Develop Reference

using :ref: in Python docstrings using Sphinx

I'm using Sphinx to document a python project, and I'm trying to create a reusable tip to be used in several locations.
Typically, I'll use the following syntax in a python file:
"""
.. tip::
I want this tip to be used in several locations. Why?
- Save time
- Work less
"""
Now this works whether I put it at the beginning of the file, right under class definition or right under function definition.
I found Sphinx's manual for :ref:, which suggests to use a label:
.. _my_reusable_tip:
.. tip::
...
And then call this tip with :ref:`my_reusable_tip` anywhere I want.
The manual states that 'it works across files, when section headings are changed, and for all builders that support cross-references'
The thing is, it doesn't matter in which .py file in the project I write the label and tip definition, the :ref:`my_reusable_tip` just displays 'my_reusable_tip', and not the tip itself.
What I'm using to build the documentation is
sphinx-apidoc -f -F -o
make html
I'm pretty sure my logic is flawed in some way, but I can't figure out why.
I know that Sphinx searches the project for reStructuredText and renders it if it can, but I think I'm missing something here.
I tried to add this label in a seperate .py file enclosed in """, and in a separate .txt file without enclosed """.
I tried creating an .rst file with the label definition and rebuild the html documentation.
What am I missing here?
Python 3.4.3 BTW.

In sphinx, a :ref: is simply a more robust way of linking (or referencing) another part of the document. Thus, your use of :ref: will simply provide a hyperlink to the label.
It is not a way of substituting or expanding a block.
Inline substitutions are available using using |...|, however an inline substitution cannot be used to substitute a block as you seem to require.
RestructuredText is not a template language, and thus doesn't provide macro like facilities. In the event you need it, an alternative solution is to use a template library such as mako or jinja to deal with this kind of issue.

Just using reStructuredText directive
.. include:: ./my_reusable_tip.txt
in your rst files?

Documenting parameters with long descriptions in Sphinx

I'm documenting my Python classes using Sphinx, and sometimes I want to give my parameters quite long descriptions to explain something in details. Unfortunately, Sphinx generates ugly output for me which wastes a lot of space and breaks the whole page appearance:
It can be seen that Sphinx creates a table, then puts "Parameters" header to the left cell, and the actual list of parameters to the right cell. But there should be way to avoid creating this table completely. After playing with the page DOM tree I finally can show that I want to achieve:
Is there a built-in way to do this or I'd have to create a PR to Sphinx theme or Sphinx itself?

After posting an issue to Sphinx bug-tracker and having no response, I've decided to roll-out my own solution (better say, hack). To achieve the look I want, I have written a simple Sphinx extension which post-processes generated HTML code. It can be found on PyPI:
https://pypi.python.org/pypi/sphinxcontrib.divparams
https://pythonhosted.org/sphinxcontrib.divparams/
This doesn't seem to be the best way to solve the issue, but the behaviour I wanted to change is deeply hard-coded in docutils, not Sphinx.

Python and JavaScript/AngularJS documentation on the one server?

The advantages of this approach include:
Consistent docstring syntax everywhere
Centralsied documentation server; find all your docs in one place
Search and jump-to-source from any documented function or class; in either language
Are there any modules integrating with Sphinx or similar; which generate+put your JavaScript and Python documentation in one place?

I am not sure if your question is about public documentation or in-house documentation of some of your projects.
For the former you want to see this: http://devdocs.io/
Also devdocs document scrapers are open source, so you should be able to use them for your own projects to build custom devdocs.io.

Generate DITA xml from docstring

I need to document my project using DITA and I'm wondering if I can use python's docstring conventions and reStructuredText to create DITA's XMLs.
Any pointers?

Sorry to be a bit late to this question, but I've done some work along these lines and put the resulting kit into this repository:
https://github.com/donrday/rst2dita
I hope there is something there that you or others can make use of.

I think what you could do is that
You process your Python docstrings using Sphinx and its autodoc syntax
You write custom output formatter to Sphinx which will generate DITA XML instead of HTML
Some work, but doable.

Why does Sphinx generate json?

I notice that Sphinx has the ability to generate documentation in JSON. What are these files used for?

As the docs say, it's
for use of a web application (or
custom postprocessing tool) that
doesn’t use the standard HTML
templates.
json's a good simple way for language-agnostic data interchange, so, why not?-)

I assume you're talking about the SerializingHTMLBuilder, in which case I think the answer might be that there isn't necessarily a specific purpose in mind. Rather many things provide conversion routines of various kinds with a "loads/dumps" API convention, and the json module (known as simplejson before it was brought standard library in 2.6) is but one of many such packages.
Presumably some people would prefer to work with data in JSON format for their own purposes. If I were trying to build some sort of dynamic Javascripty documentation system, I could well imagine choosing to use JSON as the way to get documentation from the backend out to the client in a manageable format, if for some reason HTML or XML didn't seem like the better option.