Question

Is there a way to get the @param comments for a method in Java? I know it could be easily achieved by parsing each java file. However this seems like something that should already be available in a tool like JavaCC.

Example – I want to be able to read ch and observer:

* @param ch        the character to be tested
* @param observer  the image observer to be notified

Answer 1

If you have the sources, you might like to consider using QDox which is described as a high speed, small footprint parser for extracting class/interface/method definitions from source files complete with JavaDoc @tags. It is designed to be used by active code generators or documentation tools.

Sample code from documentation:

JavaMethod mth = cls.getMethods()[0];

// Access the JavaDoc comment
String comment = mth.getComment();
  // "This method does nothing at all."

// Access a single doclet tag
DocletTag returns = mth.getTagByName("returns");
returns.getName(); // "returns";
returns.getValue(); // "A boolean of whether we care or not."

// Access multiple doclet tags with the same name
DocletTag[] params = mth.getTagsByName("param");
params[0].getValue(); // "Someone's email address."
params[1].getValue(); // "Date of birth."

// Access specific parameters of a doclet tag by index
DocletTag permission = mth.getTagByName("permission");
permission.getParameter[0]; // "administrator"
permission.getParameter[1]; // "full-access"

// Access specific parameters of a doclet tag by name
DocletTag webservice = mth.getTagByName("webservice");
webservice.getNamedParameter("type"); // "rpc"
webservice.getNamedParameter("name"); // "myservice"