Question

I do not mean the compile errors because I made a syntax mistake or whatever. In C++ we can create compile time errors based on conditions as in the following example:

template<int> struct CompileTimeError; template<> struct CompileTimeError<true> {};  #define STATIC_CHECK(expr, msg) { CompileTimeError<((expr) != 0)> ERROR_##msg; (void)ERROR_##msg; }  int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {     STATIC_CHECK(false, Compile_Time_Failure);     return 0; } 

In VS 2005 this will output:

------ Build started: Project: Test, Configuration: Debug Win32 ------ Compiling... Test.cpp f:\temp\test\test\test.cpp(17) : error C2079: 'ERROR_Compile_Time_Failure' uses undefined struct 'CompileTimeError<__formal>'         with         [             __formal=0         ] Build log was saved at 'file://f:\temp\Test\Test\Debug\BuildLog.htm' Test - 1 error(s), 0 warning(s) ========== Build: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ========== 

Is there any way to achieve this in Java?

Answer 1

There is no way to do this in Java, not in the same way it works for you in C++.

You could perhaps use annotations, and run apt before or after compilation to check your annotations.

For example:

@MyStaticCheck(false, 'Compile Time Error, kind-of') public static void main(String[] args) {     return; } 

And then write your own AnnotationProcessorFactory that looked for @MyStaticCheck annotations, and does something with the arguments.

Note: I haven’t played too much with apt, but the documentation makes it looks like this is very do-able.