Vala Documentation

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1. Quick Start ​

1.1. Basic Usage ​

Warning

The valadoc command line tool may not be bundled with your installation of the Vala. To follow this example, install the valadoc tool in your operating system.

First find an empty directory/create a new directory.

Then, in that directory, create a file called lib.vala with the following contents:

vala
/**
 * Make Simon say any phrase that you enter.
 *
 * Example:
 * {{{
 * public static void main (string[] args) {
 *    print (simon_says ("Learn Valadoc!"));
 * }
 * }}}
 *
 * Will output:<<BR>>
 * Simon says: "Learn Valadoc!"
 *
 * @since 1.0.0
 */
 public string simon_says (string phrase) {
     return @"Simon says: \"$(phrase)\"";
 }

Generate the documentation for the code by running the following command:

shell
valadoc --package-name="simon-says" --package-version=1.0.0 -o docs lib.vala

Warning

If you run this command more than once, you'll see the following error:

shell
error: File already exists

To avoid this issue, add the --force flag to the command

shell
valadoc --force --package-name="simon-says" --package-version=1.0.0 -o docs lib.vala

However, be aware that --force does not remove any documentation. It only adds and overwrites documentation.

This will generate the documentation of the code in the docs directory.

Open docs/index.html in a web browser to view the generated documentation:

Simon Says Documentation Home

Select the "simon-says" package to view its contents:

Simon Says Package Documentation

Now, you can see the simon_says function that you wrote in lib.vala. Select it to view the full documentation of the function:

Simon Says Function Documentation