@AliasFor is an annotation that is used to declare aliases for annotation attributes.

Usage Scenarios

• Explicit aliases within an annotation: within a single annotation, @AliasFor can be declared on a pair of attributes to signal that they are interchangeable aliases for each other.
• Explicit alias for attribute in meta-annotation: if the annotation attribute of @AliasFor is set to a different annotation than the one that declares it, the attribute is interpreted as an alias for an attribute in a meta-annotation (i.e., an explicit meta-annotation attribute override). This enables fine-grained control over exactly which attributes are overridden within an annotation hierarchy. In fact, with @AliasFor it is even possible to declare an alias for the value attribute of a meta-annotation.
• Implicit aliases within an annotation: if one or more attributes within an annotation are declared as attribute overrides for the same meta-annotation attribute (either directly or transitively), those attributes will be treated as a set of implicit aliases for each other, resulting in behavior analogous to that for explicit aliases within an annotation.

Usage Requirements

Like with any annotation in Java, the mere presence of @AliasFor on its own will not enforce alias semantics. For alias semantics to be enforced, annotations must be loaded via MergedAnnotations.

Implementation Requirements

• Explicit aliases within an annotation:
  1. Each attribute that makes up an aliased pair should be annotated with @AliasFor, and either attribute or value must reference the other attribute in the pair. Since Spring Framework 5.2.1 it is technically possible to annotate only one of the attributes in an aliased pair; however, it is recommended to annotate both attributes in an aliased pair for better documentation as well as compatibility with previous versions of the Spring Framework.
  2. Aliased attributes must declare the same return type.
  3. Aliased attributes must declare a default value.
  4. Aliased attributes must declare the same default value.
  5. annotation should not be declared.
• Explicit alias for attribute in meta-annotation:
  1. The attribute that is an alias for an attribute in a meta-annotation must be annotated with @AliasFor, and attribute must reference the attribute in the meta-annotation.
  2. Aliased attributes must declare the same return type.
  3. annotation must reference the meta-annotation.
  4. The referenced meta-annotation must be meta-present on the annotation class that declares @AliasFor.
• Implicit aliases within an annotation:
  1. Each attribute that belongs to a set of implicit aliases must be annotated with @AliasFor, and attribute must reference the same attribute in the same meta-annotation (either directly or transitively via other explicit meta-annotation attribute overrides within the annotation hierarchy).
  2. Aliased attributes must declare the same return type.
  3. Aliased attributes must declare a default value.
  4. Aliased attributes must declare the same default value.
  5. annotation must reference an appropriate meta-annotation.
  6. The referenced meta-annotation must be meta-present on the annotation class that declares @AliasFor.

Example: Explicit Aliases within an Annotation

In @ContextConfiguration, value and locations are explicit aliases for each other.

 public @interface ContextConfiguration {

   @AliasFor("locations")
   String[] value() default {};

   @AliasFor("value")
   String[] locations() default {};

   // ...
}

Example: Explicit Alias for Attribute in Meta-annotation

In @XmlTestConfig, xmlFiles is an explicit alias for locations in @ContextConfiguration. In other words, xmlFiles overrides the locations attribute in @ContextConfiguration.

 @ContextConfiguration
public @interface XmlTestConfig {

   @AliasFor(annotation = ContextConfiguration.class, attribute = "locations")
   String[] xmlFiles();
}

Example: Implicit Aliases within an Annotation

In @MyTestConfig, value, groovyScripts, and xmlFiles are all explicit meta-annotation attribute overrides for the locations attribute in @ContextConfiguration. These three attributes are therefore also implicit aliases for each other.

 @ContextConfiguration
public @interface MyTestConfig {

   @AliasFor(annotation = ContextConfiguration.class, attribute = "locations")
   String[] value() default {};

   @AliasFor(annotation = ContextConfiguration.class, attribute = "locations")
   String[] groovyScripts() default {};

   @AliasFor(annotation = ContextConfiguration.class, attribute = "locations")
   String[] xmlFiles() default {};
}

Example: Transitive Implicit Aliases within an Annotation

In @GroovyOrXmlTestConfig, groovy is an explicit override for the groovyScripts attribute in @MyTestConfig; whereas, xml is an explicit override for the locations attribute in @ContextConfiguration. Furthermore, groovy and xml are transitive implicit aliases for each other, since they both effectively override the locations attribute in @ContextConfiguration.

 @MyTestConfig
public @interface GroovyOrXmlTestConfig {

   @AliasFor(annotation = MyTestConfig.class, attribute = "groovyScripts")
   String[] groovy() default {};

   @AliasFor(annotation = ContextConfiguration.class, attribute = "locations")
   String[] xml() default {};
}

Spring Annotations Supporting Attribute Aliases

As of Spring Framework 4.2, several annotations within core Spring have been updated to use @AliasFor to configure their internal attribute aliases. Consult the Javadoc for individual annotations as well as the reference manual for details.