Checking if an annotation is of a specific type

Question

I am using reflection to see if an annotation that is attached to a property of a class, is of a specific type. Current I am doing:

if(\"javax.validation.Valid\"         


        

Answer 1

Since an annotation is just a class, you can simply use an == compare:

if (annotation.annotationType() == Valid.class) { /* ... */ }

Answer 2

Ok, I guess I should have done a little more research before posting the question. I discovered that I could use Class.isAssignableFrom(Class<?> cls):

import javax.validation.Valid;

if(Valid.class.isAssignableFrom(annotation.annotationType())) {
   ...
}

This seems to do the job. I'm not sure if there are any caveats to using this approach, though.

Answer 3

Are you just looking for

if (annotation.annotationType().equals(javax.validation.Valid.class)){}

?

Answer 4

Or even simpler:

if (annotation instanceof Valid) { /* ... */ }

Answer 5

Just for completeness' sake, another possibility is

if (this.getClass().isAnnotationPresent(MyCustomAnnotation.class)) {