Missing iFrame view for Javadocs JDK 11+

Question

I've been using the JavaDocs for JDK 11

But I've noticed that the iFrames view appears no longer to be available. I've looked around, but can't see any details on why this has been done, and what the alternatives are if any? Can anyone provide more detail?

View for JDK 10

View for JDK 11

Answer 1

In case anyone else has the same query, Frames are no longer generated by Default.

This is covered in JDK-8202961

In times past, to allow for navigation within API documentation, the standard doclet presented indexes in frames on the left side of the window to allow classes, packages and (more recently) modules to be selected for display in the main body of the window.

More recently, the doclet now supports a "search" feature, which provides a more versatile way of finding items to view. Separately, the doclet is moving towards using HTML 5 (only), and the basic support for frames in HTML 5 is less than it was in HTML 4.

and JDK-8187794 among others

Update the javadoc/doclet to generate no frames as a default. A warning should be generated if "--frames" option is specified to generate frames. The support for frames will be removed from a future release.

It seems that if you really wanted to use frames you could generate your own from the JDK src and experience the warning, but this will be removed completely at some point.

In summary, get used to the Search function, framed javadocs are on their way out!

Answer 2

I created JANITOR – Java API Navigation Is The Only Rescue which:

Inserts a navigation tree for modules, packages and types (interfaces, classes, enums, exceptions, errors, annotations) into the Javadoc pages of Java 11+.