Java in a Nutshell, 5th Edition

Name

Annotation

Synopsis

This class is a wrapper for a the value of a text attribute that represents an annotation. Annotations differ from other types of text attributes in two ways. First, annotations are linked to the text they are applied to, so changing the text invalidates or corrupts the meaning of the annotation. Second, annotations cannot be merged with adjacent annotations, even if they have the same value. Putting an annotation value in an Annotation wrapper serves to indicate these special characteristics. Note that two of the attribute keys defined by AttributedCharaterIterator.Attribute, READING and INPUT_METHOD_SEGMENT, must be used with Annotation objects.

public class Annotation {
// Public Constructors
     public Annotation(Object value);  
// Public Instance Methods
     public Object getValue( );  
// Public Methods Overriding Object
     public String toString( );  
}