XML Comment Inside Element

Question

In the following XML, what is the alternative way to place a comment over the attributes of element?

  <!-- I can comment here -->

  <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/textView_ben"

        <!-- Cannot place a comment here  -->

        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"/>

See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/26461869/how-to-comment-attributes-inside-xml-tag — DAB, Jul 30 '16 at 13:35

DAB · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-02T13:53:02.013

16

No, this isn't possible. Comments are not allowed in an XML open tag.

See How do I comment attributes inside an XML tag?

edited Nov 02 '21 at 13:53

answered Jul 30 '16 at 13:36

DAB

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kjhughes · Answer 2 · 2016-07-31T00:27:28.807

A comment can only appear before or after the start tag (regardless of whether it is an empty tag).

A comment may not appear within the start-tag of an XML element:

[40] STag ::= '<' Name (S Attribute)* S? '>'

Nor may a comment appear within an end-tag:

[44] EmptyElemTag ::= '<' Name (S Attribute)* S? '/>'

In general, per section 2.5 Comments:

[Definition: Comments may appear anywhere in a document outside other markup; in addition, they may appear within the document type declaration at places allowed by the grammar. ...]

Here is one way to document element attributes:

  <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/textView_ben"
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"/>
  <!--  
        android:id="@+id/textView_ben"
            addresses defect #123
        android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            blah blah blah -->

Alternatively, such a comment may appear before the tag; it just cannot appear within a tag.

XML Comment Inside Element

2 Answers2