Such annotations fill the entire project in Spring Boot.

But do you know what problems these annotations solve?

Why were custom annotations introduced to begin with?

How to create custom annotations?

Today, I will cover:

• Why create custom annotations?
• What are the key benefits of using these annotations?
• How to create custom annotations?
• How does the annotated method get invoked?
• When to use custom annotations?
• When not to use custom annotations?
• What are the disadvantages of using custom annotations?

🎯 Why Create Custom Annotations?

In Spring Boot, annotations are more than just a way to add metadata. They

• Simplify complex tasks
• Reduce boiler-plate code
• Enhance code-readability

Before Spring introduced custom annotations, developers had to manage configurations like email validation using XML configuration files.

The XML configuration would define beans, validators, and other necessary components to perform tasks such as validating email addresses.

Here's an example of how email validation might have been configured using XML in a Spring application:

As you can see, this can easily become a nightmare where there are hundreds of classes, with many of them relying on each other.

It also meant a developer had to go look up this XML every time they had to add a new dependency.

Key Benefits of Custom Annotations

Simplification of Configuration

Spring introduced custom annotations to simplify configuration by allowing developers to use annotations directly in their code.

This reduced the need for extensive XML configuration, making the codebase cleaner and easier to maintain.

Support for Declarative Programming

Custom annotations in Spring enable a declarative approach. Developers can use annotations like @Transactional, @Cacheable, or @Scheduled to declare desired behaviors without writing the underlying logic.

This results in more readable and maintainable code.

Handling Cross-Cutting Concerns

Spring's custom annotations, often used with Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), allow developers to handle cross-cutting concerns in a centralized manner.

For example, the @Transactional annotation manages transactions across multiple methods or classes without scattering transaction management logic throughout the code.

Reducing Boilerplate Code

It reduces the need for boilerplate code by encapsulating common behaviors.

For instance, the @Autowired annotation simplifies dependency injection, allowing Spring to automatically inject dependencies rather than requiring explicit constructor or setter methods

It is a different discussion whether you should be using @Autowired or not.

Improving Code Readability and Consistency

By abstracting configuration and cross-cutting concerns into annotations, Spring improves the readability of the code.

You and your peer developers can quickly understand the purpose of a method or class by looking at its annotations, and annotations help enforce consistency across the codebase.

Framework Flexibility and Extensibility

Custom annotations allow developers to create their annotations tailored to specific needs, thus extending the framework's functionality in a standardized way.

This flexibility has helped Spring remain relevant and powerful across multiple applications and architectures.

🚀 How to Create a Custom Annotation

Step 1: Define the Annotation

• Create a new annotation by defining an interface.

• Use @interface to declare it.

• Add meta-annotations to specify how the annotation should behave.

  JAVA
  package co.officegeek.tokenratelimiter;
  
  import java.lang.annotation.ElementType; 
  import java.lang.annotation.Retention; 
  import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy; 
  import java.lang.annotation.Target;
  
  @Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)  // Annotation available at runtime 
  @Target(ElementType.METHOD)          // Can be applied to methods 
  
  public @interface LogExecutionTime { 
  
  }
  

• @Target: Indicates where the annotation can be used (e.g., methods, classes).

• @Retention: Indicates how long the annotation is retained (e.g., runtime, compile-time).

Step 2: Create an Aspect to Handle the Annotation

You can create a custom logic to process the annotation using Spring's BeanPostProcessor, Aspect, or custom annotation processing logic.

package co.officegeek.tokenratelimiter;

import org.aspectj.lang.ProceedingJoinPoint;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Around;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;

@Aspect
@Component
public class LogExecutionTimeAspect {

    @Around("@annotation(LogExecutionTime)")
    public Object logExecutionTime(ProceedingJoinPoint joinPoint) throws Throwable {
        long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
        Object proceed = joinPoint.proceed();
        long executionTime = System.currentTimeMillis() - start;

        System.out.println(joinPoint.getSignature() + " executed in " + executionTime + "ms");
        return proceed;
    }
}

Step 3: Apply the Annotation

Apply your custom annotation to methods, fields, or classes as defined.

package co.officegeek.tokenratelimiter;

import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;

@Service
public class TestService {

    @LogExecutionTime
    public void serve() throws InterruptedException {
        // Simulate some work
        Thread.sleep(2000);
    }
}

How It Works:

• The @LogExecutionTime annotation doesn't cause any method to be called directly.
• The Spring AOP framework detects that a method has the @LogExecutionTime annotation using reflection.
• The LogExecutionTimeAspect aspect is configured to apply around advice when a method with the @LogExecutionTime annotation is called.
• The logExecutionTime method in the aspect is executed before and after the annotated method (serve), logging the execution time.

How does the annotated method get invoked?

When you apply a custom annotation to a method, class, or field, the annotation itself doesn't directly cause any method to be called. Instead, the logic associated with the annotation is typically implemented using reflection or aspect-oriented programming (AOP) in frameworks like Spring.

Here's a breakdown of how the compiler and runtime environment know what method to call when an annotation is applied:

1. Compile-Time Processing (Annotation Processors)

Some annotations are handled at compile time by annotation processors. Java's javax.annotation.processing package allows developers to create custom annotation processors that generate code, validate annotations, or even modify the abstract syntax tree (AST) of the code being compiled.

The annotation processor reads the annotations during compilation and executes code based on those annotations.

This can include generating new classes or methods that the code will use later.

The @Override annotation is a compile-time annotation that doesn't invoke a method but instead tells the compiler to check if the method actually overrides a superclass method.

How It Works:

• You define a custom annotation processor by extending AbstractProcessor and overriding the process method.
• The processor will be invoked by the compiler when it encounters your annotation, allowing you to generate code or perform other tasks.

2. Runtime Processing (Reflection)

Custom annotations can be processed at runtime using reflection. The runtime system (e.g., a framework like Spring) uses reflection to detect the presence of annotations on methods, classes, or fields and then applies the corresponding behavior.

A custom annotation like @LogExecutionTime doesn't directly trigger any method call.

Instead, an aspect or some other reflective mechanism checks for the presence of the annotation at runtime and then wraps the method call with additional logic.

How It Works:

• At runtime, you use Java's reflection API to check if a method or class has a specific annotation using methods like isAnnotationPresent.
• Once detected, you can invoke methods or execute logic associated with that annotation.  For example, if a method has a @LogExecutionTime annotation, you might measure the time before and after the method call.

3. Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP)

In frameworks like Spring, AOP is commonly used to handle custom annotations. AOP allows you to define "aspects" that can intercept method calls and perform additional processing before or after the method execution. When the AOP framework (e.g. Spring AOP) detects an annotation, it triggers the execution of an advice method associated with the aspect.

This advice method contains the logic that the AOP framework executes when the annotated method is called.

A @Transactional annotation in Spring doesn't execute any logic by itself. Instead, the Spring framework's AOP infrastructure intercepts calls to methods annotated with @Transactional and wraps them with transaction management logic.

How It Works:

• You define an aspect class with advice methods that are associated with specific pointcuts (join points where you want to apply the advice).
• The aspect uses annotations like @Around or @Before to specify when the advice should be executed.
• The AOP framework ensures that when a method with a custom annotation is called, the corresponding advice is executed automatically.

Use Cases Where Custom Annotations Are a Good Approach

Cross-Cutting Concerns

Custom annotations are ideal for handling cross-cutting concerns like logging, security, transaction management, and caching. These are concerns that affect multiple parts of an application but are not related to the core business logic.

The @LogExecutionTime annotation above is a good example as that can be used across all the methods and it does not have any business logic.

Declarative Programming

When you want to specify what should happen rather than how it should happen, custom annotations provide a clean and expressive way to do this.

Annotations like @Cacheable or @Retry allow developers to enable caching or retry logic declaratively without writing the implementation code manually.

Framework or Library Integration

Custom annotations can simplify the integration of frameworks or libraries by hiding the complexity behind an easy-to-use annotation.

Annotations like @Autowired in Spring help in injecting dependencies without having to manually instantiate them.

Encapsulation of Complex Logic

When complex logic needs to be encapsulated in a reusable way, custom annotations can provide a clean API for applying this logic.

An annotation like @RateLimit could encapsulate logic to limit the number of times a method can be called without cluttering the method's body with this logic.

Use Cases Where Custom Annotations Should Not Be Used

Simple or One-Off Logic

If the logic is simple or only needs to be applied in a single place, creating a custom annotation is overkill and can unnecessarily complicate the code.

Logic That Requires Dynamic Behavior

Annotations are statically defined at compile-time, making them unsuitable for scenarios where behavior needs to be dynamically determined at runtime.

If a method's behavior should change based on user input or external configuration, handling this with custom annotations can lead to complex solutions.

Business Logic

Core business logic should not be abstracted into custom annotations, as this can make the logic less transparent and harder to maintain.

Using an annotation to encapsulate a business process like @ProcessOrder might hide important business rules, making the code harder to understand and maintain.

Complex Interactions Between Annotations

If the behavior depends on complex interactions between multiple annotations, it can lead to unexpected results and make the code difficult to understand and debug.

Combining multiple custom annotations that affect the same method (e.g., @Retry, @Cacheable, @LogExecutionTime) can result in unpredictable behavior and is difficult to manage

Performance-Critical Code

Custom annotations often rely on reflection or proxy mechanisms, which can introduce performance overhead. They should not be used in performance-critical sections of code.

Using a custom annotation to add logging to a method that is called millions of times in a tight loop could significantly degrade performance.

💡 Summary - When to Use Custom Annotations

Custom annotations are perfect for handling cross-cutting concerns like logging, security, and transaction management. They're also great for scenarios where you need to apply the same behavior across multiple parts of your application.

However, for simple, one-off logic, or where fine-grained control and flexibility are required, custom annotations might not be the best approach.

Consider the trade-offs before you decide to implement them.

🌟 Final Thoughts

Custom annotations are a powerful tool in your Spring Boot arsenal, but like any tool, they should be used judiciously. They offer a clean, reusable way to handle repetitive tasks and enforce consistency across your codebase.

But be mindful of the potential downsides, especially for complexity and performance.

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