Retrieves a specific annotation instance of the requested annotation type that is associated with the reflected element. The returned object inherits from Progress.Lang.Annotation and provides read‑only access to the annotation’s property values stored in r‑code. Because the method returns the base type Progress.Lang.Annotation, cast the returned object to the corresponding user‑defined annotation class to access its properties. The instance is created by the runtime when accessed through reflection.

If the reflected element does not have an annotation of the specified type, the method returns the unknown value (?). The method raises an error if the specified type is unknown or if the requested type is not compatible with Progress.Lang.Annotation.

An overloaded form of this method allows you to search for annotations declared on overridden elements in the class hierarchy. When hierarchical searching is enabled, the runtime first checks the reflected element itself and then searches up the inheritance chain until it finds a matching annotation. Constructors are not inherited, so hierarchical searching has no effect when reflecting on a constructor.

Return type: Progress.Lang.Annotation class

Access: Read-only

Applies to: Progress.Lang.Class class, Progress.Reflect.Constructor class, Progress.Reflect.Event class, Progress.Reflect.Method class, Progress.Reflect.Property class, Progress.Reflect.Variable class

Syntax

GetAnnotation ( annotationType )
 
GetAnnotation ( annotationType, searchInherited )
annotationType
A Progress.Lang.Class object that identifies the annotation class to retrieve.
searchInherited
A LOGICAL value that specifies whether to search the inheritance hierarchy for the annotation. If TRUE, the search proceeds up the class hierarchy until a matching annotation is found.

See also

ANNOTATION statement, [ ] Strongly typed annotation, Progress.Lang.Annotation class, Progress.Lang.Class class, IsAnnotation( ) method, GetAnnotations( ) method, HasAnnotation( ) method