What is phpDocumentor 2?

phpDocumentor 2 is a tool with which it is possible to generate documentation from your PHP source code. With this documentation you can provide your consumers with more information regarding the functionality embedded within your source and not only what is usable to them from your user interface.

Documentation generated by phpDocumentor 2 does not aim to be a replacement for conventional documentation but is rather supplemental, or reference, documentation.

This documention can prove to be very useful in the following, example, situations:

• Sets of libraries or applications providing an API, such as phpDocumentor 2 itself
• Frameworks, such as Zend Framework or Symfony
• Pluggable architectures, such as WordPress or PyroCMS
• Long-running, complex projects, to help you find the right function or method for the job

High performance

phpDocumentor 1 needs 220 seconds to generate documentation for phing.
A bare phpDocumentor 2 run needs 120 seconds and with optimalizations this can even be reduced to less than 90 seconds!

Template System

phpDocumentor 2 contains an incredibly flexible template system which enabled you to alter your output in any way imaginable. This can range from simply applying your own branding for the HTML output by merely altering a couple of CSS files to determining which types of output are generated and where they are made available.

Reports & Charts

phpDocumentor 2 is capable of extracting interesting information and present those in the form of graphs and reports. The following are currently supported:

• An inheritance diagram showing all subclassing and implementing of interfaces.
• Reporting errors in your source code's inline documentation
• Reporting which elements are marked as deprecated
• Reporting where TODO's are placed in your code and what is to be done

This list will only grow in the future to help you determine where to invest your resources in order to make your code more stable and maintainable.

Plugins

phpDocumentor 2 is build with extendability in mind. Using ideas from Aspect Oriented Development (AoP) that are powered by the Event Dispatcher by symfony are phpDocumentor 2 Plugins one of the more powerful tools in the toolset.