Create "Quick Help" Entry in Xcode

Question

How do I create quick help entries in Xcode for my own code? I just want it as a coding support, meaning like the Eclipse functionality when coding Java. In eclipse you get a comment you entered above a method when hovering a method somewhere else.

The Xcode equivalent seems to be the "Quick Help".

Is there really no other way than using Doxygen? Doxygen seems like overkill for the small project I'm working on. At the moment I do know for sure that I only want the quick help populated thoroughly, so please avoid any hints like, "you have to create a documentation for your project".

I would really appreciate any help as the only thing I could find on this topic was this question.

But as you can see, no solution is available.

Answer 1

Yes... you can.. Here is a ready-made "Snippet" you can drag or auto-complete, etc...

/** 
 * <#summary#>
 * @param <#name#> <#how you gonna get it?#>
 * @param <#name#> <#really, there's more?#>
 * @return <#name#> <#what do you want!#>
 */

Drag that "onto" the snippet "thing" and like, you know.. set it up..

and there ya have it...

Answer 2

I think the only way is to create a Documentation Set for your code and then install it on XCode:

Xcode 4′s contextual help, which Apple calls “Quick Help,” relies entirely on the installed documentation sets. Xcode 4 automatically downloads the documentation sets (including updates) for the Mac OS and iOS APIs but you can install third-party sets as well.

(...)

Once you create your documentation set, you can install it in Xcode’s preferences (under the Documentation tab). Assuming the doc set is correctly built and installed, Quick Help should “just work.” Of course this is of limited use unless you’re sharing complex API with a group or the wide world.

source: http://xcodebook.com/2011/04/providing-your-own-quick-help/

Apple's Documentation Set guide: http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/Documentation_Sets/

Answer 3

As of Xcode 5.0, Doxygen and HeaderDoc formatting for variables and methods is automatically parsed and rendered in the Quick Help popover. More information about it here, but here's some key bits:

/**
 * Add a data point to the data source.
 * (Removes the oldest data point if the data source contains kMaxDataPoints objects.)
 *
 * @param aDataPoint An instance of ABCDataPoint.
 * @return The oldest data point, if any.
 */
 - (ABCDataPoint *)addDataToDataSource:(ABCDataPoint *)aDataPoint;

renders in Xcode as:

As for properties, it's as easy as:

/// Base64-encoded data.
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSData *data;

When option-clicked, this lovely popover appears:

Answer 4

Xcode 5 now has built-in support for DOxygen style comments. So, you can comment your methods like this:

/*!
 * Provides an NSManagedObjectContext singleton appropriate for use on the main 
 * thread. If the context doesn't already exist it is created and bound to the 
 * persistent store coordinator for the application, otherwise the existing 
 * singleton contextis returned.
 * \param someParameter You can even add parameters
 * \returns The a shared NSManagedObjectContext for the application.
 */
+ (NSManagedObjectContext *)sharedContext;

Inline help will look like this:

Quick help will look like this:

And sidebar help will look like this:

Here's a handy code snippet you can add the your Xcode Code Snippet library to make method documentation simple:

/**
 <#description#>
 @param <#parameter#>
 @returns <#retval#>
 @exception <#throws#>
 */

Now, you can just type "doxy" and poof! You have your doxygen template.