Docfx: Do I have to put my projects in the docfx_project directory?

[mgregory22]

This is just a question. I'm confused by the tutorial and I'm not sure where to ask.

I have a couple of projects that I've made all my doc comments in and I want to generate some html docs. I use GhostDoc a little bit at work, but I don't want to pay for it, and I wanted to see if docfx is better.

I already have a system for organizing my files and I feel like it's a lot to ask for an app to make me move my project folders around. It actually seems more sensible to me to put the documentation in the project directory rather than the other way around. Please help me understand.

I tried making a directory junction link to my project folder, but I get this error when I try to generate:

[17-04-02 04:15:56.563]Error:System.IO.PathTooLongException: The specified path, file name, or both are too long. The fully qualified file name must be less than 260 characters, and the directory name must be less than 248 characters.
   at System.IO.Path.LegacyNormalizePath(String path, Boolean fullCheck, Int32 maxPathLength, Boolean expandShortPaths)
   at System.IO.Path.InternalGetDirectoryName(String path)
   at System.IO.FileSystemEnumerableIterator`1..ctor(String path, String originalUserPath, String searchPattern, SearchOption searchOption, SearchResultHandler`1 resultHandler, Boolean checkHost)
   at System.IO.Directory.GetFiles(String path, String searchPattern, SearchOption searchOption)
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesFromSubfolder>d__2.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Glob.FileGlob.<GetFilesCore>d__1.MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Buffer`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 source)
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToArray[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.GlobUtility.ExpandFileMapping(String baseDirectory, FileMapping fileMapping)
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.SubCommands.MetadataCommand.ConvertToInputModel(MetadataJsonItemConfig configModel)
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.SubCommands.MetadataCommand.<GetInputModels>d__11.MoveNext()
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.SubCommands.MetadataCommand.Exec(SubCommandRunningContext context)
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.SubCommands.CompositeCommand.Exec(SubCommandRunningContext context)
   at Microsoft.DocAsCode.Program.ExecSubCommand(String[] args)

[superyyrrzz]

Can you provide the docfx.json you use?

[superyyrrzz]

DocFX's own document has the similar issue, with document in /Documentation and source code in /src. In docfx.json, we use "src": "../src" to link to the source code folder: https://github.com/dotnet/docfx/blob/master/Documentation/docfx.json#L8

[mgregory22]

Ah, thank you. That worked! I didn't realize the Warning:NOTE that '../' is currently not supported in glob pattern, please use '../' in 'src' option instead. error message was saying that there is another "src" option nested in the "src" option.

Sorry, I'm not explaining myself well at all.

I originally tried to put "../" in the "files" option, but it gave me that warning and wouldn't work, so I thought there was no way to do it, so that's when I started messing around with symlinks, even though I knew it was a terrible solution. Anyway, thanks for the help!