/*

 * Copyright (c) 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.

 *

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 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as

 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this

 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided

 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.

 *

 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT

 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or

 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License

 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that

 * accompanied this code).

 *

 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version

 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,

 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

 *

 * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA

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package java.lang.annotation;

/**

 * The annotation type {@code java.lang.annotation.ContainedBy} is

 * used to indicate that the annotation type whose declaration it

 * (meta-)annotates is <em>repeatable</em>. The value of

 * {@code @ContainedBy} indicates the <em>containing annotation

 * type</em> for the repeatable annotation type.

 *

 * <p>The pair of annotation types {@code @ContainedBy} and

 * {@link java.lang.annotation.ContainerFor @ContainerFor} are used to

 * indicate that annotation types are repeatable. Specifically:

 *

 * <ul>

 * <li>The annotation type {@code @ContainedBy} is used on the

 * declaration of a repeatable annotation type (JLS 9.6) to indicate

 * its containing annotation type.

 *

 * <li>The annotation type {@code @ContainerFor} is used on the

 * declaration of a containing annotation type (JLS 9.6) to indicate

 * the repeatable annotation type for which it serves as the

 * containing annotation type.

 * </ul>

 *

 * <p>

 * An inconsistent pair of {@code @ContainedBy} and

 * {@code @ContainerFor} annotations on a repeatable annotation type

 * and its containing annotation type (JLS 9.6) will lead to

 * compile-time errors and runtime exceptions when using reflection to

 * read annotations of a repeatable type.

 *

 * @see java.lang.annotation.ContainerFor

 * @since 1.8

 * @jls 9.6 Annotation Types

 * @jls 9.7 Annotations

 */

@Documented

@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)

@Target(ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE)

public @interface ContainedBy {

    /**

     * Indicates the <em>containing annotation type</em> for the

     * repeatable annotation type.

     */

    Class<? extends Annotation> value();

}