apiOperationClassifier

The <apiOperationClassifier> element identifies a returned value that is an instance of a classifier, for example, the class of the returned object.

Description

For an object to be created from a class, the class needs a constructor. At a glance, a constructor looks just like a method.

This element can provide an href attribute if the description of the API item is available. If the description is not available, the <apiOperationClassifier> element can provide the name of the API item in its contents.

  • If you use an href attribute to a DITA API topic that describes the related API item, you do not need any other attributes.
  • If you provide an href attribute to some other format (such as HTML), you need to provide the name of the related API item inside the <apiOperationClassifier> element.
  • If you cannot provide an href attribute (for instance, if the description of the related API item might not be available), you must provide the name of the related API item inside the <apiOperationClassifier> element and the fully qualified name of the element in the keyref attribute. The keyref attribute must provide a unique key such as a fully qualified classifier name for the named API item.

Example

The following example shows an <apiOperationClassifier> item for a VB.NET method:

<apiOperation id="rational.xde.getApplicableStereotypesAsString">
   <apiName>getApplicableStereotypesAsString</apiName>
   <shortDesc>Returns a string that specifies the stereotype associated with the element.</shortDesc>
   <apiOperationDetail>
     <apiConstructorDef>
       <apiImpl>New</apiImpl>
       <apiType name="type" value="Sub"/>
       <apiQualifier name="access" value="public"/>
       <apiOperationClassifier href=”String.dita”>String</apiOperationClassifier>
          <apiDefNote>Returns a string that specifies the stereotypes.</apiDefNote>
       </apiConstructorDef>
       <apiDesc>This property searches all the profiles in the model.</apiDesc>
    </apiOperationDetail>
 </apiOperation>

Contained by

apiConstructorDef, apiEvent, apiOperationDef, apiOperationDefItem, apiParam, apiReturn

Content model

(text data) (any number)

Inheritance

topic/xref reference/xref apiRef/apiRelation