The Standard Doclet

Contents

• What the Standard Doclet Is
• Classes in the Standard Doclet
• Running the Standard Doclet
• The Source for the Standard Doclet

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

• 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 -breakindex 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.

% javadoc MyPackage

% javadoc MyClass.java

% javadoc -doclet com.sun.tools.doclets.standard.Standard MyClass.java

• Standard Doclet Source Files

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