BeanInfo annotations [JEP-256]

The JEP-256 focused on replacing @beanifo javadoc tags with more appropriate annotations. Furthermore, these new annotations are now processed at runtime so that BeanInfo classes can be generated dynamically. The modularity of Java 9 resulted in this change. The creation of custom BeanInfo classes has been simplified and the client library has been modularized.

In order to fully grasp this change, we will review JavaBean, BeanProperty, and SwingContainer before going any further into this JEP.

JavaBean

A JavaBean is a Java class. Like other Java classes, JavaBeans are reusable code. They are unique in their design because they encapsulate several objects into one. There are three conventions a JavaBean class must follow:

• The constructor should not take any arguments
• It must be serializable
• It must contain mutator and accessor methods for its properties

Here is an example JavaBean class:

    publicclassMyBeanimplements java.io.Serializable 
    {
      // instance variables...