This document describes the changes made to the Javadoc tool
between versions 1.4.1 and 1.4.2.
The changes listed below include the bug number and whether the
fix was in the Javadoc tool front end ("tool") or standard doclet
("stddoclet"). The term "regression" appears for features that
regressed at some point -- for features that worked in 1.3.x, broke
in 1.4.0 or 1.4.1, and have been fixed in 1.4.2.
All known bugs related to the U.S. Government's Section 508
requirements for accessibility have been fixed in this version.
(,
stddoclet)
Include serialVersionUID in Serialized Form (,
stddoclet)
Can now inherit comments from source files not being
documented. Your code can automatically inherit comments from
interfaces and classes whose source files are on -sourcepath but
are not being passed in on the command line. For example,
for J2SE, You can do this by unzipping the src.zip file that ships
with the SDK (which does not contain all source files, however),
and add its path to -sourcepath. When javadoc runs on your code, it
will load the doc comments from those source files as needed. For
example, if a class in your code implements java.lang.Comparable,
the compareTo(Object) method you implement will
inherit the doc comment from java.lang.Comparable. This feature was
actually available in 1.4.1. (No bug number, tool)
When using the -link (or
-linkoffline) option, all @see and
{@link} tags now create links to excluded
classes. This fix greatly simplifies the ability to link to
external classes and members. Previously, an external class needed
to be either imported or fully qualified in a declaration in order
for @see or {@link} to link to its
documentation. Now, the only requirements are that the class be
fully qualified and that its API docs appear on the path supplied
by -link. (,
stddoclet)
Other new features are listed below.
Notable Bug Fixes
Links: Fixed @link of a fully-qualified program element to link
to external classes with the -link option. (,
tool, REGRESSION)
Links: Fixed missing internal links on return/parameter types
when .java files are passd in (,
tool)
Execution: Fixed so duplicate classes are documented (,
tool, REGRESSION)
Serialized form: Fixed link anchors to classes in serialized
form (,
stddoclet)
Javascript: Internet Explorer Javascript load error when linked
by -linkoffline (,
stddoclet, REGRESSION)
HTML: Fixed so there is no diff when passing in package names
or .java file names (,
stddoclet)
Other bug fixes are listed below.
Notable Known Bugs
Bugs that can hang the Javadoc tool and highly noticeable bugs are
listed here. You see a concise list of bugs listed at , and can view listings from
our database at .
Javadoc hangs without any useful message if {@inheritDoc} is
used in a member that cannot inherit a comment. (,
stddoclet) For example:
public class C {
/** {@inheritDoc} */
public abstract void m() {
}
}
Internet Explorer displays unnecessary horizontal scroll bar in
the main content pane when frames are showing. A simple workaround
is described in the bug report. (,
stddoclet)
New Features and Bug Fixes
All new features and bug fixes in 1.4.2 follow.
Command Line Options
New feature: Added -packagesheader option for upper left
frame (,
stddoclet)
New feature: Enable "-tag name" shortcut for "-tag
name:a:name" (,
stddoclet)
New feature: Added -linksourcetab option to convert each
tab to n spaces. This option is experimental and may change.
(,
stddoclet)
New feature: The -tag option now allows dash (-)
separator for xdoclet tags like @ejb:bean (,
stddoclet)
New feature: New -keywords option adds member names as
meta keyword tags to improve API search (,
stddoclet)
New feature: Added -Xwerror flag to exit nonzero if
there are warnings. (,
tool)
Bug fix: Fixed option -tag tagname:X:taghead so it no longer
requires taghead (,
stddoclet)
Bug fix: Documented -quiet option to quiet only the standard
doclet messages (,
stddoclet). Opened a new bug to request that it quiet the javadoc tool messages as
well.
Bug fix: Moved documentation for -source option from doclet
options to javadoc tool options -- it has always been a tool option
(,
stddoclet)
Tags
New feature: Javadoc now inherits @throws comments for
runtime exceptions (,
stddoclet)
New feature: Javadoc now warns when first argument of
@param is not parameter name (,
stddoclet)
Bug fix: Now compares fully qualified exception names when
inheriting @throws text (,
stddoclet)
Bug fix: Fixed missing 'Throws' heading when followed only by
auto-generated exceptions (,
stddoclet)
Bug fix: Fixed broken @inheritDoc when inheriting from abstract
superclass's interface (,
stddoclet)
API Specifications
New feature: Now includes serialVersionUID in Serialized
Form (
stddoclet)
New feature: Can now inherit comments from source files
not being documented. Your code can automatically inherit comments
from interfaces and classes whose source files are on -sourcepath
but are not being passed in on the command line. See
example. (No bug number, tool)
