Interface Plugin

public interface Plugin
The interface for a javac plug-in.

The javac plug-in mechanism allows a user to specify one or more plug-ins on the javac command line, to be started soon after the compilation has begun. Plug-ins are identified by a user-friendly name. Each plug-in that is started will be passed an array of strings, which may be used to provide the plug-in with values for any desired options or other arguments.

Plug-ins are located via a ServiceLoader, using the same class path as annotation processors (i.e. ANNOTATION_PROCESSOR_PATH or -processorpath).

It is expected that a typical plug-in will simply register a TaskListener to be informed of events during the execution of the compilation, and that the rest of the work will be done by the task listener.

Since:
1.8

  • Method Summary

    Modifier and Type
    Method
    Description
    default boolean
    autoStart()
    Returns whether or not this plugin should be automatically started, even if not explicitly specified in the command-line options.
    String
    getName()
    Returns the user-friendly name of this plug-in.
    void
    init(JavacTask task, String... args)
    Initializes the plug-in for a given compilation task.

  • Method Details

    • getName

      String getName()
      Returns the user-friendly name of this plug-in.
      Returns:
      the user-friendly name of the plug-in

    • init

      void init(JavacTask task, String... args)
      Initializes the plug-in for a given compilation task.
      Parameters:
      task - The compilation task that has just been started
      args - Arguments, if any, for the plug-in

    • autoStart

      default boolean autoStart()
      Returns whether or not this plugin should be automatically started, even if not explicitly specified in the command-line options.

      This method will be called by javac for all plugins located by the service loader. If the method returns true, the plugin will be initialized with an empty array of string arguments if it is not otherwise initialized due to an explicit command-line option.

      Returns:
      whether or not this plugin should be automatically started
      Since:
      14