A Visual Studio Extension to generate XML documentation automatically for c# code using IntelliSense for interface,class,enum, field, constructor, property and method. While VS2022 provides basic documentation capabilities this fills the gap in trying to populate the summary and return nodes. This also gives control over how the summaries are translated.
Download and install the VSIX from the VS Marketplace
- When you installed it successful to your Visual Studio. You can see the warning wave line below the members which don't have documentation on it.
- Then you can click the bulb to see the fix option. When you click the option, the documentation will be added.
- You can use shortcut(Alt+Enter or Ctrl+.) to quickly add the documentation. Documentation fixes can be implemented at the member, document, project, and solution levels.
To adjust these defaults go to Tools > Options > CodeDocumentor
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Exclude async wording from comments | When documenting members skip adding asynchronously to the comment. |
Include <value> node in property comments |
When documenting properties add the value node with the return type |
| Enable comments for public members only | When documenting classes, fields, methods, and properties only add documentation headers if the item is public |
| Use natural language for return comments | When documenting members if the return type contains a generic then translate that item into natural language. The default uses CDATA nodes to show the exact return type. Example Enabled: <return>A List of Strings</return> Example Disabled: <returns><![CDATA[Task<int>]]></returns> |
| Use TODO comment when summary can not be determined | When documenting methods that can not create a valid summary insert TODO instead. Async is ignored in evaluation. Using this in conjunction with the vs2022 Task Window you can quickly find all summaries that could not be generated. |
| Word mappings for creating comments | When documenting if certain word are matched it will swap out to the translated mapping. |
| Default Diagnostics | Allows setting a new default diagnostic level for evaluation. Default is Warning. A restart of Visual Studio is required on change. |
As part of the settings WordMaps can be defined to help control how you want text displayed. There are already a set of default WordMaps defined.
These are the recommended settings that create the best output experience
- For method documenting it will scan the method code for any exceptions and automatically add them as exception nodes
- For method generic return types it uses XML CDATA so the actual generic type is displayed
- For method documenting where generics are used typeparam nodes are added.
To adjust these defaults go to Tools > Options > CodeDocumentor
There are 2 ways to exclude analyzer messaging. Defauly level is set to Warning
- Add the SuppressMessage attribute to any member.
- Add DiagnosticId exclusions to the editorconfig
- CD1600: Class
- CD1601: Constructor
- CD1602: Enum
- CD1603: Field
- CD1604: Interface
- CD1605: Method
- CD1606: Property
- CD1608: Record
- Class
- Method
- Interface
- Property
- Field
- Constructor
- Enum
- Record
[System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("XMLDocumentation", "")]//This will remove the analyzer messaging for entire class and all child members
[System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis.SuppressMessage("XMLDocumentation", "")]
public class Test<T>
{
public string GetAsync(string name)
{
return name;
}
public TResult Tester<TResult>()
{
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(Tester));
return default;
}
}
Special Thanks This was forked and modified from jinyafeng