Package jakarta.enterprise.inject

Annotation Interface Alternative

@Target({TYPE,METHOD,FIELD}) @Retention(RUNTIME) @Documented public @interface Alternative

Specifies that a bean is an alternative. May be applied to a bean class, producer method or field or stereotype. 

 @Alternative
 @Priority(1)
 @Dependent
 public class MockOrder extends Order { ... }

During typesafe resolution, alternative beans take precedence over non-alternative beans.

An alternative is not available for injection, lookup or name resolution in a module unless the alternative is selected for the application (by adding the Priority annotation) or the module is a bean archive and the alternative is selected for that bean archive.

By default, a bean archive has no selected alternatives. An alternative must be explicitly declared using the <alternatives> element of the beans.xml file of the bean archive. The <alternatives> element contains a list of bean classes and stereotypes. An alternative is selected for the bean archive if either:

  • the alternative is a managed bean or session bean and the bean class of the bean is listed,
  • the alternative is a producer method, field or resource, and the bean class that declares the method or field is listed, or
  • any @Alternative stereotype of the alternative is listed.
Author:
Gavin King, Pete Muir

  • Nested Class Summary

    Nested Classes
    Modifier and Type
    Class
    Description
    static final class 
    Alternative.Literal
    Supports inline instantiation of the Alternative annotation.