Code snapshot for stackoverflow question 51358016

Anno.java

public @interface Anno {
  String value();
}

HelloWorldProcessor.java

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.util.Set;

import javax.annotation.processing.AbstractProcessor;
import javax.annotation.processing.Processor;
import javax.annotation.processing.RoundEnvironment;
import javax.annotation.processing.SupportedAnnotationTypes;
import javax.annotation.processing.SupportedSourceVersion;
import javax.lang.model.SourceVersion;
import javax.lang.model.element.TypeElement;
import javax.tools.FileObject;

@SupportedAnnotationTypes("*")
@SupportedSourceVersion(SourceVersion.RELEASE_8)
public class HelloWorldProcessor extends AbstractProcessor {

  @Override
  public boolean process(Set<? extends TypeElement> annotations, RoundEnvironment roundEnv) {
    if (!roundEnv.processingOver()) {
      try {
        FileObject resource = processingEnv.getFiler().createSourceFile("HelloWorldMessage");
        PrintWriter ps = new PrintWriter(resource.openWriter());
        ps.println("public interface HelloWorldMessage { String HELLO_WORLD = \"Hello World\";}");
        ps.close();
      } catch (IOException e) {
        // Ignore, it may throw resource already exist exception which is not matter
      }
    }
    return false;
  }
}

UseHelloWorld.java

public class UseHelloWorld {
  public static final String HW = HelloWorldMessage.HELLO_WORLD;

  @Anno(UseHelloWorld.HW) // This line fails
  //@Anno(HelloWorldMessage.HELLO_WORLD) // This line works
  public void bean() {
  }
}

File structure

• HelloWorldProcessor.java
• Anno.java
• UseHelloWorld.java

Step to reproduce

• javac HelloWorldProcessor.java
• javac -processor HelloWorldProcessor Anno.java UseHelloWorld.java

You can try to comment in UseHelloWorld#4 and comment out UseHelloWorld#5, it will work fine. (Don't forget clean all generated file)