Documentation Plan for EclipseLink 2.4

Change Record

This documentation plan describes how the documentation team will provide EclipseLink documentation for the EclipseLink; (EL) 2.4 release.

Schedule

Audience

Planned Documentation Deliverables

The Documentation team will document EclipseLink-specific features for:

• JPA
• MOXy
• DBWS

Note: JPA is the most commonly used and the biggest, therefore more resources will be devoted to JPA than the other services.

The Documentation team will not document EIS, SDO, or any other "native" TopLink functionality (i.e., non-JPA such as ORM, OX, etc.)..

Documentation Design

The wiki topics will be handled as follows:

• All EclipseLink documentation will be maintained under the Documentation Center on the EclipseLink wiki at <a href="http://wiki.eclipse.org/EclipseLink/UserGuide">http://wiki.eclipse.org/EclipseLink/UserGuide</a>.
• Versioning will be handled as follows:
• A note "New in EL 2.n" will be placed next to new topics in the TOCs, where n refers to the release when the feature was introduced. This is currently handled using template {{EclipseLink/NewIn2n}}.
• A note  " New in version 2.n." will be added at the beginning of a topic documenting a new feature.  This is currently handled using
  New in version 2.n.
  .
• If a new feature is handled in an existing topic and the topic changes more than 50%, the note " New in version 2.n." will be placed at the beginning of the topic or at the beginning of the appropriate section.
• Header and footers on the wiki page will contain no references to release numbers.
• If a feature is deprecated, a note will placed next to the documentation for the feature.
• Each topic will document one "feature." The term "feature" here is somewhat loose. In some cases, it is a single annotation. In some cases, the topic will document how to use multiple annotations together for a specific purpose, e.g., single-table multi=tenancy.
• These topics are more-or-less "reference" topics. That is, they document the primary APIs and XML used to implement the feature. There can be limited discussion about how to use the code to achieve the purpose of the feature, but we will not attempt to put the feature in a larger context or to fully document all related features.
• The JPA topics will primarily focus on using annotations, when they are available. For example, a topic may begin with something like, "Use the @Xyz annotation to…" and most or all examples and code snippets will show annotations. When the feature can also be coded using XML, the topic can discuss the XML (including a reference to the schema), but the documentation for XML will not be as extensive as the documentation for the annotation.
• Every topic will cross-reference:
•  Any associated example provided by Development and located in the Samples section of the wiki.
• Any associated Javadoc. When an annotation is available, the reference will be to the annotation(s), not the "native API."
• The Documentation team will not document features that are not EclipseLink-specific. In particular, features that are documented in the specification for the underlying technology. For example features documented in the JSR-000317 JavaTM Persistence 2.0 specification will not be documented.  However, anyone with permission to edit the wiki may add topics to the wiki. As time permits, the Documentation team may provide advice on the organization of topics. Any non-Documentation person adding topics is responsible for adding and maintaining the following:
• Previous and Next browse sequence links at the bottom of the page
• Links from the Table of Contents
• Links from the parent, or container, topic, if there is one. For example, the JPA documentation includes a "Weaving Topic" which introduces several weaving-related topics under it.

Note: A container topic should not contain only a list of links. Every topic must include at least an overview sentence. For example:  "The EclipseLink cache is an in-memory repository that stores recently read or written objects based on class and primary key values. Caching is discussed in the following topics:"

• Individual topics will not include cross references to the standard specifications (JPA, JAXB). There will be one overview topic (or an overview topic for each service) that will contain the link to the appropriate specification.
• If design documents (specs) are not available or do not contain enough source material (including examples), writers will file bugs against Development via BugZilla.

Tasks/Deliverables

The following tasks are not specifically associated with the EclipseLink 2.4 release but will be handled by the Documentation team during this period:

General

The following tables show the features that will be documented for EL 2.4.

JPA Features

MOXy Features

DBWS Features

Printable Versions

We plan to provide a printable version of the EclipseLink wiki topics. When a new version of EclipseLink is released (and all documentation issues are wrapped up), we will  generate a PDF version (and, if possible an HTML version) of the wiki topics and post that as the official documentation for a certain release. Updates may continue to be made on the wiki, but the PDF/HTML will not be regenerated until the next release.

Details about how to accomplish this are not yet resolved.

Scheduling and Reviews

Schedules must include time for:

• Documentation reviews by Dev/QA. Reviews will be conducted on the wiki.
• A final production review of the wiki including, but not limited to:

• Links to samples
• Links to Javadoc
• Cross-references
• Style consistency

All writers will contribute to the production review.

Bugs

All writers must have BugZilla accounts and review and handle documentation bugs against their EclipseLink topics.

If a writer is responsible for a feature that has no corresponding design documentation or if the design documentation does not contain enough information (missing details, code snippets, release, etc.), the writer should file a BugZilla bug against Development. (Use your judgment: often a phone call or e-mail can clear up a problem.)

Assignments

Issues

• Printable Version: Details about how to accomplish this are not yet resolved.
• Metadata to improve searching