Error when binding generic method inside cref when parens and parameters are included in the signature

[shyamnamboodiripad]

I am not sure what the correct behavior is for the below. But the current behavior certainly seems inconsistent.

[shyamnamboodiripad]

I haven't checked but it would also be interesting to see what behavior the VS 2013 VB compiler has for the above repro.

[AlekseyTs]

Given the following code:

''' <summary>
''' <see cref="C.N"/>
''' <see cref="C.N()"/>
''' 
''' <see cref="C.M(Of U)"/>
''' <see cref="C.M(Of U)()"/>
''' 
''' <see cref="C.M2(Of U)"/>
''' <see cref="C.M2(Of U)()"/>
''' <see cref="C.M2(Of U)(U)"/>
''' 
''' <see cref="C.M(Of Integer)"/>
''' <see cref="C.M(Of Integer)()"/>
''' 
''' <see cref="C.M2(Of Integer)"/>
''' <see cref="C.M2(Of Integer)()"/>
''' <see cref="C.M2(Of Integer)(Integer)"/>
''' 
''' <see cref="C.M(Of OtherClass)"/>
''' <see cref="C.M(Of OtherClass)()"/>
''' 
''' <see cref="C.M2(Of OtherClass)"/>
''' <see cref="C.M2(Of OtherClass)()"/>
''' <see cref="C.M2(Of OtherClass)(OtherClass)"/>
''' 
''' <see cref="C.M(Of [Integer])"/>
''' <see cref="C.M(Of [Integer])()"/>
''' 
''' <see cref="C.M2(Of [Integer])"/>
''' <see cref="C.M2(Of [Integer])()"/>
''' <see cref="C.M2(Of [Integer])([Integer])"/>
''' </summary>
Class C
    Sub M(Of T As Structure)()
    End Sub

    Sub M2(Of T As Structure)(x As T)
    End Sub

    Sub N()
    End Sub
End Class

Class OtherClass
End Class

VS2013 reports:

warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.N()' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M(Of U)()' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of U)()' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of U)(U)' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M(Of Integer)()' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of Integer)()' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of Integer)(Integer)' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M(Of OtherClass)()' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of OtherClass)()' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of OtherClass)(OtherClass)' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M(Of [Integer])()' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of [Integer])()' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of [Integer])([Integer])' that could not be resolved. XML comment will be ignored.

VS2015 reports:

warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of U)()' that could not be resolved.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M(Of Integer)()' that could not be resolved.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of Integer)()' that could not be resolved.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of Integer)(Integer)' that could not be resolved.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of OtherClass)()' that could not be resolved.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of [Integer])()' that could not be resolved.

VS2013 didn't support method parameter lists at all, so VS2015 behavior looks like an improvement to me. The only warnings reported by VS2015 (they are also reported by VS2013) that might look confusing are:

warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M(Of Integer)()' that could not be resolved.
warning BC42309: XML comment has a tag with a 'cref' attribute 'C.M2(Of Integer)(Integer)' that could not be resolved.

When a parameter list is specified, the names in the (Of …) part are actually treated as new type parameters rather than as type arguments. That is, they declare new types, which can be referred to in the parameter list. They do not refer to any existing type, for example Global.OtherClass cannot be used there. I suspect the Integer cannot be used there either because it is a keyword. We should consider improving diagnostics to make it clearer that the list of generic type parameters is likely the source of the problem.