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When do I use @see when dealing with JavaDocs? What is its usage?

For example if MethodA calls MethodB then do I have to put @see in MethodB's javadoc and reference MethodA because that is what called it, or do I have to put a reference to MethodB from MethodA because it's calling it. I've read the stuff about @see on the Oracle website and it seems to me to be incredibly vague, it says it means "see also" but not really what that means!

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    put @see in MethodB's javadoc and reference MethodA because that is what called it --> How would be ever possible to know all methods which call one of your methods ? Even if this is possible (say a private method used only once) linking from callee to caller sounds at least weird... Commented Sep 20, 2013 at 13:39
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    It means what it usually means in English: oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/see (definition 1.4) Commented Aug 23, 2016 at 15:30

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152

Yeah, it is quite vague.

You should use it whenever it may be useful for readers of the documentation of your method to also look at some other method. If the documentation of your methodA says "Works like methodB but ...", then you surely should put a link.

An alternative to @see would be the inline {@link ...} tag:

/** * ... * Works like {@link #methodB}, but ... */

When the fact that methodA calls methodB is an implementation detail and there is no real relation from the outside, you don't need a link here.

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2 Comments

@see is also useful for linking to alternatives to @Deprecated methods.
@MauveRanger Since @see is pretty vague, for deprecated stuff I find it more useful to do something more explicit, like: @deprecated since X.Y.Z; use {@link #alternateMethod()} instead
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The @see tag is a bit different than the @link tag,
limited in some ways and more flexible in others.
The following examples are from Eclipse:

different JavaDoc link types Different JavaDoc link types

  1. Displays the member name for better learning, and is refactorable; the name will update when renaming by refactor
  2. Refactorable and customizable; your text is displayed instead of the member name
  3. Displays name, refactorable
  4. Refactorable, customizable
  5. A rather mediocre combination that is:
  • Refactorable, customizable, and stays in the See Also section
  • Displays nicely in the Eclipse hover
  • Displays the link tag and its formatting when generated 😞
  • When using multiple @see items, commas in the description make the output confusing
  1. Completely illegal; causes unexpected content and illegal character errors in the generator

See the results below:

JavaDoc generation results with different link types JavaDoc generation results with different link types

Best regards.

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3 Comments

+1 for listing the different possibilities to use links in javadoc with examples. But note that other JavaDoc renderers will behave different! 5. does not work with IntelliJ, for example.
Don't post pictures of text here. Post the text. You can see for yourself that it is completely illegible.
@user207421 Click the pictures. You can see for yourself that they are quite legible.
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A good example of a situation when @see can be useful would be implementing or overriding an interface/abstract class method. The declaration would have javadoc section detailing the method and the overridden/implemented method could use a @see tag, referring to the base one.

Related question: Writing proper javadoc with @see?

Java SE documentation: @see

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wasn't me, but it was probably because we have @inheritDoc docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/technotes/tools/solaris/…
the java documentation for @see is a really good. should be first.
@vaxquis @inheritDoc copies the documentation from another location. I imagine that describing details rather than adding fluff has its uses?
@Nielsvg this answer mentions that the overridden/implemented method could use a @see tag, referring to the base one. - and that's exactly what @inheritDoc is for; IMO it's better to include the base class description verbatim by means of @inheritDoc and supplement it as needed, than to refer to it by @see - see (sic!) stackoverflow.com/questions/11121600/… ; many developers (me included) prefer having all the implementation details in one place, instead of neverending chain of upwards links leading upwards through an inheritance hierarchy.
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@see is useful for information about related methods/classes in an API. It will produce a link to the referenced method/code on the documentation. Use it when there is related code that might help the user understand how to use the API.

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I use @see to annotate methods of an interface implementation class where the description of the method is already provided in the javadoc of the interface. When we do that I notice that Eclipse pulls up the interface's documentation even when I am looking up method on the implementation reference during code complete

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