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Separate validation annotation and it's validator in separate modules

Situation: you have module with DTO objects used in your API, so that other project(s) can reuse then when sending requests. These DTO classes does have bean-validation annotations in them. And you would like to use your custom validations to validate DTO "arriving" via requests. The sender typically does not validate outgoing data, IIUC, and might not be interested in importing validators along with annotations.
Problem(?): bean-validation is defined in a way, where annotation defines who implements it (which is incorrect and it should be otherwise around imo), with possibility to specify empty array as annotation validator (seems like hack) and then pairing is done via manual hashmap manipulations instead of stuff like service loader etc.
How do you do this?
Would you split annotation and it's validator in separate modules?
How would you bind them together? I think it should be possible to use {} as validator and then use org.hibernate.validator.internal.metadata.core.ConstraintHelper#putValidatorDescriptors to bind them together, but I did not test it yet + maybe there is better way...

I agree that the annotation defining the validator does feel backwards. While not ideal, I've been able to work around this by separating my custom ConstraintValidator into an interface and implementation.
Example:
In api module define constraint and interface validator
#Constraint(validatedBy = MyConstraintValidator.class)
public #interface MyConstraint
{
}
public interface MyConstraintValidator
extends ConstraintValidator<MyConstraint, String>
{
}
In your service module define the implementation
public class MyConstraintValidatorImpl implements MyConstraintValidator
{
private FooService foo;
#Override
public boolean isValid( String value, ConstraintValidatorContext ctx)
{
// Implement your constraint logic
}
}

I we need to separate interface class and validator implementation into separate modules, it's possible. And even in a way, which I said in original question, that should be used. In API module you declare validation for example as:
#Target({ METHOD, FIELD, ANNOTATION_TYPE, CONSTRUCTOR, PARAMETER, TYPE_USE})
#Retention(RUNTIME)
#Documented
#Constraint(validatedBy = {})
#SupportedValidationTarget(ValidationTarget.ANNOTATED_ELEMENT)
#ReportAsSingleViolation
public #interface AnyUuid {
//...
notice validatedBy = {}. The validator implementation looks like:
public class AnyUuidValidator implements ConstraintValidator<AnyUuid, Object> {
//...
and pairing can be setup using service loader(see javadoc if you don't know how that works). Put into file META-INF/services/javax.validation.ConstraintValidator FQDN of AnyUuidValidator shown above. And all other custom validators. And that should be it.
There is a bug I found with this. If I'm not mistaken. If you have DTO you cannot change (~annotate with constraints) and still want to validate them via bean validation, you can register validation definitions via xml file. If you are doing so and use service loader for pairing definition and implementation of custom validators, there is probably some bug and your custom validators won't be found. So verify this scenario before relying on service loader. But maybe I'm wrong, for me it was feasible to drop this validation trivially so I did to save some time and could ignore this.

Creating and using annotation in java

I am reviewing open source spring projects. I am confused about the use of annotations around here. I want to ask to clarify this.
#Target(ElementType.METHOD)
#Retention(RUNTIME)
#Bean
public #interface Merge {
#AliasFor("targetRef")
String value() default "";
#AliasFor("value")
String targetRef() default "";
Placement placement() default Placement.APPEND;
int position() default 0;
Class<MergeBeanStatusProvider> statusProvider() default MergeBeanStatusProvider.class;
boolean early() default false;
}
An annotation has been created here named Merge. It has different parameters and default values.
#Configuration
public class LocalConfiguration {
#Merge(targetRef = "mergedList", early = true)
public List<String> blLocalMerge() {
return Arrays.asList("local-config1", "local-config2");
}
}
And this is usage of #Merge annotation in any class I choosed randomly.
When I examined the code, I could not find any class related to the implementation of Merge annotation. By the way, this problem I'm having isn't just about this annotation. Almost all the annotations I have examined are used without being implemented in any way.
I think I will understand the others if we start from this annotation.
What does this anotation do? What kind of message does it give to the place where it is used. How does the application understand what that annotation does in runtime without being implemented anywhere.
Thanks.

Annotations don't have implementations. They are processed by external classes or tools depending on the RetentionPolicy. In this case, the Merge annotation has Runtime retention so it will be available via reflection once the class is loaded. At runtime any interested party (in this case I assume the Spring Framework) can use getAnnotations on your LocalConfiguration class to detect the Merge annotation and take whatever action that needs to be taken. The possibilities are really up to the framework that defined the annotation. A lot of Spring injection works like this with annotations but they are also used by many other frameworks such as Hibernate, Jersey, etc. The main idea is that annotations act as markers on specific code points to be used by an external entity at a later point.

Using #interface interface on the context

I have one interface on the legacy project which defines as follows:
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
#Target({ElementType.FIELD, ElementType.METHOD})
public #interface Statistic {
String name();
}
.So here #interface are followed with two annotations i.e.(#Retention & #Target).
Is anybody can explain how this interface works and what would be the good place to use it.
I am quite new with these one.
Moreover, I can see on the project code somewhere using this interface with annotating like below:
#Statistic(name="DDB/received") private int docReceived = 0;
What does this really meant? Can anybody elaborate clearly? Thanks

Check this..
Basic Annotation tutorial , Custom Annotations , Why annotations , When and Where
and finally
Java Doc

This interface defines an annotation that is retained for use at runtime. This would allow you to test whether a field or method was marked with it to perform some action upon it. The annotation can also have metadata associated with it for use by the processor. In this case, you can provide a name.
The below illustrates two cases where this annotation can be used:
ElementType.FIELD
#Statistic(name = "Test 1")
public String test;
ElementType.METHOD
#Statistic(name = "Test 2")
public List<Stuff> findAll() {
return findAll("order by added desc");
}

How #Target(ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE) works

Java annotations are marked with a #Target annotation to declare possible joinpoints which can be decorated by that annotation. Values TYPE, FIELD, METHOD, etc. of the ElementType enum are clear and simply understandable.
Question
WHY to use #Target(ANNOTATION_TYPE) value? What are the annotated annotations good for? What is their contribution? Give me an explanation of an idea how it works and why I should use it. Some already existing and well-known example of its usage would be great too.

You can use an annotated annotation to create a meta-annotation, for example consider this usage of #Transactional in Spring:
/**
* Shortcut and more descriptive "alias" for {#code #Transactional(propagation = Propagation.MANDATORY)}.
*/
#Target({ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE})
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
#Transactional(propagation = Propagation.MANDATORY)
public #interface RequiresExistingTransaction {
}
When you enable Spring to process the #Transactional annotation, it will look for classes and methods that carry #Transactional or any meta-annotation of it (an annotation that is annotated with #Transactional).
Anyway this was just one concrete example how one can make use of an annotated annotation. I guess it's mostly frameworks like Spring where it makes sense to use them.

Each annotation annotated by #Target(ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE) is called Meta-annotation. That means, you can define your own custom annotations that are an amalgamation of many annotations combined into one annotation to create composed annotations.
A good example from Android world is StringDef
Denotes that the annotated String element, represents a logical type and that its value should be one of the explicitly named constants.
#Retention(SOURCE)
#StringDef({POWER_SERVICE, WINDOW_SERVICE, LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE})
public #interface ServicesName {}
public static final String POWER_SERVICE = "power";
public static final String WINDOW_SERVICE = "window";
public static final String LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE = "layout_inflater";
Code inspector will treat #ServicesName and #WeekDays in the same way as #StringDef.
As a result we can create as much named StringDef's as we need and override set of constants. #Target(ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE) it is a tool that allows to extend the use of annotations.

Annotation is defined like a ordinary Java interface, but with an '#' preceding the interface keyword (i.e., #interface ). Annotations are used to provide supplemental information about a program. On the other hand, an interface can be defined as a container that stores the signatures of the methods to be implemented in the code segment.
WHY to use #Target(ANNOTATION_TYPE) value?
When there is need to apply an annotation to an another annotation. If you look at the source codes of the common Java annotations, you see often this code pattern:
#Target(ANNOTATION_TYPE)
public #interface TheAnnotation
{
...
}
For example,
#Documented
#Target({ ANNOTATION_TYPE })
#Retention(RUNTIME)
public #interface Constraint {
public Class<? extends ConstraintValidator<?, ?>>[] validatedBy();
}
What are the annotated annotations good for?
They are good or more precisely necessary if they are used to annotate other annotations.
What is their contribution?
They make possible to apply an annotation directly to an another annotation, that is a different thing than applying an annotation to a standard Java class or to method and so on.
Give me an explanation of an idea how it works and why I should use it.
For example, if you create a data model class and you may want that the program checks data validity. In that case, there might be need to create a new annotation and apply another annotations to this annotation. It is simple to add some data validity checks to this model by adding annotations to the class. For example, to check that some value is not null (#notNull) or email is valid (#ValidEmail) or length of a field is more than x characters (#Size). However, it is possible that there is not built in Java annotations for all purposes. For example, it is so if you liked to check if password and its matchingPassword are same. This is possible by creating the annotation class PasswordMatches:
#Target({TYPE})
#Retention(RUNTIME)
#Constraint(validatedBy = PasswordMatchesValidator.class)
#Documented
public #interface PasswordMatches {
String message() default "Passwords don't match";
Class<?>[] groups() default {};
Class<? extends Payload>[] payload() default {};
}
Note, there is line
#Constraint(validatedBy = PasswordMatchesValidator.class).
In other words, the annotation class Constraint, like the other annotations in this class also, must have ANNOTATION_TYPE as a value of target annotation.
Now the password equality check is easy to include to data model class simply by adding annotation #PasswordMatches:
#PasswordMatches
public class UserDto {
...
}
The PasswordMatchesValidator class could look like this:
public class PasswordMatchesValidator implements ConstraintValidator<PasswordMatches, Object> {
#Override
public void initialize(final PasswordMatches constraintAnnotation) {}
#Override
public boolean isValid(final Object obj, final ConstraintValidatorContext context) {
final UserDto user = (UserDto) obj;
return user.getPassword().equals(user.getMatchingPassword());
}
}
Some already existing and well-known example of its usage would be great too.
There is quite well-known example in item 4, but another known annotations which are applied frequently to custom annotations are #Retention, #Documented and #Target itself.

For example, if annotation looks like
#Target(ElementType.TYPE)
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public #interface SomeAnnotation {
String description() default "This is example for class annotation";
}
the compiler will complain in this situation
#SomeAnnotation
public class SomeClass {
#SomeAnnotation // here it's complaning
public void someMethod(){}
}
If you change
#Target(ElementType.TYPE)
to
#Target({ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE})
it won't complain anymore.

Annotation are basically additional metadata (information) that goes along with your code. It can be placed along side types (Classes, Interfaces), methods, and arguments.
It is often useful during compile time and runtime. Many popular APIs such as Java EE 5+, Spring, AspectJ leverage annotation for code clarity and consistency.
Using annotation often allows code to be more readable, more easily understood.
I'd recommend you read through the annotation chapter on Java tutorial
In the past metadata are often given as an xml file, and it's difficult for someone trying to understand the code if they have to lookup a different xml configuration file. The latest Java servlet API allows mapping of servlet simply by using annotation -- as opposed of web.xml mapping:
#WebServlet("/response")
public class ResponseServlet extends HttpServlet {
// servlet code here...
}

Why the JVM omit the Annotation

i am debugging a application using OSGi, i terribly find out that if the Annotation class is missing, the class loader would omit that annotation, if i call the method.getAnnotations(), no exception, but return nothing.
i don't get it, but i do want to know if there is any way to make the JVM throw a Exception.
is there any option for starting the JVM?
#Target({ElementType.METHOD})
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
#Before
public #interface Secured {
/** Priority **/ public int order() default 0;
/** Mapping **/ public String value() default "profile/validate";
/** Required **/ public boolean required() default true;
public String role() default "L1";
}
Thanks.

is your annotation retained at runtime? that is it have the #Retetntion annotation set to RUNTIME:
#Retention(RUNTIME)
public #interface YourAnnotation

Every annotation has a retention defined to it. Retention basically means, in which contexts should the JVM save the annotation. Different values can be seen here. The default behavior is CLASS retention policy, which means the annotations are in the .class files, but aren't used by the JVM. What you want is RUNTIME, whose meaning is clear I guess. Also, there's a SOURCE policy, for annotations that are only relevant during compile-time.
To set the retention policy, you have to annotate the annotation (meta-meta, anyone?), using #Retention, which you can read more about here.
The Java annotation tutorial has a bit more information about this.