seealso

This element is used to create a link to another API topic or an external website within the See Also section of a topic.

Syntax

This top-level element can be used on any type or its members. Any of the following formats may be used based on the need.

Code Reference

 
<seealso cref="member" [qualifyHint="true"] [autoUpgrade="true"] />

or

<seealso cref="member" [autoUpgrade="true"]>inner text</seealso>

The code reference form uses a cref attribute to specify the member name to which the link should be connected. The compiler will check that the target member name exists and will generate a warning if it is not found. The member name does not have to be fully qualified as long as the reference is within the containing class or if the appropriate using (Imports in VB) statements are present.

If the self-closing form is used, the inner text of the link will be set to the member name without a namespace or type qualifier. You can specify inner text on the element to use an alternate value for the link text or to add a qualifying namespace or type to the member name. By adding the qualifyHint attribute and setting it to true, you can indicate that the inner text should be qualified. Type names are fully qualified with their namespace. Class members are qualified with their class name.

When specifying type, field, property, event, and non-overloaded method names, the name alone will suffice as the cref attribute value. However, when referencing overloaded methods, you must supply parameter type information to help the compiler determine to which overload you are referring. The parameter type names are enclosed in parentheses and can be specified using the types for the language being used (i.e. int or string for C# or Integer or String for VB). They can also be specified using the .NET Framework type names such as Int32, System.Int32, etc. If an overload takes no parameters, just specify an empty set of parentheses. If you want to link to the auto-generated member overloads help topic, you can specify the autoUpgrade attribute. If set to false or omitted, the link will take you directly to the referenced member. If set to true and the method has overloads, the link will take you to the method overloads page instead. If the method has no overloads, it works the same as if set to false and it takes you to the method page. This is equivalent to the same attribute on the MAML codeEntityReference element. Another alternative is to use the fully qualified member name with an "O:" prefix. See the Method Overload Examples below for details.

  Tip

To link to the root namespace container page, use the ID R:Project_[HtmlHelpName] where "[HtmlHelpName]" is the value of your project's HTML Help Name property with spaces replaced by underscores. Use the Entity References tool window to search for the ID if in doubt about its value.

External Reference

 
<seealso href="url" [target="_blank | _self | _parent | _top"]
    [alt="alternate text"] />

or

<seealso href="url" [target="_blank | _self | _parent | _top"]
    [alt="alternate text"]>inner text</seealso>

The external reference form is a customization implemented by Sandcastle. It uses an href attribute to specify the URL of an external website or resource to which the link should be connected. If the self-closing form is used, the inner text of the link will be set to the URL. You can specify inner text on the element to use an alternate value for the link text.

The optional target attribute can be used to specify where the content will be opened. If not specified, _blank is used to open the content in a new browser window. The _self option can be used to replace the current topic with the content of the target URL. The _parent and _top options can be used to force the content to be displayed in the parent frame or full window if the current topic is hosted in one of those manners.

The optional alt attribute can be used to specify alternate text to display for the link's tool tip when the mouse hovers over it. If not specified, no alternate text is added for the tool tip.

Remarks

Use this element to insert a link in the See Also section of the topic. Use the see element to insert an inline link.

  Note

Although listed as a top-level element, the seealso element can be used as an inline element like the see element. The difference is that this element will not render anything inline. As with its top-level usage, it only adds an entry in the See Also section.

Examples

Code Reference Examples
/// <summary>
/// This event is raised when something interesting happens.
/// </summary>
/// <remarks><para>The <see cref="OnSomethingHappened"/> method is used to
/// raise this event.  This event uses the general <see cref="EventHandler"/>
/// delegate that passes <see cref="EventArgs.Empty">EventArgs.Empty</see>
/// to the handlers.</para>
/// 
/// <para>Alternate <c>see</c> syntax: <see cref="EventArgs.Empty" qualifyHint="true"/></para>
/// </remarks>
/// <seealso cref="EventArgs"/>
/// <seealso cref="EventArgs.Empty"/>
/// <seealso cref="EventArgs.Empty" qualifyHint="true"/>
/// <seealso cref="EventHandler"/>
/// <seealso cref="OnSomethingHappened">XMLCommentsExamples.SampleClass.OnSomethingHappened</seealso>
/// <conceptualLink target="983fed56-321c-4daf-af16-e3169b28ffcd" />
/// <conceptualLink target="16cdb957-a35b-4c17-bf5e-ea511b0218e3" />
public event EventHandler SomethingHappened;

/// <summary>
/// This is a protected virtual method used to raise the
/// <see cref="SomethingHappened"/> event.
/// </summary>
/// <seealso cref="SomethingHappened"/>
/// <conceptualLink target="983fed56-321c-4daf-af16-e3169b28ffcd" />
/// <conceptualLink target="16cdb957-a35b-4c17-bf5e-ea511b0218e3" />
protected virtual void OnSomethingHappened()
{
    var handler = SomethingHappened;

    if(handler != null)
        handler(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
Method Overload Examples
/// <summary>
/// This version of the method takes no parameters.
/// </summary>
/// <remarks><para>To see all overloads, refer to the
/// <see cref="DoSomething()" autoUpgrade="true" /> topic.</para>
/// 
/// <para>Other overloads:</para>
/// 
/// <list type="bullet">
///   <item>
///     <description><see cref="DoSomething(int)"/></description>
///   </item>
///   <item>
///     <description><see cref="DoSomething(string)"/></description>
///   </item>
///   <item>
///     <description><see cref="DoSomething(int, string)"/></description>
///   </item>
/// </list>
/// 
/// <para>Alternate syntax to link to the overloads topic:
/// <see cref="O:XMLCommentsExamples.SampleClass.DoSomething">DoSomething
/// Overloads</see></para>
/// </remarks>
/// <overloads>This method has four overloads</overloads>
/// <conceptualLink target="983fed56-321c-4daf-af16-e3169b28ffcd" />
/// <conceptualLink target="16cdb957-a35b-4c17-bf5e-ea511b0218e3" />
public void DoSomething()
{
}

/// <summary>
/// This version of the method takes an integer parameter.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="number">A number to use</param>
/// <seealso cref="DoSomething()" autoUpgrade="true" />
/// <seealso cref="DoSomething()" />
/// <seealso cref="DoSomething(string)" />
/// <seealso cref="DoSomething(int, string)" />
/// <conceptualLink target="983fed56-321c-4daf-af16-e3169b28ffcd" />
/// <conceptualLink target="16cdb957-a35b-4c17-bf5e-ea511b0218e3" />
public void DoSomething(int number)
{
}

/// <summary>
/// This version of the method takes a string parameter.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="text">A text value to use</param>
/// <seealso cref="DoSomething()"/>
/// <seealso cref="DoSomething(int)"/>
/// <seealso cref="DoSomething(int, string)"/>
/// <conceptualLink target="983fed56-321c-4daf-af16-e3169b28ffcd" />
/// <conceptualLink target="16cdb957-a35b-4c17-bf5e-ea511b0218e3" />
public void DoSomething(string text)
{
}

/// <summary>
/// This version of the method takes both an integer and a string parameter.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="number">A number to use</param>
/// <param name="text">A text value to use</param>
/// <seealso cref="DoSomething()"/>
/// <seealso cref="DoSomething(int)"/>
/// <seealso cref="DoSomething(string)"/>
/// <conceptualLink target="983fed56-321c-4daf-af16-e3169b28ffcd" />
/// <conceptualLink target="16cdb957-a35b-4c17-bf5e-ea511b0218e3" />
public void DoSomething(int number, string text)
{
}
External Reference Examples
/// <summary>
/// This is used to demonstrate the external reference type of <c>see</c>
/// and <c>seealso</c> elements.
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>
/// <list type="bullet">
///   <item>
///     <description>Basic link: <see href="https://GitHub.com/EWSoftware/SHFB"/></description>
///   </item>
///   <item>
///     <description>Link with target: <see href="https://GitHub.com/EWSoftware/SHFB/wiki"
///       target="_self" /></description>
///   </item>
///   <item>
///     <description>Link with alternate text: <see href="https://GitHub.com/EWSoftware/issues"
///       alt="Discuss SHFB on GitHub" /></description>
///   </item>
///   <item>
///     <description>Link with inner text: <see href="https://GitHub.com/EWSoftware/SHFB">
///       SHFB on GitHub</see></description>
///   </item>
/// </list>
/// <para>Equivalent <c>seealso</c> links are shown below.</para>
/// </remarks>
/// <seealso href="https://GitHub.com/EWSoftware/SHFB"/>
/// <seealso href="https://GitHub.com/EWSoftware/SHFB/wiki" target="_self" />
/// <seealso href="https://GitHub.com/EWSoftware/SHFB/issues" alt="Discuss SHFB on GitHub" />
/// <seealso href="https://GitHub.com/EWSoftware/SHFB">SHFB on GitHub</seealso>
/// <conceptualLink target="983fed56-321c-4daf-af16-e3169b28ffcd" />
/// <conceptualLink target="16cdb957-a35b-4c17-bf5e-ea511b0218e3" />
public void SeeElementExternalExample()
{
}

See Also