This document provides an overview of writing documentation for APIs and SDKs. It discusses typical users and producers of APIs/SDKs, ideal information to include in SDK and API documentation, common documentation deliverables, programming concepts to cover, and help authoring tools. The document also outlines benefits and drawbacks to technical writers in this specialty, ways to break into the market including education and training options, and resources for API/SDK documentation writers.

1. APIs and SDKs: Breaking Into and
Succeeding in a Specialty Market
Ed Marshall
Copyright 2008

2. APIs and SDKs
API = Application Programming Interface
SDK = Software Development Kit
• Typical users and why they use them
• Typical producers of these products
• Examples

3. Typical Documentation Deliverables
• Programmer’s reference guides
• Online help (in some format, more later)
• Programmer’s guides
• Data dictionaries
• API and SDK installation manuals
• System administrator's guides
• User configuration guides

4. Ideal Information for SDKs
• Provide an overview of the SDK
• Describe the tools and components in the SDK
and how they relate to the APIs
• Describe each tool in detail
• Describe any sample programs included in the
SDK

5. Ideal Information for APIs
• Break each component into the various
families
• Describe each API completely, including cross-
references to any types used in the definition
• Provide and explain examples that show both
trivial and complex use of the class / API

6. Reference Information for APIs
• Brief description
• Syntax
• Examples, examples, examples!
• Error messages
• Cross-references

7. Examples of API / SDK Documentation
• Visual Basic ActiveX Control Help Sample –
print and online help
• C++ API Help Sample – print and online help
• Typical SDK documentation – Guide to Tools,
Programmer’s Reference, Programmer’s
Guide, etc.

8. Key Programming Concepts
• Data types / variables
• Program control – loops, conditions, etc.
• Logical operators
• Data structures such as arrays
• Functions / methods

9. Benefits to the Writer
• Do more advanced technical writing = Higher
pay / higher status
• Good if you like to play with software at the
code level, create / test examples, talk / write
in gibberish
• Work more closely with developers

10. Drawbacks to the Writer
• Possibly restrictive / repetitive writing
• Possibly less contact with users as they are
developers / programmers themselves
• Possibly, more technically challenging
development / build environments

11. Knowledge / Personality Traits that
Work Well
• Some knowledge of programming languages
BUT you don’t have to be a programmer!
• Willingness to work with advanced /
programmer types of tools – Use software
instead of specs
• Desire to work at the code level and write for
developers who work at the code level

12. Knowledge / Personality Traits, cont.
• Willingness / confidence to work closely with
senior developers
• Ability to develop context-sensitive level help at
a lower-level than typical end-user (window-
level) help

13. Ways to Get Information
• Read the specifications
• Use the software
• Attend demos
• Run automated tools against the software
• Provide fill-in-the-blank templates to
developers

14. Build and Deployment Issues
• Use of automated build systems
• Use of source code control systems
• Other tools to do file comparisons, advanced
text editors, multi-file search and replace, etc.

15. Determining Which Help Format to Use
• Platforms
• Browsers
• Minimum versions required by your product

16. Common Help Formats
• WinHelp – Not in Vista but…
• HTMLHelp 1.x
• HTMLHelp 2.0 (used with Microsoft
VisualStudio.NET)
• WebHelp / Web Help
• JavaHelp
• Vista help – Not available to us in Vista

17. Context-sensitive Help
• Need to determine if it is necessary
• Need developers to implement / hook to the
API
• Have to use the appropriate API for the help
format
• Mapping of context IDs to numbers / text
strings
• Need to test all links from the product

18. Sample Context ID Mapping for
HTMLHelp
Sample .h file entry:
#define IntroTopic 0001
#define CloseSpeech_PM 2001
#define EngineTerminated_E 3001
Sample .ali file entry:
IntroTopic=Intro_Topic.htm
CloseSpeech_PM=CloseSpeech_Method.htm
EngineTerminated_E=EngineTerminated_Event.htm

19. Automated Tools
• Doxygen
• JavaDoc
• Sandcastle – New tool for .Net help (MSDN
style). Doc-to-Help supports Sandcastle help.
• Others

20. Doxygen
• Very powerful code generation tool
• Free
• Reads specially formatted comments in code
• Supports C / C++, Java, (Corba and Microsoft) Java,
Python, IDL, and C#
• Outputs RTF, compiled HTML Help, browser-based
help, and LaTex (PDF)
• Active development / support
• www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/download.html#latests
rc – current version is 1.5.5

21. JavaDoc
• Powerful code generation tool for Java
• Free
• Reads specially formatted comments in code
• Outputs browser-based help
• Active development
• www.sun.com – current version: Java Development
Kit 5.0 Update 15
• www.doclet.com – source for Java Doclets and
Javadoc information

22. Help Authoring Tools (HATs)
• Flare – www.madcapsoftware.com
• RoboHelp – www.adobe.com
• Help & Manual - www.ec-software.com/
• WebWorks ePublisherPro – www.quadralay.com
• Doc-to-Help – www.componentone.com
• AuthorIT – www.authorit.com
For a searchable database of HATs, see hat-
matrix.com/ - Char James-Tanny’s service

23. Microsoft IDEs
• Visual Studio 2008 Visual C++
• Visual C #
• Visual Basic
All free from
http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/

24. Other IDEs
• Sun NetBeans – www.sun.com (Free - search
for NetBeans)
• Eclipse – www.eclipse.org (a free open source
IDE)

25. Advanced Text Editors
NoteTabPro and EditPadPro:
• Both tools have: Spell-checking. Big plus if you work in a mixed OS
environment: Neither tool inserts Windows-style line feed
characters in Unix files.
• NoteTabPro has an auto-complete option for html tags and other
languages. Has a free version with reduced functionality.
www.notetab.com $19.95, Lots of other tools here.
• EditPadPro has color-coding for custom html tags
www.jgsoft.com $39.
Free full-featured (except for Spell Check) evaluation download available.
JG Soft has other tools such as a PowerGrep tool, Registry editor, and
others.

26. File / Folder Level Comparison
(Differencing Tools)
• Beyond Compare – Performs folder and file level comparisons, ASCII and
binary. Can detect that ASCII or binary files are different but can only show
the differences in ASCII files, not binary files. Highlights the specific
characters different between 2 ASCII files. Has a 30-day full-featured free
trial.
www.scootersoftware.com/
Retail price: $30
• Araxis Merge - Performs folder and file level comparisons, ASCII and
binary. Has a 30-day free trial.
www.araxis.com/merge/index.html
Retail price: $129

27. Search and Replace Tool
Funduc – Searches & replaces both folders and
zip files. Will search & replace ASCII and
binary files. Will search binary files but cannot
replace by itself. Has plug-ins for Word, Excel,
and PowerPoint.
www.funduc.com $25
Many other tools here also.

28. Sample APIs
• Google APIs –
code.google.com/more/#label=APIs&product=
gdata
• Google Earth API – earth.google.com/comapi/
• Google Maps API –
code.google.com/apis/maps/
• BackPack – www.backpackit.com/

29. Breaking into this Market
• Get training to develop the skills:
- Courses
- Self-paced training
- On-the-job training
• Make your own sample help systems, with
context-sensitive help coded
• Write some sample programs

30. Education / Training Opportunities
• Programming courses at local colleges
• STC conferences / workshops

31. Self-Paced Training
• Manuel Gordon’s API materials
(www.gordonandgordon.com)
• Documenting APIs: Writing Developer
Documentation for Java APIs / SDKs – James Bisso
/ Victoria Maki (www.bitzone.com/book.html)
• Deitel & Deitel “(C / C++ / C# / Java) How to
Program”
• Sams “Teach Yourself…”
• Sample projects, such as the HTML Help API

32. Other Resources
• MSDN – msdn.microsoft.com
• RoboWizard Web site – www.robowizard.com
• Flare forums – www.madcapsoftware.com
• RoboHelp / Flare Web site – www.grainge.org/

33. Listservers (Yahoo Groups)
• STC API – groups.yahoo.com/group/svcstcapi/
• API writers –
groups.yahoo.com/group/APIWriters/
• NetTechWriters –
groups.yahoo.com/group/nettechwriters/
• HATT – groups.yahoo.com/group/HATT/

34. Listservers (Yahoo Groups), cont.
• MSHelp 2.0 –
groups.yahoo.com/group/MSHelp2/
• Eclipse – groups.yahoo.com/group/eclipse_tw/

35. Web Services – A Growing Area
• Web Service - An application that provides a
Web API to perform application integration
• Platform / language independent
• Related to service oriented architectures
(SOAs)
• Uses SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
to send / receive XML messages

36. Web Services / SOA resources
• Web Services A Manager’s Guide – Anne Thomas
Mannes
• Service Oriented Architecture for Dummies –
Judith Hurwitz, Robin Bloor, and Carol Baroudi

37. Summary
• Description of APIs / SDKs
• Benefits to writers
• Drawbacks to writers
• Training
• Writing considerations (tools, formats, issues
for context-sensitive help)

38. Closing
• Thank you.
• Questions?
Ed Marshall
Marshall Documentation Consulting
ed.marshall@verizon.net
www.MarshallDocumentationServices
+1 978-339-3095