Become a member Sign in Get started

Annotation & their uses in Java

Parathan Thiyagalingam Follow
Oct 2, 2018 · 3 min read

Photo Thanks idlebrains.org

Hello, I’m newbie to Java world & so new to Spring Boot. So, I don’t have
a prior experience with spring also. As a new one, I’m writing this to new
people to Java. Experts, correct me in the comments if its wrong.

. . .

What is Annotation..?
a note by way of explanation or comment added to a text or diagram.

Above, is the dictionary explanation for Annotation.

In Java

Annotation is a tag that used for

1. methods

2. class

3. interface

which adds more information about those for Java compiler / JVM(Java
Virtual Machine).

You may have already experienced with some built-in Java function when
you done with basic Java stuffs.

Like,

1. @override — used to override the parent class method in sub class

method

2. @SuppressWarnings — used to suppress warnings issued by the

compiler.

3. @Deprecated — compiler prints warning because of the method is

deprecated as it could be removed in the future versions. So that its
better not to use such method.

Let’s have a look at Java Custom Annotation

Java Custom Annotation or Java User defined annotations are easy to

use and create (That means even you and me can create an annotation
according to our need).

@interface element is used to declare an annotation.

Like this

@interface parathan{}

to create annotation; annotation should have the following characters

method should not have parameters

should not throw any clause

may have default values

should return a class, method, enum, String like primitive data type

Type of Annotation

1. Marker Annotation

2. Single Value Annotation

3. Multi-value Annotation

4. Marker Annotation — Annotation that have no methods inside it.

Eg: @Deprecated @Override

@interface parathan{}

2. Single-value Annotation — Annotation that have one method

@interface parathan{

int value();

Default value can be provided for it by following code snippet

@interface parathan{

int value() default 0;

Applying a Single Annotation in code

@parathan(value=10)

3.Multi-value Annotation — Annotation that has more method than one

@interface parathan{

int age();

String name();

String country();

Applying Multi Annotation can be as follows

@parathan(age=20,name=”Parathan Thiyagalingam”,country=”Sri
Lanka”)

Built in Annotations used in Custom Annotations

1. @Target

2. @Retention

3. @Inherited

4. @Documented

5. @Target — used to betoken to which type the annotation to be used

For that we have to import java.lang.annotation.ElementType

we use

@Target(ElementType.some_thing)

Here some_thing need to be replaced by the following keywords if you

are using where the annotation need to be applied.

If you are going to use it for “class,interface,enumeration”

then

@Target(ElementType.Type)

If you are going to use it for methods

then

@Target(ElementType.METHOD)

Credit: Javatpoint.com

Eg to use for class and method is follow

@Target({ElementType.Type,ElementType.METHOD})

@interface parathan{

int age();

String name();

2. @Retention

Used to betoken for what level the annotation need to be available.

There are 3 level

SOURCE — this refers the source code, which the annotation will not
be available in compiled class.

CLASS — this refers to the .class file, which the annotation will not
available to JVM but available for java compiler. So, it will be in the
class file.

RUNTIME — refers runtime, which is available to bothe java compiler

& jvm.

Eg:

@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)

@Target(ElementType.TYPE)

@interface parathan{

int age();

String name();

The above snippet represents the annotation will be available at the run
time & the annotation is targeted to the class.

3. @Inherited : Normally the annotations are not inherited to sub

classes to inherit the annotation to sub class @Inherited is used.

@Inherited

@interface parathan{ } //Now it will be available to subclass also

@interface parathan{ }

class MainClass{}

class Subclass extends MainClass{} //sub class extends the super class

As the annotation “parathan” is inherited;

the MainClass uses the annotation as the SubClass extends the

MainClass,

therefore, the SubClass can also access the annotation

4.@Documented

It is used to include the annotation in the Java documentation.

. . .

The annotation I’m writing here, is because I’m posting REST API in Java
using Spring Boot & MySQL as Parts.

So, there we are using a lot of annotations to make our tasks easy.

If I made any mistakes.. Please comment below. Or share with your

friends.

Happy Coding Folks…!!

Java Annotations Programming Java8

72 claps

WRIT T EN BY

Parathan Thiyagalingam Follow

A passionate in Tech https://www.linkedin.com/in/parathantl

Write the rst response

More From Medium

A basic guide to Integrating Spring Boot An Introduction to How to Deploy Spring

Closures in JavaScript with Java Server Faces Regular Expressions Boot Application in
Parathan T hiyagalingam in using JoinFaces Adam Sha er in JavaScript In Wild y Application
freeCodeCamp.org T SEPO MALEKA Plain English Server
Somnath Musib in T he Startup

Deploying Spring Boot REST API: Java Spring Let’s explore Slice(), Microservices with
apps as Windows Boot and MongoDB Splice() & Spread Spring Boot and Spring
Services T homas Gleason Syntax(…) in JavaScript Cloud.
Okezie Arukwe Parathan T hiyagalingam in Marcus Hert Da Corégio in
freeCodeCamp.org IT NEXT

Discover Medium Make Medium yours Become a member

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and
voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade
sight. Watch

About Help Legal