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Hibernate definition of the Java Persistence 2.0 (JSR 317) API.

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// $Id: DiscriminatorValue.java 17752 2009-10-15 01:19:21Z [email protected] $
// EJB3 Specification Copyright 2004-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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;

/**
 * Specifies the value of the discriminator column for
 * entities of the given type.
 *
 *  The DiscriminatorValue
 * annotation can only be specified on a concrete entity
 * class.
 *
 * 
 If the DiscriminatorValue annotation is not
 * specified and a discriminator column is used, a provider-specific
 * function will be used to generate a value representing the
 * entity type.  If the {@link DiscriminatorType} is 
 * STRING, the discriminator value
 * default is the entity name.
 *
 * 
 The inheritance strategy and the discriminator column
 * are only specified in the root of an entity class hierarchy
 * or subhierarchy in which a different inheritance strategy is
 * applied. The discriminator value, if not defaulted, should be
 * specified for each entity class in the hierarchy.
 *
 * 
 *
 *    Example:
 *
 *    @Entity
 *    @Table(name="CUST")
 *    @Inheritance(strategy=SINGLE_TABLE)
 *    @DiscriminatorColumn(name="DISC", discriminatorType=STRING, length=20)
 *    @DiscriminatorValue("CUSTOMER")
 *    public class Customer { ... }
 *
 *    @Entity
 *    @DiscriminatorValue("VCUSTOMER")
 *    public class ValuedCustomer extends Customer { ... }
 * 
 *
 * @see DiscriminatorColumn
 *
 * @since Java Persistence 1.0
 */
@Target({TYPE})
@Retention(RUNTIME)

public @interface DiscriminatorValue {

    /**
     * (Optional) The value that indicates that the
     * row is an entity of the annotated entity type.
     *
     *  If the DiscriminatorValue annotation is not
     * specified and a discriminator column is used, a
     * provider-specific function will be used to generate a value
     * representing the entity type.  If the DiscriminatorType is
     * STRING, the discriminator value default is the
     * entity name.
     */
    String value();
}