src/share/classes/java/lang/reflect/AnnotatedElement.java

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@@ -41,56 +41,81 @@
  * annotations of the same type on an element. If the argument to either method
  * is a repeatable annotation type (JLS 9.6), then the method will "look
  * through" a container annotation (JLS 9.7) which was generated at
  * compile-time to wrap multiple annotations of the argument type.
  *
- * <p>The terms <em>directly present</em> and <em>present</em> are used
- * throughout this interface to describe precisely which annotations are
- * returned by methods:
+ * <p>The terms <em>directly present</em>, <em>directly present</em>,
+ * <em>present</em>, and <em>associated</em> are used throughout this
+ * interface to describe precisely which annotations are returned by
+ * methods:
  *
  * <ul>
- * <li>An annotation A is <em>directly present</em> on an element E if E is
- * associated with a RuntimeVisibleAnnotations or
- * RuntimeVisibleParameterAnnotations attribute, and:
+ *
+ * <li> An annotation <i>A</i> is <em>directly present</em> on an
+ * element <i>E</i> if <i>E</i> has a {@code
+ * RuntimeVisibleAnnotations} or {@code
+ * RuntimeVisibleParameterAnnotations} or {@code
+ * RuntimeVisibleTypeAnnotations} attribute, and the attribute
+ * contains <i>A</i>.
+ *
+ * <li>An annotation <i>A</i> is <em>indirectly present</em> on an
+ * element <i>E</i> if <i>E</i> has a {@code RuntimeVisibleAnnotations} or
+ * {@code RuntimeVisibleParameterAnnotations} or {@code RuntimeVisibleTypeAnnotations}
+ * attribute, and <i>A</i> 's type is repeatable, and the attribute contains
+ * exactly one annotation whose value element contains <i>A</i> and whose
+ * type is the containing annotation type of <i>A</i> 's type.
+ *
+ * <li>An annotation <i>A</i> is present on an element <i>E</i> if either:
  *
  * <ul>
- * <li>for an invocation of {@code get[Declared]Annotation(Class<T>)} or
- * {@code get[Declared]Annotations()}, the attribute contains A.
  *
- * <li>for an invocation of {@code get[Declared]AnnotationsByType(Class<T>)}, the
- * attribute either contains A or, if the type of A is repeatable, contains
- * exactly one annotation whose value element contains A and whose type is the
- * containing annotation type of A's type (JLS 9.6).
+ * <li><i>A</i> is directly present on <i>E</i>; or
+ *
+ * <li>No annotation of <i>A</i> 's type is directly present on
+ * <i>E</i>, and <i>E</i> is a class, and <i>A</i> 's type is
+ * inheritable, and <i>A</i> is present on the superclass of <i>E</i>.
+ *
  * </ul>
  *
- * <p>
- * <li>An annotation A is <em>present</em> on an element E if either:
+ * <li>An annotation <i>A</i> is <em>associated</em> with an element <i>E</i>
+ * if either:
  *
  * <ul>
- * <li>A is <em>directly present</em> on E; or
  *
- * <li>A is not <em>directly present</em> on E, and E is a class, and A's type
- * is inheritable (JLS 9.6.3.3), and A is <em>present</em> on the superclass of
- * E.
+ * <li><i>A</i> is directly or indirectly present on <i>E</i>; or
+ *
+ * <li>No annotation of <i>A</i> 's type is directly or indirectly
+ * present on <i>E</i>, and <i>E</i> is a class, and <i>A</i>'s type
+ * is inheritable, and <i>A</i> is associated with the superclass of
+ * <i>E</i>.
+ *
  * </ul>
  *
  * </ul>
  *
+ * For an invocation of {@code get[Declared]AnnotationsByType( Class <
+ * T >)}, the order of annotations which are directly or indirectly
+ * present on an element <i>E</i> is computed as if indirectly present
+ * annotations on <i>E</i> are directly present on <i>E</i> in place
+ * of their container annotation, in the order in which they appear in
+ * the value element of the container annotation.
+
  * <p>If an annotation returned by a method in this interface contains
  * (directly or indirectly) a {@link Class}-valued member referring to
  * a class that is not accessible in this VM, attempting to read the class
  * by calling the relevant Class-returning method on the returned annotation
  * will result in a {@link TypeNotPresentException}.
  *
  * <p>Similarly, attempting to read an enum-valued member will result in
  * a {@link EnumConstantNotPresentException} if the enum constant in the
  * annotation is no longer present in the enum type.
  *
- * <p>Attempting to read annotations of a repeatable annotation type T
- * that are contained in an annotation whose type is not, in fact, the
- * containing annotation type of T, will result in an {@link
- * AnnotationFormatError}.
+ * <p>If an annotation type <i>T</i> is (meta-)annotated with an
+ * {@code @Repeatable} annotation whose value element indicates a type
+ * <i>TC</i>, but <i>TC</i> does not declare a {@code value()} method
+ * with a return type of <i>T</i>{@code []}, then an exception of type
+ * {@link java.lang.annotation.AnnotationFormatError} is thrown.
  *
  * <p>Finally, attempting to read a member whose definition has evolved
  * incompatibly will result in a {@link
  * java.lang.annotation.AnnotationTypeMismatchException} or an
  * {@link java.lang.annotation.IncompleteAnnotationException}.

@@ -104,11 +129,11 @@
  * @author Josh Bloch
  */
 public interface AnnotatedElement {
     /**
      * Returns true if an annotation for the specified type
-     * is present on this element, else false.  This method
+     * is <em>present</em> on this element, else false.  This method
      * is designed primarily for convenient access to marker annotations.
      *
      * <p>The truth value returned by this method is equivalent to:
      * {@code getAnnotation(annotationClass) != null}
      *

@@ -126,11 +151,11 @@
         return getAnnotation(annotationClass) != null;
     }
 
    /**
      * Returns this element's annotation for the specified type if
-     * such an annotation is present, else null.
+     * such an annotation is <em>present</em>, else null.
      *
      * @param <T> the type of the annotation to query for and return if present
      * @param annotationClass the Class object corresponding to the
      *        annotation type
      * @return this element's annotation for the specified annotation type if

@@ -139,13 +164,13 @@
      * @since 1.5
      */
     <T extends Annotation> T getAnnotation(Class<T> annotationClass);
 
     /**
-     * Returns annotations that are <em>present</em> on this element.
+     * Returns annotations that are <em>associated</em> with this element.
      *
-     * If there are no annotations <em>present</em> on this element, the return
+     * If there are no annotations <em>associated</em> with this element, the return
      * value is an array of length 0.
      *
      * The difference between this method and {@link #getAnnotation(Class)}
      * is that this method detects if its argument is a <em>repeatable
      * annotation type</em> (JLS 9.6), and if so, attempts to find one or

@@ -157,11 +182,11 @@
      *
      * @param <T> the type of the annotation to query for and return if present
      * @param annotationClass the Class object corresponding to the
      *        annotation type
      * @return all this element's annotations for the specified annotation type if
-     *     present on this element, else an array of length zero
+     *     associated with this element, else an array of length zero
      * @throws NullPointerException if the given annotation class is null
      * @since 1.8
      */
     <T extends Annotation> T[] getAnnotationsByType(Class<T> annotationClass);
 

@@ -179,20 +204,20 @@
      */
     Annotation[] getAnnotations();
 
     /**
      * Returns this element's annotation for the specified type if
-     * such an annotation is present, else null.
+     * such an annotation is <em>directly present</em>, else null.
      *
      * This method ignores inherited annotations. (Returns null if no
      * annotations are directly present on this element.)
      *
-     * @param <T> the type of the annotation to query for and return if present
+     * @param <T> the type of the annotation to query for and return if directly present
      * @param annotationClass the Class object corresponding to the
      *        annotation type
      * @return this element's annotation for the specified annotation type if
-     *     present on this element, else null
+     *     directly present on this element, else null
      * @throws NullPointerException if the given annotation class is null
      * @since 1.8
      */
     <T extends Annotation> T getDeclaredAnnotation(Class<T> annotationClass);
 

@@ -215,11 +240,11 @@
      * @param <T> the type of the annotation to query for and return
      * if directly present
      * @param annotationClass the Class object corresponding to the
      *        annotation type
      * @return all this element's annotations for the specified annotation type if
-     *     present on this element, else an array of length zero
+     *     directly present on this element, else an array of length zero
      * @throws NullPointerException if the given annotation class is null
      * @since 1.8
      */
     <T extends Annotation> T[] getDeclaredAnnotationsByType(Class<T> annotationClass);