Review request for present, directly present, etc. in core reflection javadoc

[Joe Darcy]

Hi Alex,

On 07/09/2013 04:00 PM, Alex Buckley wrote:
> Hi Joe,
>
> Thanks for applying these spec changes to the API. I note the 
> refactoring in get[Declared]AnnotationByType so that the order of 
> directly + indirectly present annotations is specified earlier.
>
> One omission: getDeclaredAnnotationsByType still says it returns 
> directly present annotations, when it should say directly _or 
> indirectly_ present annotations. After all, that method is different 
> than getDeclaredAnnotations precisely because of look-through. Please 
> see item 2 in the bug.
>
>

Another iteration on the specification changes below; revised webrev at:

     cr.openjdk.java.net/~darcy/8010679.1/

-Joe

diff -r 83c2976ef8ee 
src/share/classes/java/lang/reflect/AnnotatedElement.java
--- a/src/share/classes/java/lang/reflect/AnnotatedElement.java Tue Jul 
09 16:00:41 2013 +0100
+++ b/src/share/classes/java/lang/reflect/AnnotatedElement.java Tue Jul 
09 17:52:39 2013 -0700
@@ -32,49 +32,74 @@
   * Represents an annotated element of the program currently running in 
this
   * VM.  This interface allows annotations to be read reflectively. All
   * annotations returned by methods in this interface are immutable and
- * serializable.  It is permissible for the caller to modify the
- * arrays returned by accessors for array-valued enum members; it will
- * have no affect on the arrays returned to other callers.
+ * serializable. The arrays returned by methods of this interface may 
be modified
+ * by callers without affecting the arrays returned to other callers.
   *
   * <p>The {@link #getAnnotationsByType(Class)} and {@link
   * #getDeclaredAnnotationsByType(Class)} methods support multiple
- * 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.
+ * 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) and
+ * return the one or more annotations inside the container. Container
+ * annotations may be 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>indirectly 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
@@ -85,10 +110,11 @@
   * 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
@@ -106,7 +132,7 @@
  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:
@@ -128,7 +154,7 @@

     /**
       * 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
@@ -141,9 +167,9 @@
      <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)}
@@ -159,7 +185,7 @@
       * @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
       */
@@ -181,27 +207,30 @@

      /**
       * 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);

      /**
-     * Returns annotations that are <em>directly present</em> on this 
element.
-     * This method ignores inherited annotations.
+     * Returns this element's annotation(s) for the specified type if
+     * such annotations are either <em>directly present</em> or
+     * <em>indirectly present</em>. This method ignores inherited
+     * annotations.
       *
-     * If there are no annotations <em>directly present</em> on this 
element,
-     * the return value is an array of length 0.
+     * If there are no specified annotations directly or indirectly
+     * present on this element, the return value is an array of length
+     * 0.
       *
       * The difference between this method and {@link
       * #getDeclaredAnnotation(Class)} is that this method detects if its
@@ -213,11 +242,11 @@
       * have no effect on the arrays returned to other callers.
       *
       * @param <T> the type of the annotation to query for and return
-     * if directly present
+     * if directly or indirectly 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
       */