CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javajavadoc
daniel sp
daniel sp

Reputation: 1000

Javadoc for a method that is not implemented and just throws a RuntimeException

I have a method defined in the superclass that I don't implement this method in my extending class:

@Override
public String[] getParams() {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Not implemented");
}

My doubt is what to write as Javadoc. Usually, if the method is implemented, we would just use a simple:

/** {@inheritDoc} */

But I want to explicitly comment that the method is not implemented and should not be used. What would you write here?

Maybe:

 /** 
 * Method not implemented
 * {@inheritDoc} */

Or maybe:

/**
 * Not implemented.
* 
* @throws UnsupportedOperationException.
*/

Upvotes: 3

Views: 3216

Answers (1)

slim
slim

Reputation: 41223

There is no universal standard, but you could imitate what the Guava developers have done with unsupported operations on immutable collections. e.g. from com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList.java:

 /**
   * Guaranteed to throw an exception and leave the list unmodified.
   *
   * @throws UnsupportedOperationException always
   * @deprecated Unsupported operation.
   */
  @CanIgnoreReturnValue
  @Deprecated
  @Override
  public final E set(int index, E element) {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
  }

I would say that @inheritDoc should not be used, because it probably describes some behaviour which your exception-throwing implementation does not do.

(@CanIgnoreReturnValue is from the ErrorProne library -- I don't think it's particularly relevant to what we're talking about, but I left it in rather than modify the code I'm quoting)

Upvotes: 2

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