Custom Annotation for Execution of Data Manipulation Commands in a Generic Manner ? A Case Study

Abstract

Java annotations are the tags employed for providing meta data for Java code. They can be attached to a class, method, or a field to provide some additional information to the compiler and JVM. This paper introduces the concept of Annotations in Java with an emphasis on various in-built annotations in Java and the annotations that are used by other annotations. The reader is introduced to J2EE standard annotations and those employed by Hibernate as a replacement for XML-based mapping document. Steps in designing and using custom annotations are highlighted. A custom annotation design is illustrated with the help of an example for execution of DML commands in a generic way in a database management system independent manner.