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NAME

Dist::Zilla::Plugin::Pod::Spiffy - make your documentation look spiffy as HTML

SYNOPSIS

In your POD:

=head2 C<my_super_function>

=for pod_spiffy in no args | out error undef or list|out hashref

This function takes two arguments, one of them is mandatory. On
error it returns either undef or an empty list, depending on the
context. On success, it returns a hashref.

...

=head1 REPOSITORY

=for pod_spiffy start github section

Fork this module on https://github.com/zoffixznet/Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Pod-Spiffy

=for pod_spiffy end github section

...

=head1 AUTHORS

=for pod_spiffy authors ZOFFIX JOE SHMOE

=head1 CONTRIBUTORS

=for pod_spiffy authors SOME CONTRIBUTOR

In your dist.ini:

[Pod::Spiffy]

DESCRIPTION

This Dist::Zilla plugin lets you make your documentation look spiffy as HTML, by adding meaningful icons. If you're viewing this document as HTML, you can see available icons below.

The main idea behind this module isn't so much the looks, however, but the provision of visual hints and clues about various sections of your documentation, and more importantly the arguments and return values of the methods/functions.

HISTORY

I was impressed by ETHER's work on Acme::CPANAuthors::Nonhuman (the including author avatars in the docs part) and appreciated the added value HTML content can bring to the POD in my Acme::Dump::And::Dumper.

While working on the implementation of the horribly inconsistent WWW::Goodreads, I wanted my users to not have to remember the type of return values for 74+ methods. That's when I thought up the idea of including icons to give hints of the return types.

THEME

The current theme is hardcoded to use http://zoffix.com/CPAN/Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Pod-Spiffy/icons/ However, since most icons are size-unbound, themeing should be extremely easy in the future, and configuration option will be provided very soon.

NOTE ON SCALARS

I realize that hashrefs, subrefs, arrayrefs, and the ilk are all scalars, but this documentation and the icons by scalars mean the plain, non-reference types; i.e. strings and numbers (42, "foo", etc.)

IN YOUR POD

To spiffy-up your POD, use the =for POD command, followed by pod_spiffy, followed by codes (see SYNOPSIS for examples). For icons, you can specify multiple icon codes separated with a pipe character (|). For example:

=for pod_spiffy in no args

=for pod_spiffy in no args | out error undef list

You can have any amount of whitespace between individual words of the codes (but you must have at least some whitespace). Whitespace around the | separator is irrelevant.

The following codes are currently available:

INPUT ARGUMENTS ICONS

These icons provide hints on what your sub/method takes as an argument.

in no args

=for pod_spiffy in no args
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method does not take any arguments.

in scalar

=for pod_spiffy in scalar
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method takes a plain scalar as an argument.

in scalar scalar optional

=for pod_spiffy in scalar scalar optional
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method takes as arguments one mandatory and one optional arguments, both of which are plain scalars.

in arrayref

=for pod_spiffy in arrayref
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method takes an arrayref as an argument.

in hashref

=for pod_spiffy in hashref
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method takes an hashref as an argument.

in key value

=for pod_spiffy in key value
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method takes a list of key/value pairs as an argument (e.g. ->method( foo => 'bar', ber => 'biz' );.

in list

=for pod_spiffy in list
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method takes a list of scalars as an argument (e.g. qw/foo bar baz ber/)

in object

=for pod_spiffy in object
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method takes an object as an argument.

in scalar optional

=for pod_spiffy in scalar optional
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method takes a single optional argument that is a scalar.

in scalar or arrayref

=for pod_spiffy in scalar or arrayref
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method takes either a plain scalar or an arrayref as an argument.

in subref

=for pod_spiffy in subref
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method takes a subref as an argument.

OUTPUT ON ERROR ICONS

These icons are to indicate what your sub/method returns if an error occurs during its execution.

out error exception

=for pod_spiffy out error exception
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method on error throws an exception.

out error undef or list

=for pod_spiffy out error undef or list
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method on error returns either undef or an empty list, depending on the context.

out error undef

=for pod_spiffy out error undef
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method on error returns undef (regardless of the context).

OUTPUT ICONS

These icons are to indicate what your sub/method returns after a successful execution.

out scalar

=for pod_spiffy out scalar
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method returns a plain scalar.

out arrayref

=for pod_spiffy out arrayref
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method returns an arrayref.

out hashref

=for pod_spiffy out hashref
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method returns a hashref.

out key value

=for pod_spiffy out key value
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method returns a list of key value pairs (i.e., return is suitable to assign to a hash).

out list

=for pod_spiffy out list
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method returns a list of things (i.e., return is suitable to assign to an array).

out list or arrayref

=for pod_spiffy out list or arrayref
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method returns either a list of things or an arrayref, depending on the context.

out subref

=for pod_spiffy out subref
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method returns a subref.

out object

=for pod_spiffy out object
Icon:

Use this icon to indicate your sub/method returns a object.

SECTION ICONS

To use a section icon, you need to indicate both the start of the section and the end of it, e.g.:

=for pod_spiffy start github section

=head3 GITHUB REPO

Fork this module on github https://github.com/zoffixznet/Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Pod-Spiffy

=for pod_spiffy end github section

Available icons are:

Github Repo

=for pod_spiffy start github section

Fork this module on GitHub:
L<https://github.com/zoffixznet/Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Pod-Spiffy>

=for pod_spiffy end github section

This is an example

Authors

=for pod_spiffy start author section

Joe Shmoe wrote this module

=for pod_spiffy end author section

This is an example

See also: "CPAN Authors" section below, for a way to include author avatars.

Contributors

=for pod_spiffy start contributors section

    Joe More also contributed to this module

=for pod_spiffy end contributors section

This is an example

See also: "CPAN Authors" section below, for a way to include author avatars.

Bugs

=for pod_spiffy start bugs section

Report bugs for this module on
L<https://github.com/zoffixznet/Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Pod-Spiffy/issues>

=for pod_spiffy end bugs section

This is an example

Code

=for pod_spiffy start code section

    print "Yey\n" for 1..42;

=for pod_spiffy end code section

This is an example

I'm unsure of the use for this icon. Originally it was planned to be used with the SYNOPSIS code. The icon will likely be changed in appearance and the code section might become more versatile, to be used with all chunks of code.

Warning

=for pod_spiffy start warning section

Warning! If you try this something might explode!

=for pod_spiffy end warning section

This is an example

Use this section icon to indicate a warning.

Experimental

=for pod_spiffy start experimental section

This method is still experimental!

=for pod_spiffy end experimental section

This is an example

Use this section to hint about the features described being experimental.

OTHER FEATURES

CPAN Authors

=for pod_spiffy author ZOFFIX ETHER MSTROUT

Adds an avatar of the author, and their PAUSE ID. To use this feature use authors code, followed by a whitespace separated list of PAUSE author IDs, for example:

Example:

ZOFFIX ZOFFIX ETHER ETHER MSTROUT MSTROUT

Horizontal Rule

=for pod_spiffy hr

Example:

A simple horizontal rule. You can use it, for example, to separate groups of methods.

REPOSITORY

Fork this module on GitHub: https://github.com/zoffixznet/Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Pod-Spiffy

BUGS

To report bugs or request features, please use https://github.com/zoffixznet/Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Pod-Spiffy/issues

If you can't access GitHub, you can email your request to bug-Dist-Zilla-Plugin-Pod-Spiffy at rt.cpan.org

AUTHOR

ZOFFIX ZOFFIX

LICENSE

You can use and distribute this module under the same terms as Perl itself. See the LICENSE file included in this distribution for complete details.