C# XML Comment Reuse

Question

I'm writing a C# class library with a number of classes with functions that do just about the same stuff. I need to provide XML comments about the function arguments in each class which are very detailed but the same in most cases. Is there a way of reusing XML comments so I don't have to repeat these XML argument definitions all over my assembly?

Here's an example of my classes:

public class IsodoseControl : TestModule
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Verify a control on Isodose dialog
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="args">  **<-- WHAT I DON'T WANT TO KEEP REPEATING**
    /// Arguments: [Property, Condition, Expected Value, Tolerance]
    ///            Properties: STATE, VALUE, LABEL
    ///            Conditions: Exists, DoesNotExist, IsEnabled, IsDisabled, ...
    ///            Expected Value (optional): blah blah
    ///            Tolerance (optional): blah blah blah
    /// </param>
    public VerifResult VerifyIsodoseControl(string[] args)
    {
        ...
    }
}

public class BeamControl : TestModule
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Verify a control on Beam dialog
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="args">  **<-- WHAT I DON'T WANT TO KEEP REPEATING**
    /// Arguments: [Property, Condition, Expected Value, Tolerance]
    ///            Properties: STATE, VALUE, LABEL
    ///            Conditions: Exists, DoesNotExist, IsEnabled, IsDisabled, ...
    ///            Expected Value (optional): blah blah
    ///            Tolerance (optional): blah blah blah
    /// </param>
    public VerifResult VerifyBeamControl(string[] args)
    {
        ...
    }
}

Thanks

Answer 1

I don't think there's anything in Visual Studio that will help you. Sandcastle has a tag, inheritdoc, that will let you inherit entire blocks of xml comments, or you might also define a sandcastle token that contains your param text, which would let you write something like

/// <summary>
/// Verify a control on Beam dialog
/// </summary>
/// <param name="args"><token>CommonParamInfo</token></param>
/// (...)

Sandcastle was designed specifically for API documentation, and might not be appropriate for your case, though.