Display inherited methods from extended class

[jmakeig]

I’d like to implement printing inherited methods and properties in the context of an extended class’s documentation. For example, if Bar extends Foo, Bar’s listing should include all of the methods and properties on Foo.prototype in addition to those defined explicitly on Bar.prototype. Additionally, zero or more methods on Bar.prototype may override methods defined on Foo.prototype.

1. Is this useful functionality that meets others’ needs?
2. Has anyone implemented (or contemplated) this already?

I’m relatively new to this project, so pointers on how to proceed would be appreciated. Is there another tag that I can use for implementation guidance? I think most of the work will actually be in the HTML renderer. @augements and @override look to be implemented in the core already (#9).

[tmcw]

Hey Justin,

Yep, we're tracking this feature request in #390.

Right now instead of showing inherited methods inline as instance methods, we simply show an 'Extends Foo' annotation in the documentation.

I'm open to the idea - I expect a few things to come up, though:

If you go all the way down the line - showing instance methods like toStrings that are inherited by Foo and then Bar - then you might end up with lots of inherited methods that aren't really relevant to your source code. This would require either a much different documentation style, like a toggle or de-emphasized inheritance, or for the option to be controllable, and there I'm not sure if it would be controllable globally or locally through documentation tags - both have pros and cons.

I'm going to close this to keep tracking this request at #390, and I 👍'ed that issue to register that it has been requested more than once!

• Tom

[jmakeig]

If you go all the way down the line - showing instance methods, like toString, that are inherited

Yes, I hadn’t considered that. Default JavaDoc, for example, lists the inherited methods/properties in a separate section for each ancestor. I guess I want to be able to see all of the available methods for a given instance, including Object.prototype. I’ll add to #390. Thanks for your responsiveness.