1 /*

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

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

     4  *

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

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

     7  * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this

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

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

    10  *

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

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

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

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

    15  * accompanied this code).

    16  *

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

    18  * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,

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

    20  *

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

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

    23  * questions.

    24  */

    25 

    26 package java.lang.annotation;

    27 

    28 /**

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

    30  * used to indicate that the annotation type whose declaration it

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

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

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

    34  *

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

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

    37  * indicate that annotation types are repeatable. Specifically:

    38  *

    39  * <ul>

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

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

    42  * its containing annotation type.

    43  *

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

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

    46  * the repeatable annotation type for which it serves as the

    47  * containing annotation type.

    48  * </ul>

    49  *

    50  * <p>

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

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

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

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

    55  * read annotations of a repeatable type.

    56  *

    57  * @see java.lang.annotation.ContainerFor

    58  * @since 1.8

    59  * @jls 9.6 Annotation Types

    60  * @jls 9.7 Annotations

    61  */

    62 @Documented

    63 @Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)

    64 @Target(ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE)

    65 public @interface ContainedBy {

    66     /**

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

    68      * repeatable annotation type.

    69      */

    70     Class<? extends Annotation> value();

    71 }