postgresql_autodoc is a nice tool for generating documentation for a postgresql database schema. It sends database metadata to an
HTML::Template-template and can generate html, dot, dia, and docbook xml. I wanted to use it to generate Pod -- one page per table or view.
Here's the technique I came up with :
- 1. Save the template below as "pod.tmpl".
- 2. Run: postgresql_autodoc -d mydb -l . -t pod
- 3. post-process the pod file like this :
mkdir pod
perl -MIO::File -lpe '
s/^_CUT: (.*)$// and do { *STDOUT = IO::File->new(">pod/$1"); };
s/^_DB: (.*)$// and do { $_ = qx[psql -c "$1"]; s/^/ /gm; };
' mydb.pod
(A prerequisite is to have comments on tables and columns stored inside the database using the comment features of postgres).
Here's the template :
<tmpl_loop schemas><tmpl_loop tables>
_CUT: <tmpl_if view_definition>view<tmpl_else>table</tmpl_if>_<tmpl_va
+r table>.pod
=head1 NAME
<tmpl_var table>
=head1 DESCRIPTION
<tmpl_var table_comment>
=head1 COLUMNS
<tmpl_loop columns> <tmpl_var column> (<tmpl_var column_type>) - <tmpl
+_var column_comment>
</tmpl_loop>
=head1 SCHEMA
_DB: \d+ <tmpl_var table>
=cut
</tmpl_loop>
</tmpl_loop>