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.ContainerFor} is

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

    31  * (meta-)annotates is a <em>containing annotation type</em>. The

    32  * value of {@code @ContainerFor} indicates the <em>repeatable

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

    34  *

    35  * <p>The pair of annotation types {@link

    36  * java.lang.annotation.ContainedBy @ContainedBy} and

    37  * {@code @ContainerFor} are used to indicate that annotation types

    38  * are repeatable. Specifically:

    39  *

    40  * <ul>

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

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

    43  * its containing annotation type.

    44  *

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

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

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

    48  * containing annotation type.

    49  * </ul>

    50  *

    51  * <p>

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

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

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

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

    56  * read annotations of a repeatable type.

    57  *

    58  * @see java.lang.annotation.ContainedBy

    59  * @since 1.8

    60  * @jls 9.6 Annotation Types

    61  * @jls 9.7 Annotations

    62  */

    63 @Documented

    64 @Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)

    65 @Target(ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE)

    66 public @interface ContainerFor {

    67 

    68     /**

    69      * Indicates the repeatable annotation type for the containing

    70      * annotation type.

    71      */

    72     Class<? extends Annotation> value();

    73 }