Metadata and Markdown Template for C++ Docs

This C++ repo-specific core-docs template contains examples of Markdown syntax, and guidance on setting the metadata. To get the most of it, you must view both the raw Markdown and the rendered view (for instance, the raw Markdown shows the metadata block, while the rendered view doesn't).

When creating a Markdown file, you should copy this template to a new file, fill out the metadata as specified below, set the H1 heading above to the title of the article, and delete the content.

Metadata

The full metadata block is yaml data between two lines that only contain --- at the top of the document contents (in the raw Markdown). It's divided into required fields and optional fields. Some key notes:

You must have a space between the colon (:) and the value for a metadata element.
If an optional metadata element doesn't have a value, comment out the element with a # or remove it (don't leave it blank or use "na"); if you're adding a value to an element that was commented out, be sure to remove the #.
Colons in a value (for example, a title) break the metadata parser. In this case, surround the title with double quotes (for example, title: "Writing Windows console apps: An advanced step-by-step guide").
title: This title will appear in search engine results. You can also add a pipe (|) followed by the product name (for example, title: Developing Libraries with Cross Platform Tools | Microsoft C++). The default product name is set in the docfx.json file, so only specify it if necessary. The title doesn't need to be identical to the title in your H1 heading. It should contain 65 characters or less (including | PRODUCT NAME).
author, manager, ms.author: These values are optional and will default to per-directory settings in the docfx.json file. Set them only if the value is different from the default. The author field should contain the GitHub username of the author, not their alias. The manager and ms.author fields, on the other hand, should contain Microsoft aliases. We don't normally include the ms.reviewer value, but if present, it specifies the name of the PM/dev associated with the article or feature.
ms.devlang defines the technology. This value is optional and will default to per-directory settings in the docfx.json file. Set it only if the value is different from the default. Some of the supported values are: dotnet, cpp, csharp, fsharp, vb and xml.
ms.assetid: Don't set this value in new articles. It exists only as a historical link to archived versions of the document.

Basic Markdown, GFM, and special characters

All basic and GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) is supported. For more information on Markdown, see:

Baseline Markdown syntax
GFM documentation

Markdown uses special characters such as *, `, and # for formatting. If you wish to include one of these characters in your content, you must do one of two things:

Put a backslash before the special character to "escape" it (for example, \* for a *)
Use the HTML entity code for the character (for example, * for a *).
Markdown allows you to use two spaces at the end of a line to indicate a line break. Because the spaces are invisible in most editors and easy to break, use the alternative of a single backslash (\) instead.

Markdown editing tools

You can use Visual Studio Code to edit Markdown documents. VS Code has many helpful Markdown extensions, such as:

Docs Authoring Pack by Microsoft
markdownlint

File name

File names use the following rules:

Contain only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens.
No spaces or punctuation characters. Use hyphens to separate words and numbers in the file name.
Use action verbs that are specific, such as "develop", "buy", "build", "troubleshoot". Don't use "-ing" words.
No small words: Don't include "a", "and", "the", "in", "or", and so on.
Must be in Markdown and use the .md file extension.
Keep file names reasonably short. They're part of the URL for your articles.

Headings

Use sentence-style capitalization. Always capitalize:

The first word of a heading.
The word following a colon in a title or heading (for example, "How to: Sort an array").

Headings should be done using atx-style, that is, use 1-6 hash characters (#) at the start of the line to indicate a heading, corresponding to HTML headings levels H1 through H6. Examples of first- and second-level headers are used above.

There must be only one first-level heading (H1) in your article, which will be displayed as the on-page title.

If your heading ends with a # character, you need to add an extra # character in the end in order for the title to render correctly. For example, # Async Programming in F# #.

There should always be one blank line before and after a heading (except for first-level headings, which shouldn't have a blank line before).

Second-level headings will generate the on-page TOC that appears in the "In this article" section underneath the on-page title.

### Third-level heading

#### Fourth-level heading

##### Fifth level heading

###### Sixth-level heading

Text styling

Italics
*Italics*
Use for user-generated filenames, folders, and paths (for long items, split onto their own line); new terms; user-entered values; and URLs (unless rendered as links, which is the default).

Bold
**Bold**
Use for UI elements.

Bold Code
**`Bold Code`**
Use for keywords, operators, and compiler and tool options.

Italic Code
*`Italic Code`*
Use for parameters.

Inline Code
`Inline Code`
Use for non-localizable elements such as library function names, preprocessor macros, fixed filenames, and inline code such as a single variable, expression, or statement.

Blockquote
> Blockquote

Use blockquote for error and warning messages, syntax sections, and EBNF content.

Links

Internal Links

To link to a header in the same Markdown file (also known as anchor links), you'll need to find out the ID of the header you're trying to link to. To confirm the ID, view the source of the rendered article, find the ID of the header (for example, id="blockquote"), and link using # + ID (for example, #blockquote). The ID is auto-generated based on the header text. So, for example, given a unique section named ## Step 2, the ID would look like this id="step-2".

Example: Chapter 1

To link to a Markdown file in the same repo, use relative links, including the ".md" at the end of the filename.

Example: Readme file
Example: Welcome to .NET

To link to a header in a Markdown file in the same repo, use relative linking + hashtag linking.

Example: .NET Community

Docs Links

To link to a file in a different Docs repo, use the learn.microsoft.com relative URL as the link. Don't include the .md suffix or the language/locale element.

Example: Universal Windows Platform documentation

External Links

To link to an external file, use the full URL as the link. Use HTTPS URL if applicable.

Example: GitHub

If a URL appears in a Markdown file, it will be transformed into a clickable link.

Example: https://www.github.com

Links to APIs

The build system has some extensions that allow us to link to Managed APIs without having to use external links.

When linking to an API, you can use its unique identifier (UID) that is auto-generated from the source code.

You can use one of the following syntax forms:

Markdown link: [link_text](xref:UID)
Auto link: <xref:UID>
Shorthand form: @UID

Example: @System.String
Example: [String class](xref:System.String)

For more information about using this notation, see Using cross reference.

Right now, there is no easy way to find the UIDs. The best way to find the UID for an API is to search for it in this repository: docascode/coreapi. We're working on having a better system in the future.

When the UID contains the special characters ` or #, the UID value needs to be HTML encoded as %60 and %23 respectively as in the following examples:

Example: @System.Threading.Tasks.Task\1becomes@System.Threading.Tasks.Task%601`
Example: @System.Exception.#ctor becomes @System.Exception.%23ctor

Lists

Lists should be surrounded by blank lines.

Ordered lists

Example
Of
An
Ordered
List

Ordered list with an embedded list

Here
comes
an
embedded
1. Scarlet
2. Plum
ordered
list

Unordered Lists

Example
of
a
bulleted
list

Unordered list with an embedded list

Sometimes
bulleted
lists
- Chartreuse
- Lime
contain
other
1. Magenta
2. Fuchsia
lists

Horizontal rule

Tables

Tables	Are	Cool
col 3 is	right-aligned	$1600
col 2 is	centered	$12
col 1 is default	left-aligned	$1

You can use a Markdown table generator tool to help creating them more easily. See also Markdown editing tools. The C++ standard is to use the table format created by the Docs: Consolidate selected table tool in the Docs Authoring Pack. Don't try to align the vertical lines in your tables; it's extra work that's easy to break.

Code

The best way to include code is to include snippets from a working sample. Create your sample following the instructions in the contributing guide.

You can include the code using include syntax:

[!code-csharp[<title>](<pathToFile>#<RegionName)]

The example above shows C# syntax, but other languages are supported. Use code-fsharp for F# samples; use code-vbnet for Visual Basic samples. Other languages that are supported are:

C++: code-cpp
HTML: code-html
JavaScript: code-javascript
PowerShell: code-ps
SQL: code-sql
XML: code-xml

The text you place for <title> shows up as a rollover on the text. The <pathToFile> is the path to the source file. The <RegionName> should be a region in your source code that should be included. Use the #region and #endregion preprocessor syntax to specify the region of code to include.

For cases where regions don't work, you can specify the start and end of a snippet using an XML element name in a single line comment. For example, you could write this sample region in C#:

// <CodeToInclude>
int j = 5;
int i ; 10;
int sum = i + j;
// </CodeToInclude>

In other languages, use the comment syntax for that language.

Finally, you can use line numbers: #L1-L10 would include lines 1 through 10. We discourage line numbers because they're brittle.

Including snippets from full programs ensures that all code runs through our Continuous Integration (CI) system. However, if you need to show something that causes compile time or runtime errors, you can use inline code blocks.

Inline code blocks with language identifier

Use three backticks (```) + a language ID to apply language-specific color coding to a code block. Here's the entire list of GFM language IDs.

C++

#include <iostream>
int main()
{
    std::cout << "Hello World!\n";
}

C

#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    printf("Hello World!\n");
}

C#

using System;
namespace HelloWorld
{
    class Hello
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");

            // Keep the console window open in debug mode.
            Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit.");
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

Python

friends = ['john', 'pat', 'gary', 'michael']
for i, name in enumerate(friends):
    print "iteration {iteration} is {name}".format(iteration=i, name=name)

PowerShell

Clear-Host
$Directory = "C:\Windows\"
$Files = Get-Childitem $Directory -recurse -Include *.log `
-ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Generic code block

Use three backticks (```) for generic code block coding.

The recommended approach is to use code blocks with language identifiers as explained in the previous section to ensure the proper syntax highlighting in the documentation site. Use generic code blocks only when necessary.

function fancyAlert(arg) {
    if(arg) {
        $.docs({div:'#foo'})
    }
}

Inline code

Use backticks (`) for inline code. Use inline code for command-line commands, database table and column names, and language expressions and function names.

Blockquotes

The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards had long since ended. Here on the Equator, in the continent which would one day be known as Africa, the battle for existence had reached a new climax of ferocity, and the victor was not yet in sight. In this barren and desiccated land, only the small or the swift or the fierce could flourish, or even hope to survive.

Images

Static Image or Animated gif

Linked Image

Videos

Shows

C++ A General Purpose Language and Library: (01) Getting Started.

YouTube

On .NET 2/4/2016 - Scott Hunter.

docs.microsoft extensions

docs.microsoft provides a few more extensions to GitHub Flavored Markdown.

Alerts

It's important to use the following alert styles so they render with the proper style in the documentation site. However, the rendering engine on GitHub doesn't differentiate them.

Note

This is a NOTE

Warning

This is a WARNING

Tip

This is a TIP

Important

This is IMPORTANT

And they'll render like this:

Buttons

[!div class="button"] button links

You can see an example of buttons in action at the Intune docs.

Selectors

[!div class="op_single_selector"]

macOS
Windows

You can see an example of selectors in action at the Intune docs.

Step-By-Steps

[!div class="step-by-step"] Pre Next

You can see an example of step-by-steps in action at the Advanced Threat Analytics docs.

Files

template.md

Latest commit

History