XML Documentation (Visual C++)

This page is specific to

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:

Visual C++ Language Reference

In Visual C++, you can add comments to your source code that will be processed to an .xml file. This file can then be the input to a process that creates documentation for the classes in your code. An .xml file can also be used to support IntelliSense on your component.

XML documentation can be used regardless of whether you compile with or without /clr.

Note:
In the current release, code comments are not processed on templates or anything containing a template type (for example, a function taking a parameter as a template). Doing so will result in undefined behavior.

For details on creating an .xml file with documentation comments, see the following topics.

For information about	See
The compiler options to use	/doc and (optionally) /clr
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.

Concepts

Language Features for Targeting the CLR