Module jakarta.cdi
Package jakarta.enterprise.inject

Annotation Interface Alternative

@Target({TYPE,METHOD,FIELD}) @Retention(RUNTIME) @Documented public @interface Alternative

Specifies that a bean is an alternative. May be applied to a bean class, producer method or field or stereotype. 

 @Alternative
 public class MockOrder extends Order { ... }

An alternative is not available for injection, lookup or EL resolution to classes or JSP/JSF pages in a module unless the module is a bean archive and the alternative is explicitly selected in that bean archive. An alternative is never available for injection, lookup or EL resolution in a module that is not a bean archive.

By default, a bean archive has no selected alternatives. An alternative must be explicitly declared using the <alternatives> element of the beans.xml file of the bean archive. The <alternatives> element contains a list of bean classes and stereotypes. An alternative is selected for the bean archive if either:

  • the alternative is a managed bean or session bean and the bean class of the bean is listed,
  • the alternative is a producer method, field or resource, and the bean class that declares the method or field is listed, or
  • any @Alternative stereotype of the alternative is listed.