Indicates the kinds of program element to which an annotation type
is applicable. If a Target meta-annotation is not present on an
annotation type declaration, the declared type may be used on any
program element. If such a meta-annotation is present, the compiler
will enforce the specified usage restriction.
For example, this meta-annotation indicates that the declared type is
itself a meta-annotation type. It can only be used on annotation type
declarations:
@Target(ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE)
public @interface MetaAnnotationType {
...
}
This meta-annotation indicates that the declared type is intended solely
for use as a member type in complex annotation type declarations. It
cannot be used to annotate anything directly:
@Target({})
public @interface MemberType {
...
}
It is a compile-time error for a single ElementType constant to
appear more than once in a Target annotation. For example, the
following meta-annotation is illegal:
@Target({ElementType.FIELD, ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.FIELD})
public @interface Bogus {
...
}
7-b147
