doxygen: html formatting of declaration vs definition in C

Question

question is related to Using Doxygen with C, do you comment the function prototype or the definition? Or both? .

doxygen formatting makes the declaration and its comments from my .h file appear first, followed by the definition and its comments from my .c file. good.

alas, is there some parameter like \param[in] or \return[in] that I can use just before the .c definition for the html output to indicate visually "now I am describing implementation"? It could put a boldface on the left, or even change the color to set it off visually. The obvious \implements tag does not do this.

I looked at the generated doxygen html code, and there is no obvious css class to change. so I presumably should use a tag from http://www.doxygen.nl/manual/commands.html . what do others use?

Answer 1

One option, which is not ideal but does have the merit of simplicity, is to use the \note command.

Prefixing the paragraphs describing the implementation with \note will result in them showing in the output with a green'y-yellow sidebar. You could change the color in the CSS. Subsequent \note paragraphs will remain as separate paragraphs but have a single heading and sidebar.

The downside is that the section is headed Note:. This may or may not be acceptable for your needs.

You could use \xrefitem instead, which would allow you to change the text to Implementation:, but it, quite reasonably, also generates an entry on a separate cross-reference page - which is probably not desirable. There may be a way of disabling the cross-indexing, but there's nothing in the manual about it.

I assume you are generating a document that is for internal use only; some form of Technical Manual perhaps? In which case, the 'Note' option may be the quickest and simplest solution.

Edit: I've just found the \remark command. Essentially equivalent to \note without a sidebar, but the associated heading Remarks may suit your application better. Chances are you can add the sidebar in the CSS.