Running JavaDoc

The reason I am drilling home the idea of properly documenting your code is because there are tools that will automatically convert this information into on-line readable documentation. How cool is this! To perform this capability yourself, follow these steps.

Select Target code

Select the class, package, or Project for which you would like to generate JavaDocumentation. Then Select menu option Project -> Generate Javadoc...

The first time you launch the JavaDoc tool, you will have to configure it.

Note that you can click on the "Configure..." button. If you have properly downloaded and installed the J2SE JDK (not just the Java Runtime Environment [JRE]) then you will be able to browse to the location where you installed Java. It should be something like:

C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0_05\bin\javadoc.exe

Once you have located this tool, you can click "Finish". You will be asked:

This is a one-time question, to which you can answer 'yes'. Once it completes successfully, you will see the following added to your Project:

To make it easier to look at this information, you might choose the small inverted Triangle in the bar below the Package Explorer, select "Layout" and choose "Hierarchical".

Find the index.html file and open it in the web browser. You can now inspect your code from a documentation perspective.