doctin

(ActionScript) Documentation Thinner

doctin is a lightweight CLI tool that extracts a JSON-formatted abstract syntax tree (AST) from static HTML documentation generated by the ActionScript asdoc tool. It helps developers parse, audit, or auto-document large ActionScript codebases by reducing noisy HTML into structured, actionable data.

What It Does

• Parses asdoc-generated documentation.
• Extracts class metadata, properties, and methods.
• Includes visibility, type, modifiers, and documentation text.
• Generates:
  • One JSON file per class.
  • One contentTree.json for navigation/indexing.

Installation

To install globally:

npm install -g doctin

Usage

node index.js <asdoc-folder> <astjson-folder> [--clean]

Arguments:

| Argument | Description | | ------------------ | ---------------------------------------- | | <asdoc-folder> | Path to the folder generated by asdoc | | <astjson-folder> | Path to output folder for JSON AST | | --clean | Optional. Clears the output folder first |

Output Structure

The tool generates:

1. One JSON file per class, e.g.:

~/my_ast_folder/org/bytearray/display/ScaleBitmap.json

2. contentTree.json — a lookup tree of all packages and classes:

{
  "org.bytearray.display": {
    "ScaleBitmap": "org/bytearray/display/ScaleBitmap.json"
  }
}

JSON Schema Overview

Each class JSON includes:

{
  "name": "ScaleBitmap",
  "package": "org.bytearray.display",
  "inheritance": [],
  "properties": [
    {
      "name": "bitmapData",
      "type": "BitmapData",
      "visibility": "public",
      "modifiers": ["override", "write-only"],
      "hasAsdoc": true,
      "asdoc": "setter bitmapData"
    }
  ],
  "methods": [
    {
      "name": "setSize",
      "returnType": "void",
      "params": [{ "name": "w", "type": "Number" }],
      "visibility": "public",
      "hasAsdoc": true,
      "asdoc": "setSize"
    }
  ]
}

This makes it ideal for:

• Re-generating docs in your own format.
• Writing linters or documentation audits.
• Feeding a local LLM for doc autocompletion.

Development

The codebase uses ES modules. Requires Node.js 18+.

Main files:

• index.js — CLI entry point.
• parser.js — HTML parser logic.

Dependencies:

• cheerio for HTML parsing.
• fs-extra for robust file I/O.

📄 License

MIT

Feedback

Issues and PRs welcome on GitHub.