Can I automatically generate documentation from Description and Tip entries?

Question

Is there a way to automatically generate documentation for a LV 6.1 VI from the Description and Tip fields for all the different nodes? Something like JavaDoc or something?
I've seen another note here on the board saying you can do it from within the VI using property nodes, but that seems like a somewhat convoluted way of going about it, especially for a large modular VI.

Answer 1

Also, the LabVIEW Help has step-by-step instructions for generating documentation for VIs. Here's an example:
Generating HTML Documentation for VIs, Templates, and Objects
You can import HTML files into most word processing applications, and you can use HTML files to create compiled help files.
Complete the following steps to generate HTML documentation for a VI, template, or object.
Open any VI, control, global variable, or template file and select File�Print to display the Print dialog box.
In the Select VIs page of the Print dialog box, select the file or files for which you want to generate HTML documentation.
Click the Next button to display the Print contents page.
Select the components you want to include in the documentation.
If you selected Custom, click the Next button to display the Custom details page and select the components you want to include in the documentation. Otherwise, continue to the next step.
Click the Next button to display the Page setup page.
Select the options to set the appearance of the documentation.
Click the Next button to display the Destination page.
Select HTML file.
Click the Next button to display the HTML page.
Select the options for the images.
Click the Save button to display a file dialog box. The dialog box prompts you to name the HTML and image files and select the directory where you want to save the files. The default name of any HTML documentation is the name of the VI with a .html extension.
You also can use the Easy Print VI Panel or Documentation VI or the Print VI to HTML method to generate VI documentation in HTML format programmatically.
This topic in particular links directly to the topics that describe how to use the methods to achieve the same thing programmatically.
If you have any feedback on the content of the LabVIEW Help, please let us know by emailing [email protected]
Thank you,
Kelly Holmes
Kelly H
LabVIEW Documentation
National Instruments