

References section shows in which items a template is used.

7. Layouts

The Layouts section contains two subsections – Layouts and Sublayouts.

Let’s start with the Layouts section.

Every layout is presented by a table with the following fields:

PATH:

The relative path to the layout.

Layout:

Visual scheme of a layout, just as you see it in the Layout Studio. However, the Layout cannot be edited from here. If you wish to edit a layout, you need to open it in the Layout Studio.

The Sublayouts section looks very similar.

8. Renderings

This section displays a list of renderings present in the project.

Let’s take a closer look at one item from the list (see the picture below).

The fields included in the report are:

Name of the Rendering (with the word Rendering in the beginning).
Type of Rendering (XmlControl, XSL Rendering or WebControl).
PATH – relative path to the rendering.
PARAMETERS – parameters passed to the rendering.
DATA SOURCE – data source for the rendering.
PLACEHOLDER – the key associated with the rendering.
XSL information – the list of parameters, variables and XSL templates implemented by the rendering.

9. System

This section contains information about various system settings.