Automatic properties documentation for Java application

Question

Are there "Javadoc-like" instruments for configuration properties in Java application?

I'm currently working on Java application, which uses usual Java properties files for configuration. This is an "enterprise app", so we have dozens of properties and it's really difficult to support documentation for them.

So I want to find a tool or framework which makes it possible to describe properties in code, for example with annotations, and then export the documentation to a file.

We already use Javadoc and Swagger for documentation - it's quite convenient. It would be helpful to have something similar for properties.

Answer 1

You can use PropDoc for properties file Document generation. PropDoc is a utility that aims to improve the documentability of Java Properties files.

It can read in a standard Java Properties file and parse JavaDoc-like annotations out of the comments of properties. Result is a meta-model that can be used to generate documentation about the properties in the file.

There is default template which will generate your document in HTML format. You can customize that template according to your need. Its very basic and easy to use.

You can refer and get code from here PropDoc.

PropDoc is ready tool which can be used for property file generation. You can also create your own by referring it's source.