An overview of documenting tools and toolboxes

Providing good documentation for your tools is the first step to sharing your tools with others. Even if you're not sharing tools, providing good documentation helps you manage your custom tools, especially if you're a prolific tool writer.

The documentation system that you use to document your tools is the same system that ESRI developers use to document system tools (with minor exceptions).

The critical component of the documentation system is the Documentation Editor, which you use to enter and manage documentation for toolboxes, toolsets, tools, and model processes. The information you enter with the Documentation Editor is used throughout the Help system and ArcGIS applications.

In addition to the Documentation Editor, there are other more subtle ways to provide users with information and insight into how your tools work. For example, models created in ModelBuilder are a graphic description of a logic flow, and creating a model that is easy to read and follow makes for a well-documented tool. Likewise, providing comments and a consistent variable naming convention in scripts makes for good documentation. Finally, you can change the appearance of a tool's dialog to enhance the communication of the purpose and intent of a tool.

As a final note, you can override certain components of the documentation and Help system by using your own compiled help files (.chm files).

An overview of documenting tools and toolboxes

See Also