How to create documentation of classes from .NET DLL?

Question

I have a proprietary .NET DLL without source code that I need to use. How can I generate documentation about the classes exposed by the DLL?

I would be looking for something like javadoc for java.

Answer 1

Note on the Sandcastle home page on CodePlex:

The Sandcastle CodePlex project is no longer under active development by Microsoft and as such, there will be no future releases to this site.

The existing Sandcastle source code has been forked over to Eric Woodruff’s Sandcastle Help File Builder site at http://shfb.codeplex.com/(Moved to -->GitHub). This new location is where you should go from this point forward to download the latest version. Eric will be in charge of new releases of Sandcastle from here on out.

More of a comment to @ORMapper's answer, but I'm not able to comment (shy of the required 50 rep).

Answer 2

Use Microsoft Sandcastle, possibly along with Sandcastle Help File Builder. It will generate documentation HTML files or Windows help files.

If the DLL is accompanied by an Xml file of the same name, that file might even contain some textual documentation of the DLL. Otherwise, Sandcastle can still be helpful because it will generate an overview over the classes and their members where you can navigate from type to type by clicking links.