src/javax/persistence/Inheritance.java

/*******************************************************************************
 * Copyright (c) 1998, 2009 Oracle. All rights reserved. 
 * 
 * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the 
 * terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 and Eclipse Distribution License v. 1.0 
 * which accompanies this distribution. 
 * The Eclipse Public License is available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
 * and the Eclipse Distribution License is available at 
 * http://www.eclipse.org/org/documents/edl-v10.php.
 * 
 * The API for this class and its comments are derived from the JPA 2.0 specification 
 * which is developed under the Java Community Process (JSR 317) and is copyright 
 * Sun Microsystems, Inc. 
 *
 * Contributors:
 *     dclarke - Java Persistence API 2.0 Public Draft
 *               Specification and licensing terms available from
 *               http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=317
 *
 * EARLY ACCESS - PUBLIC DRAFT
 * This is an implementation of an early-draft specification developed under the 
 * Java Community Process (JCP) and is made available for testing and evaluation 
 * purposes only. The code is not compatible with any specification of the JCP.
 ******************************************************************************/

package javax.persistence;

import java.lang.annotation.Target;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import static java.lang.annotation.ElementType.TYPE;
import static java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME;
import static javax.persistence.InheritanceType.SINGLE_TABLE;

/**
 * Defines the inheritance strategy to be used for an entity class 
 * hierarchy. It is specified on the entity class that is the root 
 * of the entity class hierarchy.
 *
 * <pre>
 *
 *   Example:
 *
 *   &#064;Entity
 *   &#064;Inheritance(strategy=JOINED)
 *   public class Customer { ... }
 *
 *   &#064;Entity
 *   public class ValuedCustomer extends Customer { ... }
 * </pre>
 *
 * @since Java Persistence API 1.0
 */
@Target({TYPE})
@Retention(RUNTIME)

public @interface Inheritance {

    /** The strategy to be used */
    InheritanceType strategy() default SINGLE_TABLE;
}