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Creating a Documentation Website using DocFX on SharePoint - Microsoft Expert Guide
SharePoint Online
Aug 3, 2023 2:00 PM

Creating a Documentation Website using DocFX on SharePoint - Microsoft Expert Guide

by HubSite 365 about Microsoft

Software Development Redmond, Washington

External YouTube Channel
Pro User

SharePoint Online

Learn to build a technical documentation site with DocFX and SharePoint. Follow a 14-minute demo by Microsoft 365 expert, Martin Heusser.

Build your technical documentation site with docfx. Converts .NET assembly, XML code comment, REST API Swagger files and markdown into rendered HTML pages, JSON model or PDF files.

In a 14-minute developer-focused demo, Martin Heusser overviews the DocFX tool. He walks viewers through the setup process, explains why the tool is effective, and shows off the static website generated with DocFx. The demo encourages viewers to try DocFx and run the Initialize-AwesomeDocFx.ps1 script which produces a more substantial site. The process involves cloning a repo, creating a project, adding documentation and images to your project, and building your site using DocFx for SharePoint.

The process is recapped as follows:

  • Define the categories of your documents
  • Initialize your DocFx project
  • Author your documentation
  • Preview your site locally
  • Publish your site

This demo is part of the Microsoft 365 & Power Platform Development Community call recorded on June 8, 2023. The demo presenter is Martin Heusser from Houlihan Lokey.

Supporting materials for the demo include:

 

Learning More about DocFX

DocFX proves to be a valuable tool for developers, especially those who want a more structured, organized, and functional site. It allows developers to create their sites from scratch with seamless SharePoint integration, gives them the liberty to design it to their taste, and makes uploading files easier. DocFX also supports documentation generation, meaning developers can easily produce standardized documentation for their projects. This demo highlighted these features, further increasing DocFx's value in the developer community.

Learn about Build your own Documentation Website with DocFX on SharePoint

 

In this demo, Martin Heusser shows how to build a documentation website using DocFX on SharePoint. He explains why it is an awesome tool, the setup challenges, and where the generated static website can be hosted. He then demonstrates how to clone his repo, create a project, and generate an out-of-box site. He then runs the Initialize-AwesomeDocFx.ps1 script to yield a more robust site. He also shows how to add docs and images. For hosting the site on SPO, he runs the BuildDocFxForSPO.ps1 script, creates a document library, compares and uploads new files. The demo concludes with a recap of the process, which includes defining doc categories, initializing the DocFx project, authoring documentation, previewing the site locally, and publishing it.

 

More links on about Build your own Documentation Website with DocFX on SharePoint

Intro to DocFX
May 5, 2020 — DocFX is an open source, static site generator that can produce documentation from source code as well as Markdown files.
Use DocFx to generate a documentation web site and publish ...
Feb 16, 2020 — DocFx is a command line tool that generates documentation. DocFx builds a documentation web site combining two sources:.
Use DocFx to document your existing .Net application
Jun 9, 2017 — Now open a command-shell in the Documentation folder and run docfx --serve to build the website and serve it from a dev-server. If you head to ...
Cake - Reference - DocFx
Generate client-only website combining API in YAML files and conceptual files for a specific docfx.json file using the specified settings. DocFxBuild(FilePath)

Keywords

DocFX, SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Power Platform, Development Community, Static Website, Document Library