Class InterfaceIsTypeCheck

All Implemented Interfaces:
Configurable, Contextualizable

public final class InterfaceIsTypeCheck extends AbstractCheck
Implements Joshua Bloch, Effective Java, Item 17 - Use Interfaces only to define types.

According to Bloch, an interface should describe a type. It is therefore inappropriate to define an interface that does not contain any methods but only constants. The Standard interface javax.swing.SwingConstants is an example of an interface that would be flagged by this check.

The check can be configured to also disallow marker interfaces like java.io.Serializable, that do not contain methods or constants at all.

  • Property allowMarkerInterfaces - Control whether marker interfaces like Serializable are allowed. Type is boolean. Default value is true.

Parent is com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.TreeWalker

Violation Message Keys:

  • interface.type
Since:
3.1
  • Field Details

    • MSG_KEY

      public static final String MSG_KEY
      A key is pointing to the warning message text in "messages.properties" file.
      See Also:
    • allowMarkerInterfaces

      private boolean allowMarkerInterfaces
      Control whether marker interfaces like Serializable are allowed.
  • Constructor Details

  • Method Details

    • getDefaultTokens

      public int[] getDefaultTokens()
      Description copied from class: AbstractCheck
      Returns the default token a check is interested in. Only used if the configuration for a check does not define the tokens.
      Specified by:
      getDefaultTokens in class AbstractCheck
      Returns:
      the default tokens
      See Also:
    • getRequiredTokens

      public int[] getRequiredTokens()
      Description copied from class: AbstractCheck
      The tokens that this check must be registered for.
      Specified by:
      getRequiredTokens in class AbstractCheck
      Returns:
      the token set this must be registered for.
      See Also:
    • getAcceptableTokens

      public int[] getAcceptableTokens()
      Description copied from class: AbstractCheck
      The configurable token set. Used to protect Checks against malicious users who specify an unacceptable token set in the configuration file. The default implementation returns the check's default tokens.
      Specified by:
      getAcceptableTokens in class AbstractCheck
      Returns:
      the token set this check is designed for.
      See Also:
    • visitToken

      public void visitToken(DetailAST ast)
      Description copied from class: AbstractCheck
      Called to process a token.
      Overrides:
      visitToken in class AbstractCheck
      Parameters:
      ast - the token to process
    • setAllowMarkerInterfaces

      public void setAllowMarkerInterfaces(boolean flag)
      Setter to control whether marker interfaces like Serializable are allowed.
      Parameters:
      flag - whether to allow marker interfaces or not
      Since:
      3.1