Understand Source Discovery Processing

Source discovery processing examines your product source to identify the screens, product surfaces, and documentation entities that can support documentation generation. Understanding this process helps you verify that the right parts of your product are available before you create User Guides or User Manuals.

Overview

When you use source-based documentation features, Atloria organizes what it finds into meaningful product information. This includes user-facing product surfaces, such as pages, layouts, and components, as well as supporting entities such as services, routes, contexts, stores, and data-related elements.

Discovery distinguishes between entity types so that documentation can be built with the right context. For example, a user-facing COMPONENT, PAGE, or LAYOUT can contribute to a description of what users see, while a SERVICE, CONTROLLER, or REPOSITORY can help establish how a feature is supported behind the scenes.

Atloria also identifies relationships between entities. These relationships can show that one component RENDERS another, a component USES HOOK, a screen CALLS API, or a service QUERIES MODEL. This information helps Atloria connect visible product behavior with the supporting documentation context.

📷 Screenshot pending: Source discovery view showing product surfaces, discovered entities, and their relationships.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• Access to the product workspace you want to document.
• Source material available for analysis or import.
• Permission to generate or manage documentation in the workspace.
• A clear understanding of whether you are creating User Guides, User Manuals, or another documentation type.
• Any existing documentation ready if you plan to use Or import existing documentation instead of generating documentation from discovered source context.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Open the product workspace where you want to prepare documentation context.

2. Select Product to review the product-level documentation area.

3. Open Source to access source-based analysis and discovery information.

4. Review the discovered product surfaces to confirm that user-facing areas of the product are represented.

5. Use Search entities… to find a specific discovered entity by name.

6. Select a result from Search entities… to review the entity’s available context.

7. Check the entity type to understand its role in the product structure.

8. Confirm whether the entity is a user-facing item, such as a COMPONENT, PAGE, or LAYOUT.

9. Confirm whether the entity is a supporting item, such as a SERVICE, CONTROLLER, REPOSITORY, CONTEXT, or STORE.

10. Review the entity relationships to understand how the selected item connects to other discovered items.

11. Look for relationships such as RENDERS when you need to understand which visible elements appear within another component or page.

12. Look for USES HOOK, USES CONTEXT, or USES STORE when you need to understand how a screen obtains its behavior or state.

13. Look for CALLS API, IMPLEMENTS API, or USES SERVICE when you need to understand supporting product behavior.

14. Review documentation-related entities when you need to identify existing documentation context.

15. Select View Source when you need to compare the discovered entity with its available source representation.

16. Return to the documentation area after you have confirmed the relevant product surfaces and entities.

17. Select 📋 User Manuals when you are preparing end-user documentation.

18. Select User Guides when you are preparing guided documentation for product users.

19. Select Generate Documentation → after you have confirmed that the relevant source context is available.

📷 Screenshot pending: The Source area with the “Search entities…” field and a list of discovered product entities.

Tips and Best Practices

• Start with user-facing entities. For an enterprise user manual, prioritize discovered PAGE, LAYOUT, and COMPONENT entities because these are most likely to represent screens and visible product surfaces.

• Use relationship information to confirm context rather than treating every discovered item as a separate user task. For example, an entity with a RENDERS relationship may be part of a larger screen rather than a standalone destination for users.

• Search by familiar product names. Use Search entities… to locate recognizable screen, feature, or service names. This is especially useful in large products with many discovered entities.

• Review supporting entities when a visible surface needs clarification. A SERVICE or CONTROLLER may not appear in a user manual, but its relationships can help identify the purpose of a visible screen or action.

• Keep documentation types distinct. Use 📋 User Manuals and User Guides for end-user content. If your workspace supports multiple documentation styles, make sure you select the type that matches your audience before choosing Generate Documentation →.

• Import existing content when appropriate. Select Or import existing documentation if your team already has approved material that should be used alongside discovered product context.

• Treat discovery as context preparation. Discovery helps Atloria identify what your product contains; you should still review generated documentation to ensure that terminology, navigation, and instructions match what users actually see.

📷 Screenshot pending: Documentation area showing “📋 User Manuals,” “User Guides,” “Or import existing documentation,” and “Generate Documentation →”.

Related Pages

• Create User Manuals
• Generate Documentation
• Import Existing Documentation
• Review Product Surfaces
• Search and Review Entities
• Export Documentation

Troubleshooting

I cannot find the product surface I expected

Use Search entities… with the screen name, feature name, or a related term. If no relevant result appears, verify that the correct product workspace and source context are selected before generating documentation.

I found an entity, but it does not look like a screen

Check its entity type and relationships. Items such as SERVICE, REPOSITORY, CONTEXT, and STORE are supporting entities rather than user-facing surfaces. Look for connected PAGE, LAYOUT, or COMPONENT entities to find the visible product area.

The generated documentation does not focus on the right user experience

Before selecting Generate Documentation →, review the discovered product surfaces and their related entities. Prioritize the user-facing entities that represent the workflow you want to document, then generate content from that confirmed context.