No top navbar or TOC sidebar in generated home about docfx

[NattyXO]

1. Verify TOC File Content:

Ensure that the toc.yml and docs/toc.yml files are correctly formatted. Check for proper indentation, correct file paths, and valid YAML syntax.

2. Check Navigation Configuration:

Confirm that your docfx.json file is referencing the correct TOC files and that these files are included in the content section of your build configuration.

3. Template Configuration:

Review the template configuration in docfx.json. Ensure that the selected templates (default, modern, etc.) support the navigation elements you expect (top menubar and TOC sidebar).

4. Home/Index File Configuration:

Ensure that your index.md file in the root folder contains appropriate metadata or configuration to link to the TOC and navigate to different sections of the documentation.

5. Serve Command:

When using docfx --serve, check the console output for any error messages related to template rendering or missing files. This might provide clues about what's causing the navigation elements to not appear.

6. Template Overrides (if necessary):

If the default templates are not displaying as expected, consider creating custom overrides for templates or modifying existing templates to include the desired navigation elements.

7. DocFX Version Compatibility:

Although you mentioned using the latest version, sometimes certain features or behaviors might differ between versions. Consider checking for any GitHub issues or release notes related to navigation or TOC rendering in your specific version of DocFX.

Example Index.md Configuration:

Ensure that your index.md contains proper metadata to link to the TOC and define the structure of the homepage:

---
uid: index
title: Home
---

# Welcome to Documentation

- [Introduction](docs/introduction.md)
- [Getting Started](docs/start.md)
- [API Documentation](api/index.html) <!-- Replace with the actual link to your API documentation -->

[Myrmex]

Thank you for your precious troubleshooting hints! I realized my script was just missing the top-level toc.yml file, as I had to change the default one to fit my directory structure and I forgot to adjust it accordingly.

So in the end, for those like me using a default directory structure in a VS solution, where the .sln file is at the root, and each project .csproj is under its subfolder, and additionally you have all of your conceptual documentation under a docs subfolder (with their images under docs/img), you can follow these steps:

1. of course, ensure to install docfx: dotnet tool update -g docfx (globally).
2. under the solution root folder, create a new project: docfx init.
3. adjust the created docfx.json folder like this:

{
  "metadata": [
    {
      "src": [
        {
          "src": ".",
          "files": ["**/*.csproj"],
          "exclude": ["**/*.Test.csproj", "**/bin/**", "**/obj/**"]
        }
      ],
      "dest": "api"
    }
  ],
  "build": {
    "content": [
      {
        "files": [
          "toc.yml",
          "index.md",
          "docs/**/*.md",
          "docs/**/*.yml",
          "api/**.yml",
          "api/index.md"
        ],
        "exclude": ["_site/**", "docs/old/**"]
      }
    ],
    "resource": [
      {
        "files": ["docs/img/**"]
      }
    ],
    "output": "_site",
    "template": ["default", "modern"],
    "globalMetadata": {
      "_appName": "APPNAME",
      "_appTitle": "APPTITLE",
      "_enableSearch": true,
      "pdf": true
    }
  }
}

I also add _site and api to the .gitignore excluded files so that all what is needed in the repository is docfx.json, toc.yml, and index.md at the root solution level; the content of these folders is generated by the tool and thus can be safely excluded from the repository, which instead includes docs with its conceptual documentation.