/*
 * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more contributor license
 * agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with this work for additional information regarding
 * copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
 * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a
 * copy of the License at
 *
 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License
 * is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express
 * or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
 * the License.
 */
package org.apache.geode.internal.offheap.annotations;

import static org.apache.geode.internal.offheap.annotations.OffHeapIdentifier.*;

import java.lang.annotation.Documented;
import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;

/**
 * This annotation is used to mark a reference count increment to an off-heap value:
 * <ul>
 * <li>When used on a method declaration it indicates that the method called retain on the return
 * value if it is an off-heap reference.</li>
 * <li>When used on a constructor declaration this annotation indicates that field members may be
 * off-heap references and retain will be invoked on the field methods. This also indicates that the
 * class will have a release method.</li>
 * <li>When used on a parameter declaration it indicates that the method will call retain on the
 * parameter if it is an off-heap reference.</li>
 * <li>When used on a local variable it indicates that the variable will reference an off-heap value
 * that has been retained. Typically, the method will also be responsible for releasing the value
 * (unless it is the return value).</li>
 * <li>This annotation is also used to mark fields (instance variables) that will have a retain
 * count during the lifetime of the containing object. Typically, these fields will have their
 * reference counts decremented in release method.</li>
 * </ul>
 * 
 * One or more OffHeapIdentifiers may be supplied if the developer wishes to link this annotation
 * with other off-heap annotations.
 * 
 */
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.SOURCE)
@Target({ElementType.PARAMETER, ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.CONSTRUCTOR, ElementType.FIELD,
    ElementType.LOCAL_VARIABLE})
@Documented
public @interface Retained {
  OffHeapIdentifier[] value() default DEFAULT;
}