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Introduction

Welcome to JELDoclet home page. This is where you will find information about JELDoclet, the people that write it, and downloads for the latest source.

What is JELDoclet?

JELDoclet is a tool for engineers working with a Java codebase. The tool fits into the Javadoc framework and exports the contents of the Javadoc system as XML instead of HTML.

The output XML includes:

The classes and interfaces
The fields of each class, whether they are public, protected or private
The constructors and methods of each class. Including their arguments and return values.
The superclass of each class.
Which interfaces the class extends.
All of the JavaDoc comments associated with each class, field, constructor and method.

If you can think of anything we left out, please let us know.

Why output JavaDoc as XML?

Exporting the JavaDoc contents as XML allows JavaDoc to become a link in a pipeline code processing system. For example, the XML generated by JELDoclet could be used to feed another generator which takes the XML as input and creates new classes to augment the existing classes.

The value of JELDoclet exporting the XML is that these external processes need not be doclets themselves. Having the XML as an intermediary form allows code generators to be built externally to the Doclet system. As long as the XML exists, regardless of the source, the generator can perform it's function.

Should the JavaDoc system change the JELDoclet system can be altered to match the changes to JavaDoc while still exporting the same XML.

What does JEL stand for?

Java Export Language.

What else is JELDoclet good for?

It serves as a small practical example of the use of Sun's Doclet API. As such it serves as a nice starting point for developing Doclets, or as code to use as an example of the use of the Doclet API.

What is the current status?

JELDoclet is code complete, but has not yet been tested on platforms other than Windows. In addition the code has only been tested on JDK version 1.4.1 (which is the latest at the time of this writing).

What is the next phase of development?

Testing on multiple platforms.

Outside of that there are no plans to add more functionality to JELDoclet. The Doclet exports the information that is available. This was the purpose of the project so no further implementation is required.

How do I download it?

Downloads are avialable from Sourceforge.

How can I contribute?

By fixing bugs or testing on platforms other than Windows. As mentioned previously we are not extending the functionality of JELDoclet at this time.