# what's annotation, why we need annotation?
- metadata
- to combine metadata with source code files.
- help to ease the burden of writing boilerplate code.
# define annotation
@Target(ElementType.METHOD)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public @interface Test {}
@Target : define where you can apply this annotation.
@Retention: defines where the annotation is available in source code, in class files or at the runtime.
- above one has no elements, so it's a marker annotation.
# simple annotation
@Target(ElementType.METHOD)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public @interface UseCase {
// id is type-checked by complier
public int id();
public String description() default "no description";
}
# annotation processor
public class UseCaseTracker {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<Integer> useCases = new ArrayList<Integer>();
Collections.addAll(useCases, 47, 48, 49, 50);
trackUseCases(useCases, PasswordUtils.class);
}
private static void trackUseCases(List<Integer> useCases, Class cl) {
for (Method method : cl.getDeclaredMethods()) {
UseCase uc = method.getAnnotation(UseCase.class);
if (null != uc) {
System.out.println("Found use case: " + uc.id() + ", " + uc.description());
useCases.remove(new Integer(uc.id()));
}
}
for (int i : useCases) {
System.out.println("warning: missing use case: " + i);
}
}
}
# what types of element are allowed in annotation?
- all primitive.
- String
- Class
- enum
- annotation
- 1-dimention array of any of the above.
# what's the restriction using annotation?
- no element can have an unspecified value, all elements must either have default values or values provided by the class that uses the annotation.