src/java.desktop/share/classes/javax/swing/SwingContainer.java

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2014, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
 *
 * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 only, as
 * published by the Free Software Foundation.  Oracle designates this
 * particular file as subject to the "Classpath" exception as provided
 * by Oracle in the LICENSE file that accompanied this code.
 *
 * This code is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
 * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
 * version 2 for more details (a copy is included in the LICENSE file that
 * accompanied this code).
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License version
 * 2 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
 * Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 *
 * Please contact Oracle, 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065 USA
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package javax.swing;

import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;

import static java.lang.annotation.ElementType.TYPE;
import static java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME;

/**
 * An annotation used to specify some swing-related information
 * for the automatically generated {@code BeanInfo} classes.
 * This annotation is not used if the annotated class
 * has a corresponding user-defined {@code BeanInfo} class,
 * which does not imply the automatic analysis.
 * <p>
 * The {@code isContainer} {@link java.beans.BeanDescriptor#getValue
 * feature attribute} was introduced primarily for the Swing library.
 * All Swing components extend the {@link java.awt.Container Container}
 * class by design, so the builder tool assumes that all Swing components
 * are containers.  The {@link java.beans.BeanInfo BeanInfo} classes
 * with the {@code isContainer} attribute allow to directly specify
 * whether a Swing component is a container or not.
 *
 * @since 9
 *
 * @author Sergey A. Malenkov
 */
@Target({TYPE})
@Retention(RUNTIME)
public @interface SwingContainer {
    /**
     * The value that indicates whether the annotated class can be used
     * as a container for other Swing components or not.
     *
     * @return {@code true} if the annotated class is a Swing container;
     *         {@code false} otherwise.
     */
    boolean value() default true;

    /**
     * The name of the getter method in the annotated class,
     * which returns the corresponding Swing container,
     * if it is not recommended to add subcomponents
     * to the annotated class directly.
     *
     * @return the name of the getter method in the annotated class,
     *         which returns the corresponding Swing container,
     *         or an empty string if the method name is not set.
     */
    String delegate() default "";
}