This file describes notable changes in each version of JSDoc 3. To download a specific version of JSDoc 3, see GitHub's tags page.
Note: This draft changelog is current through January 21, 2015, and is subject to change before JSDoc 3.3.0 is released.
- You can now run JSDoc on Node.js. (#93)
- You can now use the
@interface
and@implements
tags to document interfaces and their implementations. (#720, #828) - Closure Compiler's
@inheritDoc
and@override
tags are now supported. (#53) - If the JSDoc comment for a symbol includes the
@mixes
tag, all of the mixins now appear in the symbol's documentation. (#378) - JSDoc can now log information to the console as it runs (for example, the name of each file that JSDoc parses). To log this information, run JSDoc with the
--verbose
flag. (#416) - You can now use any file as the package or README file for your documentation. Use the
-P/--package/
and-R/--readme
flags to specify the package and README file. (#708) - The default template's typography and color scheme have been significantly improved. (#550, #780, #843)
- You can now use the
--pedantic
flag to treat all errors as fatal errors, and to treat warnings as errors. This flag replaces the--lenient
flag, which had roughly the opposite meaning and is no longer available. (#416) - You can now use the
-a/--access
flag to control whether private, protected, and public symbols appear in the documentation. (#860, #861) - You can now use the
--debug
flag to log detailed debugging information to the console. This information can help you diagnose bugs in JSDoc itself. (#416) - JSDoc's configuration file can now contain JavaScript comments. (#660)
- You can now include source files from a directory, but exclude one of its subdirectories, by adding the subdirectory to the
source.exclude
option in the configuration file. (#484) - The
source.exclude
option now works correctly when JSDoc is run with the-r/--recurse
flag. (#616) - When JSDoc is run with the
-r/--recurse
flag, it now scans for tutorials recursively. (#712) - JSDoc's
-X/--explain
option now runs much more quickly. (#633) - If all of the text for an
@example
tag is indented, JSDoc now removes the extra indentation. (#540) - The default value for a parameter or property can now include brackets (for example,
@param {Array.<string>} [foo=['bar']]
). (#640) - You can now provide a default value for parameters and properties that are not optional (for example,
@property {string} foo='bar'
). (#791) - If the
@type
tag includes a description (for example,@type {string} some text
), JSDoc now parses the type expression correctly and discards the description. (#615) - You can now add JSDoc comments to function parameters. (#473)
- For Closure Compiler projects, you can now enable a Closure Compiler-specific tag dictionary that more closely matches Closure Compiler's semantics. To enable Closure Compiler semantics, set the configuration file's
tags.dictionaries
option to['closure']
. This option can contain the valuesjsdoc
,closure
, or both. If multiple dictionaries are enabled, and a tag is defined in more than one dictionary, JSDoc uses the definition from the first dictionary that contains the tag. (#729, #730, #731, #732) - If one symbol overrides another, JSDoc now adds an
overrides
property to the doclet that is overriding another. Theoverrides
property contains the longname of the overridden symbol. (#792) - When a JSDoc tag contains a type expression, the doclet's
type
object now includes a hiddenparsedType
property. TheparsedType
property contains a syntax tree that represents the type expression. The syntax tree is generated by Catharsis, and its format may change in the future. (#576) - JSDoc now allows output filenames to contain non-ASCII characters. In addition, links to output files are now URL-encoded when necessary. (#677)
- JSDoc now ensures that output filenames do not have a leading underscore. (#758)
- JSDoc now tries to ensure that
id
attributes in output files are unique within that file. (#539) - JSDoc now has an up-to-date JSON Schema file for parse results. The schema file is available in
lib/jsdoc/schema.js
. (#327) - JSDoc now extracts more information from package files. (#710)
- JSDoc now displays usage information if you run JSDoc without any input files, or with an unrecognized command-line option. (#609, #840)
- When the
allowUnknownTags
option is set tofalse
, JSDoc no longer logs warnings about the presence of@also
and@scope
tags. (#574) - Fixed several errors when parsing type expressions. (#619, #644, #652, #705, #767)
- Properties added to the
module.exports
object can now be documented. (#500) - When a symbol's name starts with the same characters as its parent namespace (such as
Vector
inV.Vector
), JSDoc now assigns the correct longname to the symbol. (#608) - If a child class inherits from multiple parent classes, and the parent classes have instance members with the same name, the child class no longer displays the documentation from both parent classes. (#613)
- If a source file contains an object literal, and one of the property names is a whitespace character or a character that must be escaped in a regular expression, JSDoc now parses the file successfully. (#549, #775)
- Virtual comments now work correctly for overloaded functions. (#727)
- When a virtual comment appears within a module, JSDoc now assigns the correct values to the virtual comment doclet's
memberof
,longname
, andscope
properties. (#631) - JSDoc now sets the
scope
property toglobal
for all global doclets. (#684) - Module doclets no longer have a
scope
property. (#782) - In Markdown tutorials, JSDoc no longer unescapes HTML entities. (#743)
- If a longname includes a variation (for example,
Foo#bar(variation)
), the link text is now preserved when generating HTML links. (#857) - When a single JSDoc comment includes
@class
,@classdesc
, and@constructor
tags, JSDoc no longer ignores the value of the@classdesc
tag. (#806) - For tags where the name and type are both optional (
@constant
,@external
,@member
,@module
,@namespace
, and@param
), JSDoc now parses the tag correctly when it includes a type but not a name. (#351, #535) - The
@default
tag now works correctly when used with an array literal. (#604) - The
@enum
tag now works correctly when the enumeration is part of a chain of assignments (for example,var FOO = exports.FOO = {/* enumerated values */}
). (#702) - The
@exports
and@module
tags now work correctly when their value includes amodule:
namespace (for example,@exports module:foo
). (#786) - The
@memberof
tag now works correctly when it refers to a module that is defined in a separate file. (#880) - The
@variation
tag now works correctly when its value is enclosed in parentheses (for example,@variation (foo)
). (#850)
- Tag definitions can now have a
mustNotHaveDescription
property. When this property is set totrue
, JSDoc will warn the user if the tag text includes a description (such asThe description
in@param {string} foo - The description
). (#615) - Tag definitions can now call the method
dictionary.normalize
, which is a synonym fordictionary.normalise
. (#884) - The Markdown plugin no longer prevents inline
{@link}
tags from working. (#518) - The Markdown plugin now converts
@author
and@throws
tag values to HTML by default. (#736, #878) - JSDoc now includes a
summarize
plugin that automatically generates summaries based on the description. (#485) - JSDoc now includes an
underscore
plugin that finds symbols whose names begin with an underscore and automatically tags them as@private
. (#471) - Plugins can now replace the
doclet
property ofnewDoclet
events. (#584)
- You can now override the default template's main layout file,
layout.tmpl
, by setting thetemplates.default.layoutFile
option in JSDoc's configuration file. The property can contain a relative or absolute path to the replacement forlayout.tmpl
. Relative paths are resolved against the path to the configuration file; the current working directory; and the JSDoc directory, in that order. (#480) - When the
templates.default.outputSourceFiles
option is set tofalse
, the documentation no longer shows the path to each source file. (#571) - You can now use the property
templates.default.staticFiles.include
to list files that will be copied to the output directory. For backwards compatibility, the propertytemplates.default.staticFiles.paths
is also supported but is deprecated. (#785) - The
templates.default.staticFiles
options now work correctly on Windows. (#785) - Output files no longer show the default value for members of an enumeration. (#689)
- In certain types of AMD modules, the module-overview section is no longer duplicated. (#853)
- If a constructor is assigned to
module.exports
, the value of the@classdesc
tag now appears in the documentation. (#740) - If a constructor is assigned to
module.exports
, and the constructor inherits from another class, the parent class is now listed in the documentation. (#594) - Text within an
@example
tag, including HTML tags, is now properly escaped. (#511) - If a member has a
@fires
tag, the tag information now appears in the documentation. (#568) - If a symbol has members that use the
@mixin
tag, the mixins are now listed in the documentation. (#379, #602) - When multiple
@param
tags are used to document properties of array values (for example,@param {Object[]} foo
and@param {string} foo[].bar
), the properties are now grouped into the appropriate row of the parameters table. (#870) - If a member has a
@requires
tag, the tag information now appears in the documentation. (#563) - Type expressions are now presented more clearly. (#618)
- Pretty-printed source files now include line numbers. (#532)
- When you run JSDoc with a single input file, the full path to the file no longer appears in the documentation. (#553)
- When an overloaded function is assigned to
module.exports
, the documentation now displays all of the signatures for the overloaded function. (#727) - Resolved several issues that caused the default template to generate invalid HTML. (#843)
- Addressed a regression in JSDoc 3.2.1 that could prevent a function declaration from shadowing a declaration with the same name in an outer scope. (#513)
- If a child class overrides a method in a parent class without documenting the overridden method, the method's documentation is now copied from the parent class. (#503)
- You can now use inline HTML tags in Markdown-formatted text. In addition, JSDoc now uses only the marked Markdown parser; the markdown-js parser has been removed. (#510)
- Type expressions can now include a much broader range of repeatable types. In addition, you can now use Closure Compiler's nullable and non-nullable modifiers with repeatable types. For example, the type expression
...!string
(a repeatable, non-nullable string) is now parsed correctly. (#502) - If a function accepts a parameter named
prototype
, the parameter is no longer renamed during parsing. (#505) - If the list of input files includes relative paths, the paths are now resolved relative to the user's working directory. (a3d33842)
- JSDoc's parser now fires a
processingComplete
event after JSDoc has completed all post-processing of the parse results. This event has adoclets
property containing an array of doclets. (#421) - When JSDoc's parser fires a
parseComplete
event, the event now includes adoclets
property containing an array of doclets. (#431) - You can now use relative paths in the JSDoc configuration file's
source.exclude
option. Relative paths will be resolved relative to the current working directory. (#405) - If a symbol uses the
@default
tag, and its default value is an object literal, this value is now stored as a string, and the doclet will have adefaultvaluetype
property containing the stringobject
. This change enables templates to show the default value with appropriate syntax highlighting. (#419) - Inline
{@link}
tags can now contain newlines. (#441)
- Inherited symbols now indicate that they were inherited from the ancestor that defined the symbol, rather than the direct parent. (#422)
- If the first line of a JavaScript file contains a hashbang (for example,
#!/usr/bin/env node
), the hashbang is now ignored when the file is parsed. (#499) - Resolved a crash when a JavaScript file contains a JavaScript 1.8 keyword, such as
let
. (#477) - The type expression
function[]
is now parsed correctly. (#493) - If a module is tagged incorrectly, the module's output file now has a valid filename. (#440, #458)
- For tags that accept names, such as
@module
and@param
, if a hyphen is used to separate the name and description, the hyphen must appear on the same line as the name. This change prevents a Markdown bullet on the followng line from being interpreted as a separator. (#459) - When lenient mode is enabled, a
@param
tag with an invalid type expression no longer causes a crash. (#448) - The
@requires
tag can now contain an inline tag in its tag text. (#486) - The
@returns
tag can now contain inline tags even if a type is not specified. (#444) - When lenient mode is enabled, a
@returns
tag with no value no longer causes a crash. (#451) - The
@type
tag now works correctly with type expressions that span multiple lines. (#427) - If a string contains inline
{@link}
tags preceded by bracketed link text (for example,[test]{@link Test#test}
), HTML links are now generated correctly even if the string contains other bracketed text. (#470) - On POSIX systems, if you run JSDoc using a symlink to the startup script, JSDoc now works correctly. (#492)
- Pretty-printed source files are now generated by default. To disable this feature, add the property
templates.default.outputSourceFiles: false
to yourconf.json
file. (#454) - Links to a specific line in a source file now work correctly. (#475)
- Pretty-printed source files are now generated using the encoding specified in the
-e/--encoding
option. (#496) - If a
@default
tag is added to a symbol whose default value is an object, the value is now displayed in the output file. (#419) - Output files now identify symbols as "abstract" rather than "virtual." (#432)
- JSDoc can now parse any valid Google Closure Compiler type expression. Note: As a result of this change, JSDoc quits if a file contains an invalid type expression. To prevent JSDoc from quitting, run JSDoc with the
--lenient
(-l
) command-line option. (Multiple issues) - You can now use the new
@listens
tag to indicate that a symbol listens for an event. (#273)
-
The parser now fires a
parseBegin
event before it starts parsing files, as well as aparseComplete
event after all files have been parsed. Plugins can define event handlers for these events, andparseBegin
handlers can modify the list of files to parse. (#299) -
Event handlers for
jsdocCommentFound
events can now modify the JSDoc comment. (#228) -
You can now exclude tags from Markdown processing using the new option
markdown.excludeTags
in the configuration file. (#337) -
You can now use the marked Markdown parser by setting the configuration property
markdown.parser
tomarked
. In addition, ifmarkdown.parser
is set togfm
, JSDoc will now use the "marked" parser instead. (#385) -
The
@typedef
tag no longer requires a name when used with a Closure Compiler-style type definition. For example, the following type definition will automatically get the nameFoo.Bar
:/** @typedef {string} */ Foo.Bar;
(#391)
-
You can now use an inline
{@type}
tag in a parameter's description. If this tag is present, JSDoc will assume that the parameter uses the type specified in the inline{@type}
tag. For example, the following@param
tag would causemyParam
's type to be documented asFoo
:@param {(boolean|string)} myParam - My special parameter. {@type Foo}
(#152)
-
The
console.log
function now behaves the same way as on Node.js. In addition, the functionsconsole.info
,console.error
,console.warn
, andconsole.trace
have been implemented. (#298) -
You can now use npm to install JSDoc globally by running
npm install -g
. Note: JSDoc will still run under Mozilla Rhino, not Node.js. (#374) -
The
jsVersion
configuration property has been removed. (#390)
- JSDoc now quits if the configuration file cannot be loaded. (#407)
- JSDoc's
--explain
(-X
) option now runs much more quickly, and it outputs valid JSON to the console. (#298) - JSDoc's
--lenient
(-l
) option now prints warnings on STDERR rather than STDOUT. (#298) - The parser now assigns the correct scope to object properties whose names include single quotes. (#386)
- The parser now recognizes CommonJS modules that export a single function rather than an object. (#384)
- The inline
{@link}
tag now works correctly when@link
is followed by a tab. (#359) - On POSIX systems, quoted command-line arguments are no longer split on spaces. (#397)
- The new
overloadHelper
plugin makes it easier to link to overloaded methods. (#179) - The
markdown
plugin now converts Markdown links in the@see
tag. (#297)
- You can now use the configuration property
templates.default.staticFiles
to copy additional static files to the output directory. (#393) - All output files now use human-readable filenames. (#339)
- The documentation for events now lists the symbols that listen to that event. (#273)
- Links to source files now allow you to jump to the line where a symbol is defined. (#316)
- The output files now link to individual types within a Closure Compiler type expression. (Multiple issues)
- CommonJS modules that export a single function, rather than an object, are now documented more clearly. (#384)
- Functions that can throw multiple types of errors are now documented more clearly. (#389)
- If a
@property
tag does not identify the property's name, the template no longer throws an error. (#373) - The type of each
@typedef
is now displayed. (#391) - If a
@see
tag contains a URL (for example,@see http://example.com
or@see <http://example.com>
), the tag text is now converted to a link. (#371) - Repeatable parameters are now identified. (#381)
- The "Classes" header is no longer repeated in the navigation bar. (#361)
- When the only documented symbols in global scope are type definitions, you can now click the "Global" header to view their documentation. (#261)
- Resolved a crash when no input files contain JSDoc comments. (#329)
- Resolved a crash when JSDoc cannot identify the common prefix of several paths. (#330)
- Resolved a crash when the full path to JSDoc contained at least one space. (#347)
- Files named
README.md
orpackage.json
will now be processed when they are specified on the command line. (#350) - You can now use
@emits
as a synonym for@fires
. (#324) - The module
jsdoc/util/templateHelper
now allows you to specify the CSS class for links that are generated by the following methods: (#331)getAncestorLinks
getSignatureReturns
getSignatureTypes
linkto
-
You can now use the new
@callback
tag to provide information about a callback function's signature. To document a callback function, create a standalone JSDoc comment, as shown in the following example:/** * @class */ function MyClass() {} /** * Send a request. * * @param {MyClass~responseCb} cb - Called after a response is received. */ MyClass.prototype.sendRequest = function(cb) { // code }; /** * Callback for sending a request. * * @callback MyClass~responseCb * @param {?string} error - Information about the error. * @param {?string} response - Body of the response. */
-
The inline link tag,
{@link}
, has been improved:- You can now use a space as the delimiter between the link target and link text.
- In your
conf.json
file, you can now enable the optiontemplates.cleverLinks
to display code links in a monospace font and URL links in plain text. You can also enable the optiontemplates.monospaceLinks
to display all links in a monospace font. Note: JSDoc templates must be updated to respect these options. - You can now use the new inline tags
{@linkplain}
, which forces a plain-text link, and{@linkcode}
, which forces a monospace link. These tags always override the settings in yourconf.json
file. (#250)
-
JSDoc now provides a
-l/--lenient
option that tells JSDoc to continue running if it encounters a non-fatal error. (Multiple issues) -
A template's
publish.js
file should now assign itspublish
function toexports.publish
, rather than defining a globalpublish
function. The globalpublish
function is deprecated and may not be supported in future versions. JSDoc's built-in templates reflect this change. (#166) -
The template helper (
templateHelper.js
) exports a variety of new functions for finding information within a parse tree. These functions were previously contained within the default template. (#186) -
Updated the
fs
andpath
modules to make their behavior more consistent with Node.js. In addition, created extended versions of these modules with additional functionality. (Multiple commits) -
Updated or replaced numerous third-party modules. (Multiple commits)
-
Reorganized the JSDoc codebase in preparation for future enhancements. (Multiple commits)
-
JSDoc now embeds a version of Mozilla Rhino that recognizes Node.js packages, including
package.json
files. (Multiple commits) -
Node.js'
npm
utility can now install JSDoc from its GitHub repository. Note: JSDoc is not currently compatible with Node.js. However, this change allows JSDoc to be installed as a dependency of a Node.js project. In this version, global installation withnpm
is not supported. (Multiple commits)
- If a
README.md
file is passed to JSDoc, its contents will be included on theindex.html
page of the generated documentation. (#128) - The
@augments
tag can now refer to an undocumented member, such aswindow.XMLHTTPRequest
. (#160) - The
@extends
tag can now refer to an undocumented member, such aswindow.XMLHttpRequest
. In addition, you can now use@host
as a synonym for@extends
. (#145) - The
@lends
tag is now supported in multiline JSDoc comments. (#163) - On Windows,
jsdoc.cmd
now provides the same options as thejsdoc
shell script. (#127) - JSDoc now provides
setTimeout()
,clearTimeout()
,setInterval()
, andclearInterval()
functions. (Multiple commits) - JSDoc no longer provides a global
exit()
function. Useprocess.exit()
instead. (1228a8f7) - JSDoc now includes additional shims for Node.js' built-in modules. Note: Many of these shims implement only the functions that JSDoc uses, and they may not be consistent with Node.js' behavior in edge cases. (Multiple commits)
- JSDoc now provides a
-v/--version
option to display information about the current version. (#303) - When running tests, you can now use the
--nocolor
option to disable colored output. On Windows, colored output is always disabled. (e17601fe, 8bc33541)
- When using the
@event
tag to define an event within a class or namespace, the event's longname is now set correctly regardless of tag order. (#280) - The
@property
tag no longer results in malformed parse trees. (20f87094) - The
jsdoc
andjsdoc.cmd
scripts now work correctly with paths that include spaces. (#127, #130) - The
jsdoc
script now works correctly on Cygwin and MinGW, and with thedash
shell. (#182, #184, #187) - The
-d/--destination
option is no longer treated as a path relative to the JSDoc directory. Instead, it can contain an absolute path, or a path relative to the current working directory. (f5e3f0f3) - JSDoc now provides default options for the values in
conf.json
. (#129) - If the
conf.json
file does not exist, JSDoc no longer tries to create it, which prevents errors if the current user does not have write access to the JSDoc directory. (d2d05fcb) - Doclets for getters and setters are now parsed appropriately. (#150)
- Only the first asterisk is removed from each line of a JSDoc comment. (#172)
- If a child member overrides an ancestor member, the ancestor member is no longer documented. (#158)
- If a member of a namespace has the same name as a namespace, the member is now documented correctly. (#214)
- The parse tree now uses a single set of properties to track both JSDoc-style type information and Closure Compiler-style type information. (#118)
- If a type has a leading
!
, indicating that it is non-nullable, the leading!
is now removed from the type name. (#226) - When Markdown formatting is enabled, underscores in inline
{@link}
tags are no longer treated as Markdown formatting characters. (#259) - Markdown links now work correctly when a JavaScript reserved word, such as
constructor
, is used as the link text. (#249) - Markdown files for tutorials are now parsed based on the settings in
conf.json
, rather than using the "evilstreak" Markdown parser in all cases. (#220) - If a folder contains both tutorial source files and
.js
files, JSDoc no longer attempts to parse the.js
files as JSON files. (#222) - The "evilstreak" Markdown parser now works correctly with files that use Windows-style line endings. (#223)
- JSDoc no longer fails unit tests when the
conf.json
file is not present. (#206) - On Windows, JSDoc now passes all unit tests. (Multiple commits)
- The new
partial
plugin adds support for a@partial
tag, which links to an external file that contains JSDoc comments. (#156) - The new
commentsOnly
plugin removes everything in a file except JSDoc-style comments. You can use this plugin to document source files that are not valid JavaScript, including source files for other languages. (#304) - The new
eventDumper
plugin logs information about parser events to the console. (#242) - The new
verbose
plugin logs the name of each input file to the console. (#157)
- The template output now includes pretty-printed versions of source files. This feature is enabled by default. To disable this feature, add the property
templates.default.outputSourceFiles: false
to yourconf.json
file. (#208) - You can now use the template if it is placed outside of the JSDoc directory. (#198)
- The template no longer throws an error when a parameter does not have a name. (#175)
- The navigation bar now includes an "Events" section if any events are documented. (#280)
- Pages no longer include a "Classes" header when no classes are documented. (eb0186b9)
- Member details now include "Inherited From" section when a member is inherited from another member. (#154)
- If an
@author
tag contains text in the format "Jane Doe [email protected]", the value is now converted to an HTMLmailto:
link. (#326) - Headings for functions now include the function's signature. (#253)
- Type information is now displayed for events. (#192)
- Functions now link to their return type when appropriate. (#192)
- Type definitions that contain functions are now displayed correctly. (#292)
- Tutorial output is now generated correctly. (#188)
- Output files now use Google Code Prettify with the Tomorrow theme as a syntax highlighter. (#193)
- The
index.html
output file is no longer overwritten if a namespace calledindex
has been documented. (#244) - The current JSDoc version number is now displayed in the footer. (#321)
- Members are now contained in arrays rather than objects, allowing overloaded members to be documented. (#153)
- A clearer error message is now provided when the output destination is not specified correctly. (#174)
- The
conf.json
file may now containsource.include
andsource.exclude
properties. (#56)source.include
specifies files or directories that JSDoc should always check for documentation.source.exclude
specifies files or directories that JSDoc should never check for documentation. These settings take precedence over thesource.includePattern
andsource.excludePattern
properties, which contain regular expressions that JSDoc uses to search for source files.
- The
-t/--template
option may now specify the absolute path to a template. (#122)
- JSDoc no longer throws exceptions when a symbol has a special name, such as
hasOwnProperty
. (1ef37251) - The
@alias
tag now works correctly when documenting inner classes as globals. (810dd7f7)
- The default template now sorts classes by name correctly when the classes come from several modules. (4ce17195)
- The Haruki template now correctly supports
@example
,@members
, and@returns
tags. (6580e176, 59655252, 31c8554d)
Initial release.