@Documented annotation in java

Question

What\'s the purpose of @Documented annotation in java?

I saw the documentation, but could not get much from it. Can someone point out with the help of an cl

Answer 1

If some our annotation (for example, @InWork) is @Documented, then for every class having that @InWork annotation the text generated by javadoc will contain @InWork text, as a reference to the annotation.

Annotation:

@Documented
@Inherited  // for descenders of the annotation to have the @Documented feature automatically
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME) // must be there
public @interface InWork {
    String value();
}

Annotated target:

/**
 * Annotated class.
 */
@InWork(value = "")
public class MainApp {...}

The javadoc text:

So, you have to decide, if the annotation should be shown in the javadoc text, and if yes, set @Documented to it.

The information above is taken from Oracle documentation.

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Please, notice, that in Eclipse you'll see in javadoc generated text ALL annotations, are they @Documented, or not.

It is still correct for 4.3 version.