Annotations are not read correctly

Question

Hi, I have the following sample Annotation
package annotations;
import java.lang.annotation.Annotation;
* @author Stefan Schuster
* TODO To change the template for this generated type comment go to
* Window - Preferences - Java - Code Style - Code Templates
public @interface NoticeAnnotation {
     String name() default "anonymous";
     String note() default "TODO";     
And the following class that uses the annotation:
public class AnnotationsTest {
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          for(Method m : AnnotationsTest.class.getMethods())
               if(m.isAnnotationPresent(NoticeAnnotation.class))
                    // Die Annotation ist vorhanden, auslesen des Methodennamens und
                    // der Parameter der Annotation
                    System.out.println("Die Methode " + m + " ist mit einer Notiz versehen:");
                    NoticeAnnotation na = m.getAnnotation(NoticeAnnotation.class);
                    System.out.println("Der Entwickler " + na.name() + " hat eine Notiz eingef�gt:");
                    System.out.println(na.note());
     @NoticeAnnotation(
          name = "Dagobert Developer",
          note = "Diese Methode muss noch verbessert werden"
     public void testMethode()
          // not relevant
The problem is that the annotation is not found for any method, so the
part where the information about the annotation is printed is never called.
What am I missing, to me it looks like the sample from the annotations tutorial,
but it is not working...
Thanks in advance,
Stefan

Answer 1

Add @Retention to your annotation:
import java.lang.annotation.*;
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public @interface NoticeAnnotation {
    String name() default "anonymous";
    String note() default "TODO";
}That directs the JRE to read the annotation into memory at run time, so it can be found by reflection.
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/lang/annotation/class-use/Retention.html
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/java/lang/annotation/RetentionPolicy.html