Class MissingDeprecatedCheck

  • All Implemented Interfaces:
    Configurable, Contextualizable

    public final class MissingDeprecatedCheck
    extends AbstractCheck

    This class is used to verify that both the Deprecated annotation and the deprecated javadoc tag are present when either one is present.

    Both ways of flagging deprecation serve their own purpose. The Deprecated annotation is used for compilers and development tools. The deprecated javadoc tag is used to document why something is deprecated and what, if any, alternatives exist.

    In order to properly mark something as deprecated both forms of deprecation should be present.

    Package deprecation is a exception to the rule of always using the javadoc tag and annotation to deprecate. Only the package-info.java file can contain a Deprecated annotation and it CANNOT contain a deprecated javadoc tag. This is the case with Sun's javadoc tool released with JDK 1.6.0_11. As a result, this check does not deal with Deprecated packages in any way. No official documentation was found confirming this behavior is correct (of the javadoc tool).

    To configure this check do the following:

     <module name="JavadocDeprecated"/>
     

    In addition you can configure this check with skipNoJavadoc option to allow it to ignore cases when JavaDoc is missing, but still warns when JavaDoc is present but either Deprecated is missing from JavaDoc or Deprecated is missing from the element. To configure this check to allow it use:

       <property name="skipNoJavadoc" value="true" />

    Examples of validating source code with skipNoJavadoc:

     
     @deprecated
     public static final int MY_CONST = 123456; // no violation
    
     /** This javadoc is missing deprecated tag. */
     @deprecated
     public static final int COUNTER = 10; // violation as javadoc exists
     
     
    Author:
    Travis Schneeberger