Custom Annotation showing Error: is missing clinit

Question

Hi!
I have created some custom annotations for use in my project. Sometimes they show error: is missing <clinit> and sometimes they don't. I'm confused. If I create a jar and use that jar in another project this error appears at compiletime .
Here is the source of one of my custom annotations....
import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;
* User: yogeshd
* Date: Mar 30, 2007
* Time: 10:54:31 AM
@Constraint
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target(ElementType.FIELD)
public @interface ConstraintMaxIntValue {
public Validator validator = new MaxIntValidator();
int value() default 0;
The strange thing is that this error doesnot appears all the time...
If anyone can explain the reason I will be enlightened. ;) thnx.

Answer 1

yogeshd,
It might be that the .class file for the annotation that you are compiling against is the one you have given us the source code for above, but when you run the program, the class file for the annotation is not the same, and is one that was compiled before you added the static field.
This can happen if your classpath is wrong. (and would explain why the problem only occurs sometimes - because it is only failing when the classpath is wrong).
If you run the following program with the Fully qualified name of your annotation as the argument, and with the same classpath as you run your program, it can tell you where it is finding the annotation class file. Check that this is the same one that you are compiling to.
class WhereLoaded {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Class theClass=null;
        if(args.length > 0) {
            try {
                theClass=Class.forName(args[0]);
            } catch (Exception e) {
                e.printStackTrace();
                theClass=Object.class;
        } else {
            System.out.println(
                "The first argument should be a fully qualified class name," +
                " using java.lang.Object instead"
            theClass=Object.class;
        String name=theClass.getName();
        name=name.substring(name.lastIndexOf(".")+1) + ".class";
        System.out.println(name + " loaded from " + theClass.getResource(name));
}regards
Bruce