lombok.experimental

Annotation Type ExtensionMethod

@Target(value=TYPE)
 @Retention(value=SOURCE)
public @interface ExtensionMethod

Extension methods enable you to "add" methods to existing types without creating a new derived type, recompiling, or otherwise modifying the original type. Extension methods are a special kind of static method, but they are called as if they were instance methods on the extended type.

Complete documentation is found at the project lombok features page for @ExtensionMethod.

Before:

 @ExtensionMethod(java.util.Arrays.class)
 class Example {
        private void example() {
                long[] values = new long[] { 2, 5, 7, 9 };
                values.copyOf(3).sort();
        }
 }
 

After:

 class Example {
        private void example() {
                long[] values = new long[] { 2, 5, 7, 9 };
                java.util.Arrays.sort(java.util.Arrays.copyOf(values, 3));
        }
 }
 

Required Element Summary

Required Elements

Modifier and Type	Required Element and Description
Class<?>[]	value

Optional Element Summary

Optional Elements

Modifier and Type	Optional Element and Description
boolean	suppressBaseMethods If true, an applicable extension method is used (if found) even if the method call already was compilable (this is the default).

Element Detail

value

public abstract Class<?>[] value

Returns:

All types whose static methods will be exposed as extension methods.

suppressBaseMethods

public abstract boolean suppressBaseMethods

If true, an applicable extension method is used (if found) even if the method call already was compilable (this is the default). If false, an extension method is only used if the method call is not also defined by the type itself.

Returns:

Whether or not to override already existing methods with the extension.

Default:

true