= How to contribute to the reference manual

The Spring Framework reference manual uses http://asciidoctor.org/[asciidoctor]. This
document describes how to contribute documentation updates.

== Building with Gradle

You can build the documentation using Gradle using the `asciidoctor` task. For example, from
the project root execute the following command:

	./gradlew asciidoctor

The generated reference manual will then be available at `build/asciidoc/html5/index.html`.

== Live editing

One of the nice features about using asciidoctor is the support for live editing.

You will find a Guardfile already present at `spring-framework/src/asciidoc/Guardfile`.
Make sure first to follow the setup instructions within the
http://asciidoctor.org/docs/editing-asciidoc-with-live-preview/[Editing AsciiDoc with Live Preview]
document. Once you have done that, there are additional gems to install to make it work
(assuming that you are using http://livereload.com/[LiveReload]):

	gem install guard-rspec guard-livereload

When running `guard start` within the `src/asciidoc/` folder, any changes to the
`src/asciidoc/index.adoc` file will automatically be written to
`src/asciidoc/build/index.html`.

== Troubleshooting

* If you are using LiveReload, make sure to select _Allow access to file URLs_ in the
  LiveEdit plugin options of your browser.
* The icon used to enable _LiveReload_ can be a bit confusing. The dot is empty when it is
  disabled and full when the plugin is active. Make sure to enable it on the tab
  displaying the `index.html` file.
* Ensure you are _not_ running guard start at all as two instances could not run at the
  same time. To exit a current session in a clean way, just type e in the shell.

== Documentation notes

Some notes on documentation

* Documentation is wrapped at 90 chars; ensure that you manually wrap your edits.
* Tabs are used for indentation; do not use spaces.
* Follow the existing style when inserting `source` blocks.
* http://asciidoctor.org/docs/asciidoc-syntax-quick-reference/[Asciidoctor Quick Reference]
* http://asciidoctor.org/docs/user-manual/[Asciidoctor Manual]
* http://asciidoctor.org/docs/asciidoc-writers-guide/[Asciidoctor Writers Guide]