Creating Documentation with Javadoc - Java Programming: Comprehensive Concepts and Techniques - page 956

Table E-2 Documentation Pages Created by Javadoc

PAGE NAME PURPOSE

allclasses-noframe.html A documentation page that lists all classes using no frames.

allclasses-frame.html A documentation page that lists all classes used in lower-left frame of index

page.

classname.html One basic file is created for each class or interface that is documented. The file

is named the same as the classname with the extension .html (for example,
SampleJavadoc.html).

constant-values.html A documentation page that lists values of all static fields.

help-doc.html A documentation page that lists user help for how these pages are organized.

index.html An initial page that sets up HTML frames; file itself contains no text content.

index-all.html The default alphabetical index of all classes and methods.

overview-tree.html A cross-reference page that lists class hierarchy for all packages.

package-list.txt A file used to link to other documentation. This is a text file, not HTML, and is

not reachable through any links.

stylesheet.css A supporting style sheet file that controls basic formatting, including color, font

family, font size, font style, and positioning on the Javadoc-generated pages.

By default, Javadoc uses a standard doclet file provided by Sun Microsystems to specify the content
and format of the HTML-formatted program documentation. You can modify the standard doclet,
however, to customize the output of Javadoc as you wish, or write your own doclet to generate pages in
other formats, such as XML or Rich Text Format (RTF).

Writing Doclets
You can write a new doclet from scratch using the doclet API, or you can start with the
standard doclet and modify it to suit your needs. For more information on writing
doclets, visit the Sun Microsystems Web site.

The Javadoc tool will generate either two or three HTML frames, based on whether you use
Javadoc to document only one or multiple packages. When you pass a single package name or source
file as an argument into Javadoc, it will create two frames: a main frame with an overview page and a
left frame listing classes. When you pass two or more package names into Javadoc, it will create three
frames: a main frame with an overview page, an upper-left frame listing all packages, and a lower-left
frame listing all classes. A user viewing the documentation can remove the frames by clicking the No
Frames link at the top of the overview page.