How to Generate HTML JavaDoc Reporting with Maven

by MemoryNotFound · Published April 21, 2015 · Updated June 17, 2015

This example explains how you can Generate HTML JavaDoc in your build using maven. HTML JavaDocs can be automatically created by the maven-javadoc plugin which uses the javadoc executable located in $JDK_HOME/bin/ directory. Generating this HTML JavaDoc is really interesting if you decide to open-source your project. Then you can show the whole world how awesome your project really is.

Create a simple User POJO

Lets create a simple POJO as an example JavaDoc candidate.

/**
 * User object
 */
public class User {

    private Integer id;
    private String username;
    private String password;
    private String email;

    /**
     * Creates a new user
     * @param username unique username of the user
     * @param password password of the user
     * @param email email address of the user
     */
    public User(String username, String password, String email) {
        this.username = username;
        this.password = password;
        this.email = email;
    }

    public Integer getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(Integer id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public String getUsername() {
        return username;
    }

    public void setUsername(String username) {
        this.username = username;
    }

    public String getPassword() {
        return password;
    }

    public void setPassword(String password) {
        this.password = password;
    }

    public String getEmail() {
        return email;
    }

    public void setEmail(String email) {
        this.email = email;
    }
}

Create a User Service

For the example we also create a simple UserService interface for JavaDoc purposes.

/**
 * This service will handle all the user interactions
 */
public interface UserService {

    /**
     * This method will register a user
     * @param user user that will be registered
     */
    void register(User user);

    /**
     * Fetches a user with a given Identifier
     * @param id unique identifier of a user
     * @return User Object
     */
    User fetchUser(Integer id);
}

Generate HTML JavaDoc using Maven

In order to Generate HTML JavaDoc using maven we must register the maven-javadoc plugin in the reporting element. This will tell maven to generate HTML JavaDoc in the site phase. Secondly I also added the maven-project-info-reports-plugin because maven issued a warning that the required version could not be found. But this should work without this plugin also.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0
                             http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">

    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.memorynotfound.maven.plugin.javadoc</groupId>
    <artifactId>generate-javadoc-html</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <url>https://memorynotfound.com</url>
    <name>MAVEN - ${project.artifactId}</name>
    <description>This project will generate html javadoc using maven</description>

    <properties>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
    </properties>

    <reporting>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.10.3</version>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-project-info-reports-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.8</version>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </reporting>

</project>

Execute maven goals

Lets build the reports using mvn clean site.

mvn clean site

Output

[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO]                                                                         
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building MAVEN - generate-javadoc-html 1.0.0-SNAPSHOT
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-clean-plugin:2.5:clean (default-clean) @ generate-javadoc-html ---
[INFO] Deleting /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-site-plugin:3.3:site (default-site) @ generate-javadoc-html ---
[INFO] configuring report plugin org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-javadoc-plugin:2.10.3
[INFO] 
[INFO] >>> maven-javadoc-plugin:2.10.3:aggregate (report:aggregate) > generate-sources @ generate-javadoc-html >>>
[INFO] 
[INFO] <<< maven-javadoc-plugin:2.10.3:aggregate (report:aggregate) < generate-sources @ generate-javadoc-html <<<
[INFO] 
[INFO] >>> maven-javadoc-plugin:2.10.3:javadoc (report:javadoc) > generate-sources @ generate-javadoc-html >>>
[INFO] 
[INFO] <<< maven-javadoc-plugin:2.10.3:javadoc (report:javadoc) < generate-sources @ generate-javadoc-html <<<
[INFO] 
[INFO] >>> maven-javadoc-plugin:2.10.3:test-aggregate (report:test-aggregate) > generate-test-sources @ generate-javadoc-html >>>
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-resources-plugin:2.6:resources (default-resources) @ generate-javadoc-html ---
[INFO] Using 'UTF-8' encoding to copy filtered resources.
[INFO] Copying 0 resource
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-compiler-plugin:3.1:compile (default-compile) @ generate-javadoc-html ---
[INFO] Changes detected - recompiling the module!
[INFO] Compiling 2 source files to /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/classes
[INFO] 
[INFO] <<< maven-javadoc-plugin:2.10.3:test-aggregate (report:test-aggregate) < generate-test-sources @ generate-javadoc-html <<<
[INFO] 
[INFO] >>> maven-javadoc-plugin:2.10.3:test-javadoc (report:test-javadoc) > generate-test-sources @ generate-javadoc-html >>>
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-resources-plugin:2.6:resources (default-resources) @ generate-javadoc-html ---
[INFO] Using 'UTF-8' encoding to copy filtered resources.
[INFO] Copying 0 resource
[INFO] 
[INFO] --- maven-compiler-plugin:3.1:compile (default-compile) @ generate-javadoc-html ---
[INFO] Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date
[INFO] 
[INFO] <<< maven-javadoc-plugin:2.10.3:test-javadoc (report:test-javadoc) < generate-test-sources @ generate-javadoc-html <<<
[INFO] configuring report plugin org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-project-info-reports-plugin:2.8
[INFO] Relativizing decoration links with respect to project URL: https://memorynotfound.com
[INFO] Rendering site with org.apache.maven.skins:maven-default-skin:jar:1.0 skin.
[INFO] Skipped "JavaDocs" report, file "apidocs/index.html" already exists for the English version.
[INFO] Skipped "JavaDocs" report, file "apidocs/index.html" already exists for the English version.
[INFO] Generating "JavaDocs" report    --- maven-javadoc-plugin:2.10.3
[INFO] 
Loading source file /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/src/main/java/User.java...
Loading source file /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/src/main/java/UserService.java...
Constructing Javadoc information...
Standard Doclet version 1.7.0_67
Building tree for all the packages and classes...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/User.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/UserService.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/package-frame.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/package-summary.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/package-tree.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/constant-values.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/class-use/User.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/class-use/UserService.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/package-use.html...
Building index for all the packages and classes...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/overview-tree.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/index-all.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/deprecated-list.html...
Building index for all classes...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/allclasses-frame.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/allclasses-noframe.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/index.html...
Generating /memorynotfound/java/tutorials/maven/plugins/maven-javadoc-plugin/generate-javadoc-html/target/site/apidocs/help-doc.html...
[INFO] Generating "Dependency Convergence" report    --- maven-project-info-reports-plugin:2.8
[INFO] Generating "Dependency Information" report    --- maven-project-info-reports-plugin:2.8
[INFO] Generating "About" report    --- maven-project-info-reports-plugin:2.8
[INFO] Generating "Plugin Management" report    --- maven-project-info-reports-plugin:2.8
[INFO] Generating "Project Plugins" report    --- maven-project-info-reports-plugin:2.8
[INFO] Generating "Project Summary" report    --- maven-project-info-reports-plugin:2.8
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 5.240 s
[INFO] Finished at: 2015-04-21T19:08:13+02:00
[INFO] Final Memory: 32M/452M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Example pages

References
Maven JavaDoc Plugin Documentation
Download
Download it ! – generate html javadoc maven.zip

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How to Generate HTML JavaDoc Reporting with Maven

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