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XML documentation (Visual C++)

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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:

  1. When the code is compiled as a Windows Runtime component with a WINMD file

  2. When the source code is included in the current project

  3. 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.

See also

Component extensions for runtime platforms