-
- All Known Subinterfaces:
- ExecutableElement, PackageElement, Parameterizable, QualifiedNameable, TypeElement, TypeParameterElement, VariableElement
public interface Element
Represents a program element such as a package, class, or method. Each element represents a static, language-level construct (and not, for example, a runtime construct of the virtual machine).Elements should be compared using the
equals(Object)
method. There is no guarantee that any particular element will always be represented by the same object.To implement operations based on the class of an
Element
object, either use a visitor or use the result of thegetKind()
method. Usinginstanceof
is not necessarily a reliable idiom for determining the effective class of an object in this modeling hierarchy since an implementation may choose to have a single object implement multipleElement
subinterfaces.- Since:
- 1.6
- See Also:
Elements
,TypeMirror
-
-
Method Summary
Methods Modifier and Type Method and Description <R,P> R
accept(ElementVisitor<R,P> v, P p)
Applies a visitor to this element.TypeMirror
asType()
Returns the type defined by this element.boolean
equals(Object obj)
Returnstrue
if the argument represents the same element asthis
, orfalse
otherwise.<A extends Annotation>
AgetAnnotation(Class<A> annotationType)
Returns this element's annotation for the specified type if such an annotation is present, elsenull
.List<? extends AnnotationMirror>
getAnnotationMirrors()
Returns the annotations that are directly present on this element.List<? extends Element>
getEnclosedElements()
Returns the elements that are, loosely speaking, directly enclosed by this element.Element
getEnclosingElement()
Returns the innermost element within which this element is, loosely speaking, enclosed.ElementKind
getKind()
Returns thekind
of this element.Set<Modifier>
getModifiers()
Returns the modifiers of this element, excluding annotations.Name
getSimpleName()
Returns the simple (unqualified) name of this element.int
hashCode()
Obeys the general contract ofObject.hashCode
.
-
-
-
Method Detail
-
asType
TypeMirror asType()
Returns the type defined by this element.A generic element defines a family of types, not just one. If this is a generic element, a prototypical type is returned. This is the element's invocation on the type variables corresponding to its own formal type parameters. For example, for the generic class element
C<N extends Number>
, the parameterized typeC<N>
is returned. TheTypes
utility interface has more general methods for obtaining the full range of types defined by an element.- Returns:
- the type defined by this element
- See Also:
Types
-
getKind
ElementKind getKind()
Returns thekind
of this element.- Returns:
- the kind of this element
-
getAnnotationMirrors
List<? extends AnnotationMirror> getAnnotationMirrors()
Returns the annotations that are directly present on this element.To get inherited annotations as well, use
getAllAnnotationMirrors
.- Returns:
- the annotations directly present on this element; an empty list if there are none
- See Also:
ElementFilter
-
getAnnotation
<A extends Annotation> A getAnnotation(Class<A> annotationType)
Returns this element's annotation for the specified type if such an annotation is present, elsenull
. The annotation may be either inherited or directly present on this element.The annotation returned by this method could contain an element whose value is of type
Class
. This value cannot be returned directly: information necessary to locate and load a class (such as the class loader to use) is not available, and the class might not be loadable at all. Attempting to read aClass
object by invoking the relevant method on the returned annotation will result in aMirroredTypeException
, from which the correspondingTypeMirror
may be extracted. Similarly, attempting to read aClass[]
-valued element will result in aMirroredTypesException
.Note: This method is unlike others in this and related interfaces. It operates on runtime reflective information — representations of annotation types currently loaded into the VM — rather than on the representations defined by and used throughout these interfaces. Consequently, calling methods on the returned annotation object can throw many of the exceptions that can be thrown when calling methods on an annotation object returned by core reflection. This method is intended for callers that are written to operate on a known, fixed set of annotation types.
- Type Parameters:
A
- the annotation type- Parameters:
annotationType
- theClass
object corresponding to the annotation type- Returns:
- this element's annotation for the specified annotation
type if present on this element, else
null
- See Also:
getAnnotationMirrors()
,AnnotatedElement.getAnnotation(java.lang.Class<T>)
,EnumConstantNotPresentException
,AnnotationTypeMismatchException
,IncompleteAnnotationException
,MirroredTypeException
,MirroredTypesException
-
getModifiers
Set<Modifier> getModifiers()
Returns the modifiers of this element, excluding annotations. Implicit modifiers, such as thepublic
andstatic
modifiers of interface members, are included.- Returns:
- the modifiers of this element, or an empty set if there are none
-
getSimpleName
Name getSimpleName()
Returns the simple (unqualified) name of this element. The name of a generic type does not include any reference to its formal type parameters. For example, the simple name of the type elementjava.util.Set<E>
is"Set"
. If this element represents an unnamed package, an empty name is returned. If it represents a constructor, the name "<init>
" is returned. If it represents a static initializer, the name "<clinit>
" is returned. If it represents an anonymous class or instance initializer, an empty name is returned.- Returns:
- the simple name of this element
-
getEnclosingElement
Element getEnclosingElement()
Returns the innermost element within which this element is, loosely speaking, enclosed.- If this element is one whose declaration is lexically enclosed immediately within the declaration of another element, that other element is returned.
- If this is a top-level type, its package is returned.
- If this is a package,
null
is returned. - If this is a type parameter, the generic element of the type parameter is returned.
- Returns:
- the enclosing element, or
null
if there is none - See Also:
Elements.getPackageOf(javax.lang.model.element.Element)
-
getEnclosedElements
List<? extends Element> getEnclosedElements()
Returns the elements that are, loosely speaking, directly enclosed by this element. A class or interface is considered to enclose the fields, methods, constructors, and member types that it directly declares. This includes any (implicit) default constructor and the implicitvalues
andvalueOf
methods of an enum type. A package encloses the top-level classes and interfaces within it, but is not considered to enclose subpackages. Other kinds of elements are not currently considered to enclose any elements; however, that may change as this API or the programming language evolves.Note that elements of certain kinds can be isolated using methods in
ElementFilter
.- Returns:
- the enclosed elements, or an empty list if none
- See Also:
Elements.getAllMembers(javax.lang.model.element.TypeElement)
- See The Java™ Language Specification:
- 8.8.9 Default Constructor, 8.9 Enums
-
equals
boolean equals(Object obj)
Returnstrue
if the argument represents the same element asthis
, orfalse
otherwise.Note that the identity of an element involves implicit state not directly accessible from the element's methods, including state about the presence of unrelated types. Element objects created by different implementations of these interfaces should not be expected to be equal even if "the same" element is being modeled; this is analogous to the inequality of
Class
objects for the same class file loaded through different class loaders.- Overrides:
equals
in classObject
- Parameters:
obj
- the object to be compared with this element- Returns:
true
if the specified object represents the same element as this- See Also:
Object.hashCode()
,HashMap
-
hashCode
int hashCode()
Obeys the general contract ofObject.hashCode
.- Overrides:
hashCode
in classObject
- Returns:
- a hash code value for this object.
- See Also:
equals(java.lang.Object)
-
accept
<R,P> R accept(ElementVisitor<R,P> v, P p)
Applies a visitor to this element.- Type Parameters:
R
- the return type of the visitor's methodsP
- the type of the additional parameter to the visitor's methods- Parameters:
v
- the visitor operating on this elementp
- additional parameter to the visitor- Returns:
- a visitor-specified result
-
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Document created the 11/06/2005, last modified the 04/03/2020
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