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All
SPICE APIs (subroutines) include substantial user documentation,
provided in a consistent form. This documentation is provided at
the top of every API in what is called the "header." For FORTRAN
versions it also occurs at every entry point within an API for those APIs
where multiple entry points are defined.
Most APIs include one or more working code fragments showing how one might use the API.
The "header" information may be viewed by opening up the relevant source
code API using any available text editor or text viewer. Even easier access
to these headers is obtained using the Toolkit's HTML documentation
capabilities, accessible from the /doc/html/index.html file contained in
every Toolkit, and also from the
html documentation pages of this website.
Because all of the SPICE Toolkit headers are offered in html format, and
since these are open on the web, you can see any API's header using your
favorite search engine.
For instance, to see the header for the top-level SPK "reader" API, named
spkezr, you could simply search for "spkezr" to see the Fortran header, or
"cspice_spkezr" to see the cspice header.
Extensive additional
documentation about all members of major families of APIs (e.g.
the SPK family or the rotations family) is provided in a series
of technical reference documents often referred to as "required
reading" documents. Text-format versions, having file names like
*.req, are provided in the /doc directory within
each Toolkit. HTML versions may be accessed from the /doc/html/index.html
file contained in every Toolkit, and from the
html documentation pages of this website.
A compendium of the approximately 100 Most Used APIs showing calling
sequences and some examples is provided in each Toolkit. This document is
also available from the /doc/html/index.html file contained in every Toolkit,
and from the
Documentation pages of this website.
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