Formatting code samples for developer docs

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Throughout the GLib/GTK documentation, the code samples follow a very predictable and standard style. What tool can I use to ensure my code samples conform to the coding style? (Maybe clang-format?)

Thank you.

[gwillems]

Hi,

GLib and Gtk have a .clang-format in their source code (example), that you can reuse.

Does that help?

[ebassi (Emmanuele Bassi)]

Unfortunately, the GTK coding style cannot be automated with existing tools. The closest you can get is by using uncrustify, but it still won’t format the arguments in a function properly, e.g.

bool
some_example_method (SomeExample  *self,
                     const char  **an_array,
                     size_t        array_length,
                     GError      **error)

GTK and GLib have a local .clang-format file in their repository because they have a CI job that checks contributions, but it’s mainly an advisory pass because clang-format does not cover all the conformant coding style.

This is unfortunate, and my recommendation is to use a coding style that can be automated, at least for your own projects and documentation. The GTK coding style should be reserved for contributing to GTK.

[pwithnall (Philip Withnall)]

Emmanuele is right. If you’re super-keen then one other option would be to improve clang-format (or uncrustify) so that it is flexible enough to replicate the GTK coding style, then everyone benefits. I don’t think it would need many new options to be able to replicate the style. There’s a lot of existing code out there which follows this style and which would benefit from automated style checking/enforcement.