Extrapolation attribute values of custom annotation

January 29, 2024

I write a spring-boot test and created a custom annotation:

@Target(ElementType.TYPE)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@SpringBootTest
@AutoConfigureMockMvc
@ActiveProfiles("integration-test")
public @interface IntegrationTest {

    String[] properties() default {};
}

As you can see, I’ve defined the properties attribute to have the possibility to override properties like that:

@IntegrationTest(properties = {"my.property=value"})
public class MyIntegrationTest {
    // test code here
}

I don’t have any additional configurations and value of my attribute is automatic put into @SpringBootTest(properties = ), that is what I actually wanted to achieve.

But now I’m wondering how it is understood that the value of this attribute should be put in @SpringBootTest(properties = )?

>Solution :

You should annotate the properties with @AliasFor as follows:

@Target(ElementType.TYPE)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@SpringBootTest
@AutoConfigureMockMvc
@ActiveProfiles("integration-test")
public @interface IntegrationTest {

    @AliasFor(annotation = SpringBootTest.class, attribute = "properties")
    String[] properties() default {};
}