| An annotation processor, used to examine and process the
annotations of program elements. An annotation processor may,
for example, create new source files and XML documents to be used
in conjunction with the original code.
An annotation processor is constructed by a
{@linkplain AnnotationProcessorFactory factory}, which provides it with an
{@linkplain AnnotationProcessorEnvironment environment} that
encapsulates the state it needs.
Messages regarding warnings and errors encountered during processing
should be directed to the environment's {@link Messager},
and new files may be created using the environment's {@link Filer}.
Each annotation processor is created to process annotations
of a particular annotation type or set of annotation types.
It may use its environment to find the program elements with
annotations of those types. It may freely examine any other program
elements in the course of its processing. |
