How to generate documentation from Python files?

Question

How to create documentation from Python files without writing docstring? I want to create a tree from all objects and classes and functions. For example, this is my python file:

from core.server import handler
from core.ras import ras_main,ras
from core.lib.sort import SortedList,SortedDic
from core.lib.general import *
from core.lib.multi_strs import MultiStr
from core.ippool import ippool_main

class RasHandler(handler.Handler):
    def __init__(self):
       handler.Handler.__init__(self,"ras")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("addNewRas")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("getRasInfo")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("getActiveRasIPs")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("getRasDescriptions")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("getInActiveRases")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("getRasTypes")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("getRasAttributes")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("getRasPorts")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("updateRasInfo")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("updateAttributes")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("resetAttributes")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("getPortTypes")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("addPort")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("delPort")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("updatePort")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("deActiveRas")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("deleteRas")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("reActiveRas")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("getRasPortInfo")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("getRasIPpools")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("addIPpoolToRas")
        self.registerHandlerMethod("delIPpoolFromRas")

    def addNewRas(self,request):
        request.needAuthType(request.ADMIN)
        creator_obj=request.getAuthNameObj()
        creator_obj.canDo("CHANGE RAS")
        request.checkArgs("ras_ip","ras_type","radius_secret","ras_description","comment")

        ras_id=ras_main.getActionManager().addNewRas(request["ras_ip"].strip(),
                                                     request["ras_description"].strip(),
                                                     request["ras_type"],
                                                     request["radius_secret"],
                                                     request["comment"],
                                                     creator_obj.getAdminID(),
                                                     creator_obj.getISPID(),
                                                     request.getRemoteAddr()
                                                     )
        return ras_id

    def getRasInfo(self,request):
        request.needAuthType(request.ADMIN)
        requester_obj=request.getAuthNameObj()
        requester_obj.canDo("GET RAS INFORMATION")
        request.checkArgs("ras_ip")

        requester_obj.checkAccessToRasByIP(request["ras_ip"])
        ras_obj=ras_main.getLoader().getRasByIP(request["ras_ip"])
        return ras_obj.getInfo()

    def getActiveRasIPs(self,request):
        request.needAuthType(request.ADMIN)
        creator_obj=request.getAuthNameObj()

        if request.has_key("type_filter"):
            types = request.fixList("type_filter")
            def typeFilter(ras_obj):
                if ras_obj.getType() in types:
                    return ras_obj.getRasIP()

                return None

            ras_ips = filter(None, ras_main.getLoader().runOnAllRases(typeFilter))
        else:
            ras_ips = ras_main.getLoader().getAllRasIPs()

        ras_ips = filter(creator_obj.hasAccessToRasByIP, ras_ips)

        sorted=SortedList(ras_ips)
        sorted.sort(False)
        return sorted.getList()


    def getRasDescriptions(self,request):
        """
            return list of tuples in format [(ras_description,ras_ip)]

        """
        request.needAuthType(request.ADMIN)
        requester_obj=request.getAuthNameObj()
        desc_to_ip_map = ras_main.getLoader().getRasDescToIPMap()

        for ras_desc, ras_ip in desc_to_ip_map.items():
            if not requester_obj.hasAccessToRasByIP(ras_ip):
                del(desc_to_ip_map[ras_desc])

        sorted=SortedDic(desc_to_ip_map)
        sorted.sortByKey(False)
        return sorted.getList()

    def getInActiveRases(self,request):
        request.needAuthType(request.ADMIN)
        creator_obj=request.getAuthNameObj()
        creator_obj.canDo("LIST RAS")
        return ras_main.getActionManager().getInActiveRases()

    def getRasTypes(self,request):
        """
            return a list of all available ras types
        """
        request.needAuthType(request.ADMIN)
        creator_obj=request.getAuthNameObj()
        creator_obj.canDo("GET RAS INFORMATION")
        type_list=ras_main.getFactory().getAllTypes()
        sorted = SortedList(type_list)
        sorted.sort(False)
        return sorted.getList()

    def getRasAttributes(self,request):
        request.needAuthType(request.ADMIN)
        request.checkArgs("ras_ip")

        requester_obj=request.getAuthNameObj()
        requester_obj.canDo("GET RAS INFORMATION")
        requester_obj.checkAccessToRasByIP(request["ras_ip"])

        return ras_main.getLoader().getRasByIP(request["ras_ip"]).getAllAttributes()

For example, I want that information for my result, such as How many functions, class do we have? And the relationship between functions and class. I won't use help() and dir() method, because I haven't any dependency modules. I think it should be the use of parse Python file by re module and use of regex.

Answer 1

Even if you don't write the docstrings nor the comments, you can still type:

help(your_object)

to get the automatically generated documentation of the class. your_object can be any kind of object, that is:

• a class
• a class instance
• a function
• a module
• etc.

So if you want the documentation for a given file (I understand a module), you can do:

import your_module
help(your_dodule)

if your file is called your_file.py and contains a class called your_class, you can do:

python -i your_file.py
help(your_class)

You can even generate the documentation from the shell prompt (not from the python interpreter prompt). Assuming again that you want to generate documentation for your_file.py, do the following:

pydoc your_file

Finally, if you want to generate html documentation for this module, do:

pydoc -w your_file