XML documentation (Visual C++)
In Visual C++, you can add comments to your source code that are processed to an XML documentation file. This file can then be the input to a process that creates documentation for the classes in your code.
In a Visual C++ code file, XML documentation comments must be located directly before a method or type definition. The comments can be used to populate the IntelliSense QuickInfo data tip in the following scenarios:
When the code is compiled as a Windows Runtime component with a WINMD file
When the source code is included in the current project
In a library whose type declarations and implementations are located in the same header file
Note
In the current release, code comments aren't processed on templates or anything containing a template type (for example, a function taking a parameter as a template). Adding such comments will result in undefined behavior.
For details on creating an XML file with documentation comments, see the following articles.
| For information about | See |
|---|---|
| The compiler options to use | /doc |
| Tags you can use to provide commonly used functionality in documentation | Recommended tags for documentation comments |
| The ID strings that the compiler produces to identify the constructs in your code | Processing the XML File |
| How to delimit documentation tags | Delimiters for Visual C++ documentation tags |
| Generating an XML file from one or more XDC files. | XDCMake reference |
| Links to information about XML as it relates to Visual Studio feature areas | XML in Visual Studio |
If you need to put XML special characters in the text of a documentation comment, you must use XML entities or a CDATA section.