Code example with annotation in JavaDoc

Question

my JavaDoc doesn't work when I have a code example with an annotation.

Any suggestions?

/**
 * <pre>
 * public class Demo {
 *    @DemoAnnotation
 *    public void demoMethod() {
 *    }
 * }
 * </pre>
 */ 
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target({ElementType.METHOD})
public @interface DemoAnnotation {

Answer 1

A more general solution: {@literal @}

The {@literal} tag denotes literal text. The enclosed text is interpreted as not containing HTML markup or nested javadoc tags. For example, the doc comment text: {@literal a<B>c} displays in the generated HTML page unchanged: a<B>c -- that is, the <B> is not interpreted as bold.

Requires Java 5+

Answer 2

You must replace @ with @ in your JavaDoc.

Answer 3

use <code> like this:

/**
 * <pre><code>
 *    public class Demo {
 *      @DemoAnnotation
 *      public void demoMethod() {
 *      }
 *    }
 * </code></pre>
 */ 

produces a paragraph while alone can also be used inline.

Answer 4

You can also use @code to escape the annotation, but you must do each one individually like this:

/**
 * <pre>
 * public class Demo {
 *   {@code @DemoAnnotation }
 *   {@code @AnotherAnnotation }
 *    public void demoMethod() {
 *    }
 * }
 * </pre>
 */
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target({ElementType.METHOD})
public @interface DemoAnnotation {

will render like this:

public class Demo {
    @DemoAnnotation
    @AnotherAnnotation
    public void demoMethod() {
    }
}

Note: It will not work to simply wrap both annotations - or the entire code sample - in one @code block.

Answer 5

You must use the @Documented annotation for adding annotations in the javadoc. Check the implementation on the API