Thread: API For Analyzing Javadoc

I've been tasked with checking over our product's javadocs. The product contains...I don't know how many hundred source files (thankfully, don't have to check them all). I've began to notice a trend of similar small mistakes which I expect will be repeated throughout the entire product. So, in the spirit of developer's natural instinct to be efficiently lazy, I've started to wonder if there is an API out there which will allow me to run a quick check for common mistakes in our javadocs across the entire product.

Does anyone know if there is an API out there which can analyze javadocs? Ideally, I'd like to be able to write a quick and dirty program to recurse through the project structures and generate a small report on common mistakes in the javadocs (inconsistent phrasing, common capitalization issues, ect.). I can think of a couple ways of accomplishing this if I had an API which gave me access to a class's javadocs. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Originally Posted by aussiemcgr

Does anyone know if there is an API out there which can analyze javadocs?

There is the Doclet API, see here Javadoc Technology

A "doclet" receives a (big) set of informations extracted from sources by the javadoc tool and generates all the output files for the javadoc documentation.

I'm confused by the Doclet API. It seems to just be all interfaces, and all the examples seem to be about creating the javadoc pages, instead of reading information stored in the javadoc comments. Would I have to implement the entire package to create something functional?

Originally Posted by aussiemcgr

I'm confused by the Doclet API. It seems to just be all interfaces, and all the examples seem to be about creating the javadoc pages, instead of reading information stored in the javadoc comments. Would I have to implement the entire package to create something functional?

The Javadoc tool parses source files and "pass" objects and informations to a doclet. The standard doclet generates a mix of HTML/CSS and the output is what all us can see at Java Platform SE 7 (in Java 7 the standard doclet was changed to improve substantially the "look-and-feel" of javadoc).

I think nobody prohibits to create a doclet just to print/generate some simple summaries or even do tests/validations on the javadoc comments. However I never heard about similar cases.

Wait, so is the com.sun.javadoc package not in the standard JRE? Because Eclipse can't seem to find it.

Originally Posted by aussiemcgr

Wait, so is the com.sun.javadoc package not in the standard JRE? Because Eclipse can't seem to find it.

From Doclet Overview

"The doclet API class files are in the lib/tools.jar file in the SDK. When you compile a doclet, the tools.jar must be on the class path."