[Java] Annotation Type Grapes

Sometimes we will need more than one grab per class, but we can only add one annotation type per annotatable node. This class allows for multiple grabs to be added.

For example:

 @Grapes([@Grab(module='m1'), @Grab(module='m2')])
 class AnnotatedClass { ... }
 

You can override an implicit transitive dependency by providing an explicit one. E.g. htmlunit 2.6 normally uses xerces 2.9.1 but you can get 2.9.0 as follows:

 @Grapes([
     @Grab('net.sourceforge.htmlunit:htmlunit:2.6'),
     @Grab('xerces#xercesImpl;2.9.0')
 ])
 

Obviously, only do this if you understand the consequences.

You can also remove transitive dependencies altogether (provided you know you don't need them) using @GrabExclude. For example, here is how we would not grab the logkit and avalon-framework transitive dependencies for Apache POI:

 @Grapes([
   @Grab("org.apache.poi#poi;3.5-beta6"),
   @GrabExclude("logkit:logkit"),
   @GrabExclude("avalon-framework#avalon-framework")
 ])
 import org.apache.poi.hssf.util.CellReference
 assert new CellReference(0, 0, false, false).formatAsString() == 'A1'
 assert new CellReference(1, 3).formatAsString() == '$D$2'
 

It is also sometimes also useful to use @GrabConfig to further adjust how dependencies are grabbed. See @GrabConfig for further information.