CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaannotations
user855
user855

Reputation: 19918

Can annotation processor be used for code generation?

Let's say I define an annotation called @MyAnnotation.

There is a class X which is declared as:

@MyAnnotation
class X { .... }

Now at compile time I want to inspect all classes annotated with @MyAnnotation and do some code generation to more java source files that need to be compiled as well in the same process.

Is this possible using java annotation processor or some other tool?

Upvotes: 10

Views: 10316

Answers (2)

pranith
pranith

Reputation: 879

APT tool has been merged into javac in Java 6. This is a much better tutorial for annotation processing.

Upvotes: 16

Alex
Alex

Reputation: 25613

You may take a look at the Java apt (Annotation Processing Tool) for such a thing.

You can find the Getting Started page, and a nice article (1, 2, 3) about how to use that to generate code.

Upvotes: 10

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