📋 What Is It?

Joomla Component Builder (JCB) includes a documentation engine that automatically extracts and compiles structural information from your component’s blueprint. This includes:

• Admin Views & Site Views
• Field definitions (types, constraints, bindings)
• Dynamic GETs and linked tables
• Snippets, Layouts, Templates
• Menu and Route settings
• Permissions, Field ACL, Custom Code hooks

It creates a hierarchical breakdown of how your component is built — and this documentation can be compiled into:

• Markdown (.md) files
• README files (per entity or full component)
• JSON/HTML exports (for advanced workflows)
• Build summary reports

📦 What’s Included in the Structure Docs?

A typical auto-documentation export includes:

🧩 Component Overview

• Component Name, Namespace, Slug
• Joomla Version Compatibility
• Created/Last Compiled Date
• Total Views, Fields, Files, Layouts

🧠 View Breakdown

• Admin Views & Site Views listed by name
• Linked tables, field counts, template/layout binding
• ACL settings per view

🧾 Field Table

• Field names, types, required/unique/nullable flags
• Save/get hooks
• Display settings (list/edit/config)
• Associated models

📚 Templates & Layouts

• List of all layouts and templates in use
• Files generated for each (e.g., tmpl/default.php, layout_list.php)
• Snippets and JS/CSS libraries linked per template

🔗 Relationships & Logic

• Subform relations between views
• Dynamic GETs and related joins
• Menu entries and routes
• Joomla Update Server support settings

📜 Code Metadata

• Custom code injection points
• Insert/replace tag references
• Snippet/Template/Field reuse counts

🔍 Where It Appears

• Build Summary modal (during compile)
• Per-component README.md
• Internal JCB documentation dashboard
• Can be exported manually for publishing
• Optionally embedded in distribution ZIPs

✅ Why It Matters

• Enables onboarding new developers without reverse engineering
• Makes refactoring safer by exposing component structure
• Supports maintainers by documenting how the component was built
• Enhances transparency when sharing or publishing your work

💡 Pro Tips

• Enable README auto-generation in the compiler settings
• Use the Entity-level “README View” to preview or export per-view documentation
• Integrate with Git commits to track structural changes over time

📍 Conclusion

Auto‑Documented Component Structure is more than a convenience — it's an essential companion for long-term maintainability and collaborative development. By having clear, version-controlled documentation built right into your JCB workflow, your components stay understandable, testable, and future-ready.