Package java.lang.annotation

Enum RetentionPolicy

java.lang.Object

java.lang.Enum<RetentionPolicy>

java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable, Comparable<RetentionPolicy>, Modified

public enum RetentionPolicy
extends Enum<RetentionPolicy>

Defines an enumeration for annotation retention policies. Used in conjunction with the Retention annotation to specify an annotation's time-to-live in the overall development life cycle.

Since:

1.5

Enum Constant Summary

Enum Constants

Enum Constant	Description
CLASS	Annotation is available in the source code and in the class file, but not at runtime.
RUNTIME	Annotation is available in the source code, the class file and is available at runtime.
SOURCE	Annotation is only available in the source code.

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method	Description
static RetentionPolicy	valueOf(String name)	Returns the enum constant of this type with the specified name.
static RetentionPolicy[]	values()	Returns an array containing the constants of this enum type, in the order they are declared.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Enum

compareTo, equals, hashCode, name, ordinal, toString, valueOf

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

getClass

Enum Constant Detail

SOURCE

public static final RetentionPolicy SOURCE

Annotation is only available in the source code.

CLASS

public static final RetentionPolicy CLASS

Annotation is available in the source code and in the class file, but not at runtime. This is the default policy.

RUNTIME

public static final RetentionPolicy RUNTIME

Annotation is available in the source code, the class file and is available at runtime.

Method Detail

values

public static RetentionPolicy[] values()

Returns an array containing the constants of this enum type, in the order they are declared. This method may be used to iterate over the constants as follows:

for (RetentionPolicy c : RetentionPolicy.values())
    System.out.println(c);

Returns:

an array containing the constants of this enum type, in the order they are declared

valueOf

public static RetentionPolicy valueOf(String name)

Returns the enum constant of this type with the specified name. The string must match exactly an identifier used to declare an enum constant in this type. (Extraneous whitespace characters are not permitted.)

Parameters:

name - the name of the enum constant to be returned.

Returns:

the enum constant with the specified name

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if this enum type has no constant with the specified name

NullPointerException - if the argument is null