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What the Standard Doclet Is
The standard doclet is the doclet provided by
SunTM that produces Javadoc's default
HTML-formatted API output. The
API documentation for the
JavaTM platform in this
JDKTM documentation is an example of
the standard doclet's output. Javadoc uses the standard doclet if
no other doclet is specified using Javadoc's -doclet option
on the command line.
The API documentation produced by the standard doclet has a different
format than that produced by the Javadoc tool in the JDK 1.1 software.
The output of the standard doclet has also changed during the
beta cycle of the JDK 1.2 software.
See Changes to Standard Doclet for a summary of these changes and for new requirements for writing
documentation comments in source code.
One reason to look at the standard doclet is
that it serves as a good example of the use of much of the doclet
API. A second reason is that by seeing how the standard doclet produces
the default HTML output, it will be easier for you to modify the standard
doclet to make your own doclet for generating custom API documentation.
Classes in the Standard Doclet
The standard doclet is comprised of
the classes in the com.sun.tools.doclets and
com.sun.tools.doclets.standard packages. These packages are not
a part of the core API of the Java platform.
Classes in the standard doclet that play key roles in generating
the default HTML output are summarized here:
- Standard - This class contains the start method and
hence serves as the entry point for the standard doclet. It orchestrates
the generation of the HTML API files for the packages and classes upon
which javadoc is operating.
- HtmlWriter - This class contains APIs for writing the various
HTML tags needed for generating any output in HTML form.
- HtmlDocWriter - This class extends HtmlWriter, and contains
additional HTML-related APIs for producing the specialized hyperlinks
used in the default HTML output, including links in the headers and
footers of the HTML pages.
- PackageIndexWriter - This class generates the overview-summary.html
file that lists all packages specified on the javadoc command line. As an
example, see the
overview-summary.html file in the API documentation for
this Java Development Kit.
- PackageIndexFrameWriter - This generates the
overview-frame.html file used for displaying the list of package
links in the upper-left frame in the frame-formatted default output. See
the overview-frame.html
file in the API documentation of this release of the JDK documentation.
- PackageFrameWriter - This generates the
package-frame.html file that lists the interfaces and classes in a
given package for displaying in the lower-left frame of the frame-formatted
default output. As an example of this type of page, see
the package-frame.html
file for java.awt in the API documentation of this release of the
JDK documentation.
- FrameOutputWriter - This generates the index.html file
used for presenting the frame-formated "cover page" of the API
documentation. See the
index.html file from the
JDK documentation as an example.
- PackageWriter - This generates the package-summary.html
files that list the interfaces and classes for a given package. For an
example of this type of page, see the
package-summary.html
page for java.lang in the API documentation of this release.
- ClassWriter - This generates the HTML API documentation for
each individual interface and class. For an example from the JDK
API documentation, see Font.html.
- SingleIndexWriter - This generates the single index file of
class members that the standard doclet produces when the
-splitindex option is not used.
- SplitIndexWriter - This generates the mutliple index files for the
class members that is generated when the Javadoc runs the standard doclet
with the -splitindex command-line option. The files are named index-1.html.
- TreeWriter - This class generates the overview-tree.html file
that lists the Class Hierarchy for the classes upon which the standard doclet
operates. For an example from the JDK API documentation,
see overview-tree.html.
- DeprecatedListWriter - This generates the file
deprecatedlist.html which lists deprecated APIs. As an example,
see the deprecated-list.html
file from the API documentation in this release.
- ClassUseMapper,
ClassUseWriter, and
PackageUseWriter -
These classes generate the "Use" files for classes and packages. Click the
"Use" link in the navigation bar to go to a class or package "use" page.
Examples of such pages are those for class
Character and
package java.lang.
- PackageListWriter
- generates the package-list text file that gets placed in the top-level
directory of the API documetation. This file is required for use with
standard doclet's -link command-line option. Standard doclet
class Extern also plays
a role in making the -link option work. See the Javadoc
reference pages ([Windows] [Solaris]) for details about this option.
- Group - This class handles
the grouping of packages in one or more tables on the
overview-summary.html page.
It supports the standard doclet's -group command-line option. See the
Javadoc reference pages ([Windows] [Solaris]) for details about this option.
Running the Standard Doclet
The standard doclet is invoked by default when no other doclet is
specified with the -doclet tag on the command line. For example,
running
% javadoc MyPackage
will use the standard doclet to produce the default-style HTML API
documentation for MyPackage. Running javadoc without the
-doclet option is equivalent to running javadoc using the
-doclet option to invoke the standard doclet. That is,
% javadoc MyClass.java
is equivalent to
% javadoc -doclet com.sun.tools.doclets.standard.Standard MyClass.java
The Source for the Standard Doclet
If you download and install the JDK documentation bundle, you will find
the source files for the standard doclet in the directories
docs/tooldocs/javadoc/source and
docs/tooldocs/javadoc/source/standard. You can browse the source
code here:
