Javadoc Comment Dialog Box

Using the Javadoc Comment dialog box, you can add or edit a documentation comment in your source code. Open the Javadoc Comment dialog box for a specific class by clicking the ellipsis button (...) in the Javadoc Comment property in the property inspector.

A Javadoc comment begins with the characters /**, ends with the characters */, and consists of two parts: text and tags.

Javadoc Comment Text

The first sentence of the comment should be a summary description of the declared entity. The text may include HTML elements (such as <B> and <I>) for formatting the description. Heading elements (such as <H1> and <H2>) are reserved for use by Javadoc. You can use the command buttons at the bottom of the Javadoc Comment dialog box to include the HTML elements <B>, <I>, <U>, <CODE>, and <PRE> and the Javadoc {@link} in the description. For example:
/**
* Returns the Class of this <I>Object</I>. 
* Java has a runtime representation for 
* classes--a descriptor of type Class-- 
* which the method getClass() returns for 
* any Object.
*/
You do not need to type the characters /** and */ or the leading asterisks in the the Javadoc Comment dialog box. These characters are automatically included when you click OK and the IDE adds the comment to the source code.

Tags

A Javadoc tag starts with the character @ followed by a special keyword. Tags are case sensitive. A Javadoc tag enables you to automatically generate information for the API documentation. For example, @author name adds an author entry with the specified name to the generated documentation. A tag must appear at the beginning of a line (otherwise it is treated as normal text). By convention, tags with the same name are grouped together. The following comment includes four Javadoc tags:
/**
* A class representing a screen window.
* For example:
*    Window win = new Window(parent);
*    win.show();
*
* @author  Lynne Sim
* @version 1.3 00/08/08
* @see     java.awt.BaseWindow
* @see     java.awt.Button */

To add a Javadoc tag to your comment, click New in the Javadoc Comment dialog box, select a Javadoc tag or type a new tag and click OK. Type the text of the tag in the Description field. The text may include HTML elements (such as <B> and <I>) and the inline Javadoc tag {@link}.

From the Javadoc Comment dialog box, you can modify the Tags list as needed:

To delete a tag from the list, select the tag and click Delete.
To change the order of the tags, select a tag and move it with the Move Up and Move Down buttons.
For more information on how to write Javadoc comments, see the Sun Microsystems web page at http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/javadoc/writingdoccomments/index.html. For detailed information about Javadoc tags, see http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/tooldocs/solaris/javadoc.html.
See also
Adding a Javadoc Comment to Source Code
Customizing the Output of Javadoc

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