ElementType

public final enum ElementType extends Enum<ElementType>

The constants of this enumerated type provide a simple classification of the syntactic locations where annotations may appear in a Java program. These constants are used in java.lang.annotation.Target meta-annotations to specify where it is legal to write annotations of a given type.

The syntactic locations where annotations may appear are split into declaration contexts , where annotations apply to declarations, and type contexts , where annotations apply to types used in declarations and expressions.

The constants ANNOTATION_TYPE , CONSTRUCTOR , FIELD , LOCAL_VARIABLE , METHOD , PACKAGE , PARAMETER , TYPE , and TYPE_PARAMETER correspond to the declaration contexts in JLS 9.6.4.1.

For example, an annotation whose type is meta-annotated with @Target(ElementType.FIELD) may only be written as a modifier for a field declaration.

The constant TYPE_USE corresponds to the 15 type contexts in JLS 4.11, as well as to two declaration contexts: type declarations (including annotation type declarations) and type parameter declarations.

For example, an annotation whose type is meta-annotated with @Target(ElementType.TYPE_USE) may be written on the type of a field (or within the type of the field, if it is a nested, parameterized, or array type), and may also appear as a modifier for, say, a class declaration.

The TYPE_USE constant includes type declarations and type parameter declarations as a convenience for designers of type checkers which give semantics to annotation types. For example, if the annotation type NonNull is meta-annotated with @Target(ElementType.TYPE_USE), then @NonNull class C {...} could be treated by a type checker as indicating that all variables of class C are non-null, while still allowing variables of other classes to be non-null or not non-null based on whether @NonNull appears at the variable's declaration.

Inherited Method Summary

From class java.lang.Enum

final Object	clone() Throws CloneNotSupportedException.
final int	compareTo(ElementType o) Compares this enum with the specified object for order.
final boolean	equals(Object other) Returns true if the specified object is equal to this enum constant.
final void	finalize() enum classes cannot have finalize methods.
final Class<ElementType>	getDeclaringClass() Returns the Class object corresponding to this enum constant's enum type.
final int	hashCode() Returns a hash code for this enum constant.
final String	name() Returns the name of this enum constant, exactly as declared in its enum declaration.
final int	ordinal() Returns the ordinal of this enumeration constant (its position in its enum declaration, where the initial constant is assigned an ordinal of zero).
String	toString() Returns the name of this enum constant, as contained in the declaration.
static <T extends Enum<T>> T	valueOf(Class<T> enumType, String name) Returns the enum constant of the specified enum type with the specified name.

From class java.lang.Object

Object	clone() Creates and returns a copy of this Object.
boolean	equals(Object obj) Compares this instance with the specified object and indicates if they are equal.
void	finalize() Invoked when the garbage collector has detected that this instance is no longer reachable.
final Class<?>	getClass() Returns the unique instance of Class that represents this object's class.
int	hashCode() Returns an integer hash code for this object.
final void	notify() Causes a thread which is waiting on this object's monitor (by means of calling one of the wait() methods) to be woken up.
final void	notifyAll() Causes all threads which are waiting on this object's monitor (by means of calling one of the wait() methods) to be woken up.
String	toString() Returns a string containing a concise, human-readable description of this object.
final void	wait(long timeout, int nanos) Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object or until the specified timeout expires.
final void	wait(long timeout) Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object or until the specified timeout expires.
final void	wait() Causes the calling thread to wait until another thread calls the notify() or notifyAll() method of this object.

From interface java.lang.Comparable

abstract int

compareTo(ElementType o) Compares this object with the specified object for order.

Enum Values

public static final ElementType ANNOTATION_TYPE

Annotation type declaration

public static final ElementType CONSTRUCTOR

Constructor declaration

public static final ElementType FIELD

Field declaration (includes enum constants)

public static final ElementType LOCAL_VARIABLE

Local variable declaration

public static final ElementType METHOD

Method declaration

public static final ElementType PACKAGE

Package declaration

public static final ElementType PARAMETER

Formal parameter declaration

public static final ElementType TYPE

Class, interface (including annotation type), or enum declaration

public static final ElementType TYPE_PARAMETER

Type parameter declaration

public static final ElementType TYPE_USE

Use of a type