TypeName | DocumentationHeadersMustNotContainBlankLines |
CheckId | SA1644 |
Category | Documentation Rules |
Cause
A section within the Xml documentation header for a C# element contains blank lines.
Rule Description
C# syntax provides a mechanism for inserting documentation for classes and elements directly into the code, through the use of Xml documentation headers. For an introduction to these headers and a description of the header syntax, see the following article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc302121.aspx.
A violation of this rule occurs when the documentation header contains one or more blank lines within a section of documentation. For example:
/// <summary>
/// Joins a first name and a last name together into a single string.
///
/// Uses a simple form of string concatenation.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="firstName">The first name to join.</param>
/// <param name="lastName">The last name to join.</param>
/// <returns>The joined names.</returns>
public string JoinNames(string firstName, string lastName)
{
return firstName + " " + lastName;
}
Rather than inserting blank lines into the documentation, use the <para> tag to denote paragraphs. For example:
/// <summary>
/// <para>
/// Joins a first name and a last name together into a single string.
/// </para><para>
/// Uses a simple form of string concatenation.
/// </para>
/// </summary>
/// <param name="firstName">The first name to join.</param>
/// <param name="lastName">The last name to join.</param>
/// <returns>The joined names.</returns>
public string JoinNames(string firstName, string lastName)
{
return firstName + " " + lastName;
}
How to Fix Violations
To fix a violation of this rule, remove the blank lines from the documentation header, and optionally replace them with <para/> tags.