What’s the use of Annotations?
The first question that comes into our mind is what’s the use case of annotations and why it is consider as a powerful part of Java. Annotations have a number of uses, among them:
- Information for the compiler — There are three built-in annotations available in Java (
@Deprecated, @Override & @SuppressWarnings) that can be used for giving certain instructions to the compiler. For example, the @Override annotation is used for instructing compiler that the annotated method is overriding the method.
@FunctionalInterface annotation, introduced in Java SE 8, indicates that the type declaration is intended to be a functional interface, as defined by the Java Language Specification.
- Compile-time and deployment-time processing — Software tools can process annotation information to generate code, XML files, and so forth.
- Runtime processing — We can define annotations to be available at runtime which we can access using java reflection and can be used to give instructions to the program at runtime.
Creating Custom Annotations
- Annotations are created by using
@interface, followed by annotation name as shown in the below example. - An annotation can have elements as well. They look like methods. For example in the below code, we have six elements. We should not provide implementation for these elements.
- All annotations extends java.lang.annotation.Annotation interface. Annotations cannot include any extends clause.
@interface ClassInfo {
String author();
String date();
int currentRevision() default 1;
String lastModified() default "N/A";
String lastModifiedBy() default "N/A";
// Note use of array
String[] reviewers();
}
Note: All the elements that have default values set while creating annotations can be skipped while using annotation and we can also have array elements in an annotation. For example if I’m applying the above annotation to a class then I would do it like this:
@ClassInfo(
author="TheCodersStop",
date = "05-10-2020"
reviewers={"Me", "You"}
)
public class AnyClass {
}
As you can see, we have not given any value to the currentRevision , lastModified and lastModifiedBy elements as it is optional to set the values of these elements (default values already been set in Annotation definition, but if you want you can assign new value while using annotation just the same way as we did for other elements). However we have to provide the values of other elements (the elements that do not have default values set) while using annotation.
Annotations That Apply to Other Annotations
Annotations that apply to other annotations are called meta-annotations. There are several meta-annotation types defined in java.lang.annotation.
import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
import java.lang.annotation.Inherited;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;
@Documented
@Target(ElementType.METHOD)
@Inherited
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public @interface StudentAnnotation{
int studentAge() default 15;
String studentName();
String studentAddress();
String studentStream() default "PCM";
}
In the above custom annotation example we have used these four annotations : @Documented, @Target, @Inherited & @Retention. Lets discuss them one by one.
@Documented
@Documented annotation indicates that whenever the specified annotation is used those elements should be documented using the Javadoc tool. (By default, annotations are not included in Javadoc.) For more information, see the Javadoc tools page.
@StudentAnnotation
public class AnyClass {
//Class body
}
So while generating the javadoc for class AnyClass, the annotation @MyCustomAnnotation would be included in that.
@Target
@Target annotation marks another annotation to restrict what kind of Java elements the annotation can be applied to. In our case, we have defined the target type as METHOD which means the below annotation can only be used on methods.
public class AnyClass {
@StudentAnnotation
public void anyMethod()
{
//Doing something
}
}
If you do not define any Target type that means annotation can be applied to any element. A target annotation specifies one of the following element types as its value:
ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE can be applied to an annotation type.ElementType.CONSTRUCTOR can be applied to a constructor.ElementType.FIELD can be applied to a field or property.ElementType.LOCAL_VARIABLE can be applied to a local variable.ElementType.METHOD can be applied to a method-level annotation.ElementType.PACKAGE can be applied to a package declaration.ElementType.PARAMETER can be applied to the parameters of a method.ElementType.TYPE can be applied to any element of a class.
@Inherited
The @Inherited annotation indicates that a custom annotation used in a class should be inherited by all of its sub classes. This is not true by default.
@StudentAnnotation
public class AnyParentClass {
...
}
public class AnyChildClass extends AnyParentClass {
...
}
Here the class AnyParentClass is using annotation @StudentAnnotation which is marked with @inherited annotation. It means that the sub class AnyChildClass inherits the @AnyCustomAnnotation.
@Retention
@Retention annotation specifies how the marked annotation is stored:
RetentionPolicy.SOURCE – The marked annotation is retained only in the source level and is ignored by the compiler.RetentionPolicy.CLASS – The marked annotation is retained by the compiler at compile time, but is ignored by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME – The marked annotation is retained by the JVM so it can be used by the runtime environment.
@Repeatable
@Repeatable annotation, introduced in Java SE 8, indicates that the marked annotation can be applied more than once to the same declaration or type use. For more information, see Repeating Annotations.
I hope you have enjoyed this post and it helped you to create a custom Java annotation. Please like and share and feel free to comment if you have any suggestions or feedback.
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Pradeep Mishra
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What’s the use of Annotations?
The first question that comes into our mind is what’s the use case of annotations and why it is consider as a powerful part of Java. Annotations have a number of uses, among them:
@Deprecated,@Override&@SuppressWarnings) that can be used for giving certain instructions to the compiler. For example, the @Override annotation is used for instructing compiler that the annotated method is overriding the method.Creating Custom Annotations
@interface, followed by annotation name as shown in the below example.@interface ClassInfo { String author(); String date(); int currentRevision() default 1; String lastModified() default "N/A"; String lastModifiedBy() default "N/A"; // Note use of array String[] reviewers(); }Note: All the elements that have default values set while creating annotations can be skipped while using annotation and we can also have array elements in an annotation. For example if I’m applying the above annotation to a class then I would do it like this:
@ClassInfo( author="TheCodersStop", date = "05-10-2020" reviewers={"Me", "You"} ) public class AnyClass { }As you can see, we have not given any value to the
currentRevision,lastModifiedandlastModifiedByelements as it is optional to set the values of these elements (default values already been set in Annotation definition, but if you want you can assign new value while using annotation just the same way as we did for other elements). However we have to provide the values of other elements (the elements that do not have default values set) while using annotation.Annotations That Apply to Other Annotations
Annotations that apply to other annotations are called meta-annotations. There are several meta-annotation types defined in
java.lang.annotation.import java.lang.annotation.Documented; import java.lang.annotation.ElementType; import java.lang.annotation.Inherited; import java.lang.annotation.Retention; import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy; import java.lang.annotation.Target; @Documented @Target(ElementType.METHOD) @Inherited @Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME) public @interface StudentAnnotation{ int studentAge() default 15; String studentName(); String studentAddress(); String studentStream() default "PCM"; }In the above custom annotation example we have used these four annotations :
@Documented,@Target,@Inherited&@Retention. Lets discuss them one by one.@Documented
@Documentedannotation indicates that whenever the specified annotation is used those elements should be documented using the Javadoc tool. (By default, annotations are not included in Javadoc.) For more information, see the Javadoc tools page.@StudentAnnotation public class AnyClass { //Class body }So while generating the javadoc for class
AnyClass, the annotation@MyCustomAnnotationwould be included in that.@Target
@Targetannotation marks another annotation to restrict what kind of Java elements the annotation can be applied to. In our case, we have defined the target type as METHOD which means the below annotation can only be used on methods.public class AnyClass { @StudentAnnotation public void anyMethod() { //Doing something } }If you do not define any Target type that means annotation can be applied to any element. A target annotation specifies one of the following element types as its value:
ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPEcan be applied to an annotation type.ElementType.CONSTRUCTORcan be applied to a constructor.ElementType.FIELDcan be applied to a field or property.ElementType.LOCAL_VARIABLEcan be applied to a local variable.ElementType.METHODcan be applied to a method-level annotation.ElementType.PACKAGEcan be applied to a package declaration.ElementType.PARAMETERcan be applied to the parameters of a method.ElementType.TYPEcan be applied to any element of a class.@Inherited
The @Inherited annotation indicates that a custom annotation used in a class should be inherited by all of its sub classes. This is not true by default.
@StudentAnnotation public class AnyParentClass { ... }public class AnyChildClass extends AnyParentClass { ... }Here the class
AnyParentClassis using annotation@StudentAnnotationwhich is marked with @inherited annotation. It means that the sub classAnyChildClassinherits the@AnyCustomAnnotation.@Retention
@Retentionannotation specifies how the marked annotation is stored:RetentionPolicy.SOURCE– The marked annotation is retained only in the source level and is ignored by the compiler.RetentionPolicy.CLASS– The marked annotation is retained by the compiler at compile time, but is ignored by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME– The marked annotation is retained by the JVM so it can be used by the runtime environment.@Repeatable
@Repeatableannotation, introduced in Java SE 8, indicates that the marked annotation can be applied more than once to the same declaration or type use. For more information, see Repeating Annotations.I hope you have enjoyed this post and it helped you to create a custom Java annotation. Please like and share and feel free to comment if you have any suggestions or feedback.
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JUnit Annotations with Example
JUnit is a unit testing framework for the Java programming language. JUnit is used primarily to test each and every unit or component of your application, like classes and methods. It helps to write and run repeatable automated tests to ensure your code runs as intended.
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