typedef in template class with Doxygen (C++)

Question

My question is related to how to comment typedef in template class with Doxygen. I will give an example to illustrate my question:

 namespace fundamental
  {
    /**
    * Basic function
    */
    template <typename T>
    class Base
    {
    public:
      T x; ///< x coordinate
      T y; ///< y coordinate
    };
    typedef Base<float> Coordinate; ///< Point coordinate class
  }

After using Doxygen to process the above codes, I can obtain a HTML page to show the definition of the class Base. However, for the typedef class Coordinate, it will not appear in the same page with Base. In fact all the typedef types are listed in the fundamental namespace page along with all the classes in this namespace. I was wondering whether it is possible to show Coordinate class in the Base HTML page. By doing so, the link between Base and Coordinate will become much closer. Thanks!

Answer 1

The typedef is part of a namespace, so you must document the namespace for it to appear, i.e.:

/// documentation for the namespace
namespace fundamental
{
   ...
   typedef Base<float> Coordinate; ///< Point coordinate class
}

Alternatively you could use @relates but it this will put the member under Related Functions of the Base class:

/// @relates Base
/// Point coordinate class
typedef Base<float> Coordinate;

You can change this title to for instance Related Members by creating a layout file using doxygen -l and then editing the two occurrences of the related element in the generated DoxygenLayout.xml as follows:

<related title="Related Members"/>

Answer 2

In the manual I read the following:

Let's repeat that, because it is often overlooked: to document global objects (functions, typedefs, enum, macros, etc), you must document the file in which they are defined. In other words, there must at least be a

/*! \file */ or a /** @file */ line in this file.

Answer 3

There's the See Also (@sa) command, useful for generating cross-references to other entities.

Answer 4

You could also use the /sa command to manually place a reference in Base's page.

namespace fundamental
{
  /**
  * Basic function
  * /sa Coordinate
  */
  template <typename T>
  class Base
  {
  public:
    T x; ///< x coordinate
    T y; ///< y coordinate
  };
  typedef Base<float> Coordinate; ///< Point coordinate class
}