Java tutorial
/******************************************************************************* * Copyright (c) 2008 - 2013 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. * * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the * terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 and Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0 * which accompanies this distribution. * The Eclipse Public License is available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html * and the Eclipse Distribution License is available at * http://www.eclipse.org/org/documents/edl-v10.php. * * Contributors: * Linda DeMichiel - Java Persistence 2.1 * Linda DeMichiel - Java Persistence 2.0 * ******************************************************************************/ package javax.persistence; import java.lang.annotation.Target; import java.lang.annotation.Retention; import static java.lang.annotation.ElementType.TYPE; import static java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME; import static javax.persistence.DiscriminatorType.STRING; /** * Specifies the discriminator column for the * <code>SINGLE_TABLE</code> and * <code>JOINED</code> {@link Inheritance} mapping strategies. * * <p> The strategy and the discriminator column are only * specified in the root of an entity class hierarchy or * subhierarchy in which a different inheritance strategy is applied * * <p> If the <code>DiscriminatorColumn</code> annotation is missing, * and a discriminator column is required, the name of the * discriminator column defaults to <code>"DTYPE"</code> and the discriminator * type to {@link DiscriminatorType#STRING DiscriminatorType.STRING}. * * <pre> * Example: * * @Entity * @Table(name="CUST") * @Inheritance(strategy=SINGLE_TABLE) * @DiscriminatorColumn(name="DISC", discriminatorType=STRING, length=20) * public class Customer { ... } * * @Entity * public class ValuedCustomer extends Customer { ... } * </pre> * * @see DiscriminatorValue * * @since Java Persistence 1.0 */ @Target({ TYPE }) @Retention(RUNTIME) public @interface DiscriminatorColumn { /** * (Optional) The name of column to be used for the discriminator. */ String name() default "DTYPE"; /** * (Optional) The type of object/column to use as a class discriminator. * Defaults to {@link DiscriminatorType#STRING DiscriminatorType.STRING}. */ DiscriminatorType discriminatorType() default STRING; /** * (Optional) The SQL fragment that is used when generating the DDL * for the discriminator column. * <p> Defaults to the provider-generated SQL to create a column * of the specified discriminator type. */ String columnDefinition() default ""; /** * (Optional) The column length for String-based discriminator types. * Ignored for other discriminator types. */ int length() default 31; }