Display Java documentation as Tooltip

Question

Hi!
I have a table displaying class attributes with their runtime value; I like to display as tooltip (when the mouse points at the attribute name) the java documentation for that attribute (if it exists). Has anybody tried this and can give me a hint how to do it?
Lisbett

Answer 1

Your problem here is a conceptual misunderstanding. When you write java code it gets stored in a .java source file. When you go to run it, this is compiled into a .class java bytecode file, which has javadoc removed. What knight is trying to say is that, in order to display the comments, you're going to have to have a reference back to the .java file.
For example, say you have a class MyClass in MyClass.java. When you go to run your program, this becomes MyClass.class. In order to properly access the javadoc from your source, the MyClass source will have to have a reference to MyClass.java.
When you're writing this it will seem self-referential, but it isn't.. as the instructions are actually being executed from the class file.