DelegateWithDocs

Delegate to functions on other modules, including their docs.

Kernel.defdelegate/2 will only delegate the function, referencing the other module’s documentation, “See OtherModule.func/1”. This is fine when the other module is public, but not if it is excluded from documentation with @moduledoc false.

Installation

The Hex package can be installed by adding delegate_with_docs to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
    {:delegate_with_docs, "~> 0.1.0"}
  ]
end

Usage

1. Add use DelegateWithDocs to the private module you want to delegate to. This will ensure its docs are available to other modules at compile time.

2. Add use DelegateWithDocs to the public module.

3. Use defdelegate/2 as usual.

Example

In this example, we want to exclude MyModule.Internal from our documentation because it’s an internal module and may change. However, we still want to expose one of its functions as part of our public API.

defmodule MyModule.Internal do
  @moduledoc false

  # We must `use` this in the private module to ensure that
  # its docs are available at compile time to other modules
  use DelegateWithDocs

  @doc "Describe the function"
  @spec my_func(any, any) :: no_return
  def my_func(arg1, arg2) do
    # ...
  end
end

You could do this with Kernel.defdelegate/2, but the documentation would be lost. You’d either have to duplicate the documentation in your public module, or move it from the internal module to the public module.

It usually makes more sense to keep the documentation for a function co-located with the function that it documents. DelegateWithDocs allows you to do that.

defmodule MyModule do
  use DelegateWithDocs

  # The docs from MyModule.Internal.my_func/2 will be copied
  # over and will display as the docs for this delegated function.
  defdelegate my_func(arg1, arg2), to: MyModule.Internal
end

You can also rename the function using the :as option, just like Kernel.defdelegate/2.

defdelegate better_name(arg1, arg2), to: MyModule.Internal, as: :my_func