NetBeans Architecture Answers for Common Annotations module

General Information

Question (arch-what): What is this project good for?
Answer:

Provides common annotations serving as a documentation element and for static code analysis.

Question (arch-overall): Describe the overall architecture.
Answer:

The Common Annotations module provides the CommonAnnotationsAPI that contains annotations usable across the IDE sources. One such type of annotations can guard (together with FindBugs) your code against null related defect.

In case your module is using projectized.xml you can simply run ant findbugs to check your module. In such case the result is available in nbbuild/build/findbugs/your-module-name.xml.

Question (arch-usecases): Describe the main use cases of the new API. Who will use it under what circumstances? What kind of code would typically need to be written to use the module?
Answer:

CheckReturnValue annotated method

When the method return value is important value to check (or the only effect the method has) the method can be annotated with CheckReturnValue. Annotation servers as documentation as well as a hint for static code analysis.

CheckForNull annotated method

Method annotated with CheckForNull may return null value. Annotation servers as documentation as well as a hint for static code analysis.

NonNull annotated element

When the field, parameter, local variable or return value of the method must not be null the NonNull annotation can be used to clearly express this. It servers as documentation as well as a hint for static code analysis.

NullAllowed annotated element

Field, parameter or local variable annotated with NullAllowed can contain null value so null check should occur before any dereference. Annotation servers as documentation as well as a hint for static code analysis.

NullUnknown annotated element

Annotation NullUnknown complementing other nullness annotations servers for cases where the element may or may not be null under certain defined circumstances (usage).

SuppressWarnings annotated element

When the analysis tool report false warning it is possible to use SuppressWarning annotation to suppress the warning.

Question (arch-time): What are the time estimates of the work?
Answer:

Written and functional. Compatible changes can occur in future.

Question (arch-quality): How will the quality of your code be tested and how are future regressions going to be prevented?
Answer:

As the API does provide annotations only there are no unit tests.

Question (arch-where): Where one can find sources for your module?
Answer:

The sources for the module are in the NetBeans Mercurial repositories.

Project and platform dependencies

Question (dep-nb): What other NetBeans projects and modules does this one depend on?
Answer:

These modules are required in project.xml:

Question (dep-non-nb): What other projects outside NetBeans does this one depend on?
Answer:

None. In future dependency on JSR-305 could be introduced.

Question (dep-platform): On which platforms does your module run? Does it run in the same way on each?
Answer:

No known platform dependencies.

Question (dep-jre): Which version of JRE do you need (1.2, 1.3, 1.4, etc.)?
Answer:

1.5

Question (dep-jrejdk): Do you require the JDK or is the JRE enough?
Answer:

JRE is enough.

Deployment

Question (deploy-jar): Do you deploy just module JAR file(s) or other files as well?
Answer:

Just the single JAR file.

Question (deploy-nbm): Can you deploy an NBM via the Update Center?
Answer:

Yes.

Question (deploy-shared): Do you need to be installed in the shared location only, or in the user directory only, or can your module be installed anywhere?
Answer:

Anywhere.

Question (deploy-packages): Are packages of your module made inaccessible by not declaring them public?
Answer:

Only API packages are exported. JDK bug workarounded in build harness (#152562).

Question (deploy-dependencies): What do other modules need to do to declare a dependency on this one, in addition to or instead of the normal module dependency declaration (e.g. tokens to require)?
Answer:

Nothing.

Compatibility with environment

Question (compat-i18n): Is your module correctly internationalized?
Answer:

Yes.

Question (compat-standards): Does the module implement or define any standards? Is the implementation exact or does it deviate somehow?
Answer:

No. Partially related to unfinished JSR-305.

Question (compat-version): Can your module coexist with earlier and future versions of itself? Can you correctly read all old settings? Will future versions be able to read your current settings? Can you read or politely ignore settings stored by a future version?
Answer:

Yes. No settings stored.

Question (compat-deprecation): How the introduction of your project influences functionality provided by previous version of the product?
Answer:

Modules gsf.api and asm should remove or deprecate their own annotations in favor of this module.

Access to resources

Question (resources-file): Does your module use java.io.File directly?
Answer:

No.

Question (resources-layer): Does your module provide own layer? Does it create any files or folders in it? What it is trying to communicate by that and with which components?
Answer:

No.

Question (resources-read): Does your module read any resources from layers? For what purpose?
Answer:

No.

Question (resources-mask): Does your module mask/hide/override any resources provided by other modules in their layers?
Answer:

No.

Question (resources-preferences): Does your module uses preferences via Preferences API? Does your module use NbPreferences or or regular JDK Preferences ? Does it read, write or both ? Does it share preferences with other modules ? If so, then why ?
Answer:

No.

Lookup of components

Question (lookup-lookup): Does your module use org.openide.util.Lookup or any similar technology to find any components to communicate with? Which ones?
Answer:

No.

Question (lookup-register): Do you register anything into lookup for other code to find?
Answer:

No.

Question (lookup-remove): Do you remove entries of other modules from lookup?
Answer:

No.

Execution Environment

Question (exec-property): Is execution of your code influenced by any environment or Java system (System.getProperty) property? On a similar note, is there something interesting that you pass to java.util.logging.Logger? Or do you observe what others log?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-component): Is execution of your code influenced by any (string) property of any of your components?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-ant-tasks): Do you define or register any ant tasks that other can use?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-classloader): Does your code create its own class loader(s)?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-reflection): Does your code use Java Reflection to execute other code?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-privateaccess): Are you aware of any other parts of the system calling some of your methods by reflection?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-process): Do you execute an external process from your module? How do you ensure that the result is the same on different platforms? Do you parse output? Do you depend on result code?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-introspection): Does your module use any kind of runtime type information (instanceof, work with java.lang.Class, etc.)?
Answer:

No.

Question (exec-threading): What threading models, if any, does your module adhere to? How the project behaves with respect to threading?
Answer:

Annotations only. No threading model.

Question (security-policy): Does your functionality require modifications to the standard policy file?
Answer:

No.

Question (security-grant): Does your code grant additional rights to some other code?
Answer:

No.

Format of files and protocols

Question (format-types): Which protocols and file formats (if any) does your module read or write on disk, or transmit or receive over the network? Do you generate an ant build script? Can it be edited and modified?
Answer:

None.

Question (format-dnd): Which protocols (if any) does your code understand during Drag & Drop?
Answer:

None.

Question (format-clipboard): Which data flavors (if any) does your code read from or insert to the clipboard (by access to clipboard on means calling methods on java.awt.datatransfer.Transferable?
Answer:

None.

Performance and Scalability

Question (perf-startup): Does your module run any code on startup?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-exit): Does your module run any code on exit?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-scale): Which external criteria influence the performance of your program (size of file in editor, number of files in menu, in source directory, etc.) and how well your code scales?
Answer:

No external criteria.

Question (perf-limit): Are there any hard-coded or practical limits in the number or size of elements your code can handle?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-mem): How much memory does your component consume? Estimate with a relation to the number of windows, etc.
Answer:

Except the fact that usage of annotations can increase class size there is no memory used by this API.

Question (perf-wakeup): Does any piece of your code wake up periodically and do something even when the system is otherwise idle (no user interaction)?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-progress): Does your module execute any long-running tasks?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-huge_dialogs): Does your module contain any dialogs or wizards with a large number of GUI controls such as combo boxes, lists, trees, or text areas?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-menus): Does your module use dynamically updated context menus, or context-sensitive actions with complicated and slow enablement logic?
Answer:

No.

Question (perf-spi): How the performance of the plugged in code will be enforced?
Answer:

No SPI way to plug in foreign code.