/*

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

 *

 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it

 * 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

 * or visit www.oracle.com if you need additional information or have any

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 */

package com.sun.org.glassfish.gmbal ;

import java.lang.annotation.Documented ;

import java.lang.annotation.Target ;

import java.lang.annotation.ElementType ;

import java.lang.annotation.Retention ;

import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy ;

/** This annotation defines an attribute in open MBean (ManagedObject) or

 * CompositeData (ManagedData).  It is useful in cases where the parent class

 * cannot be annotated (for example, Object.toString(), or a framework class

 * that must be extended

 * but cannot be modified).  The attribute id is defined in the annotation, and

 * it is implemented by the methods inherited by the Managed entity.

 * <p>

 * An example of a use of this is to handle @ManagedData that inherits from

 * Collection<X>, and it is desired to display a read-only attribute containing

 * the elements of the Collection.  Simple add the annotation

 * <p>

 * @InheritedAttribute( methodName="iterator" )

 * <p>

 * to handle this case.  Note that this only supports read-only attributes.

 */

@Documented

@Target(ElementType.TYPE)

@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)

public @interface InheritedAttribute {

    /** The description of the attribute.  Can be a key to a resource

     * bundle for I18N support. Note that this needs a description, otherwise

     * the InheritedAttributes annotation won't work.  The Description

     * annotation is used in all other cases.  The description cannot be

     * empty.

     * @return The description.

     */

    String description() ;

    /** The name of the attribute,  This class must inherit a method whose name

     * corresponds to this id in one of the standard ways.

     * @return The ID.

     */

    String id() default "" ;

    /** The name of the method implementing this attribute.  At least one of

     * id and methodName must not be empty.  If only one is given, the other

     * is derived according to the extended attribute name rules.

     */

    String methodName() default "" ;

}