How to have emacs format/indent javadoc comments correctly?

Question

Very new to emacs. (I only started day before yesterday.) I'm writing some Java and was wondering if there's an option or something I can set up so it will indent Javadoc comments correctly.

What I mean by that is, if I type:

public class NiftyClass {

    /*
     * Here's what this method does.
     *
     * @return the answer
     */

every time I hit enter to start a new line in the Javadoc comments the pointer is at the left margin. Inside the body of a method when I hit enter it takes me to the next line at the correct indentation. I'd prefer that it do something similar with these comments, such that the pointer aligns itself underneath the previous *. Or, better yet, that it add the next *space for me and start me right after that.

Is there anything that can do this?

Answer 1

You could try:

(electric-indent-mode +1)

(defun my-newline-and-indent-mode-hook ()
  (local-set-key (kbd "RET") (key-binding (kbd "M-j")))
  (local-set-key (kbd "<C-return>") #'electric-indent-just-newline))

(add-hook 'prog-mode-hook #'my-newline-and-indent-mode-hook)

Pressing return will continue comment or newline-and-indent -- press C-return to end the comment with a plain newline.