Are Java meta-annotations available at runtime?

Question

I have created a meta-annotation and applied it to an annotation but can't find any way to find what meta-annotations are associated with the annotation at runtime. Is this actually supported in JDK 6?

E.g.:

/**
 * Meta-annotation for other annotations declaring them to be "filter" annotations
 */
@Target(ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE)  // make this a meta-annotation
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)   // available at runtime
public @interface Filter
{
}

/**
 * Marks a test as only being applicable to TypeOne clients
 */
@Target({ElementType.METHOD})
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Filter
public @interface TypeOne
{
}

public class MyClientClass
{
   // Would like to scan this method to see if the method has an Annotation that is of meta-type "Filter"
   @TypeOne 
   public void testMethod()
   {
   }
}

It's simple to find methods with the "TypeOne" annotation, but once I have that Annotation in hand, how can I, at runtime, find out if that annotation has as associated meta-annotation (i.e., "Filter")?

Answer 1

I have the answer already sorry:

annotation.annotationType().isAnnotationPresent(Filter.class)