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<title>Assertions type</title>
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<h2 id="assertions">Assertions</h2>
<p>
The <code>assertions</code> type enables or disables the Java 1.4 assertions feature, on a whole
Java program, or components of a program. It can be used
in <a href="../Tasks/java.html"><code>&lt;java&gt;</code></a>
and <a href="../Tasks/junit.html"><code>&lt;junit&gt;</code></a> to add extra validation to
code.

<p>
Assertions are covered in
the <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/language/assert.html">Java
SE documentation</a>, and
the <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se8/html/jls-14.html#jls-14.10">Java
Language Specification</a>.

<p>
The key points to note are that a <code>java.lang.AssertionError</code> is thrown when an
assertion fails, and that the facility is only available on Java 1.4 and later. To enable
assertions one must set <var>source</var>=<q>1.4</q> (or later) in <code>&lt;javac&gt;</code>
when the source is being compiled, and that the code must contain <code>assert</code> statements
to be tested. The result of such an action is code that neither compiles or runs on earlier
versions of Java. For this reason Apache Ant itself currently contains no assertions.
<p>

When assertions are enabled (or disabled) in a task through nested assertions elements, the
class loader or command line is modified with the appropriate options. This means that the JVM
executed must be of version 1.4 or later, even if there are no assertions in the
code. Attempting to enable assertions on earlier JVMs will result in an "Unrecognized option"
error and the JVM will not start.

<p>
<h4>Attributes</h4>
<table class="attr">
  <tr>
    <th>Attribute</th>
    <th>Description</th>
    <th>Required</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>enableSystemAssertions</td>
    <td>Flag to turn system assertions on or off.</td>
    <td>No; default is <q>unspecified</q></td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p>
When system assertions have been neither enabled nor disabled, then the JVM is not given any
assertion information&mdash;the default action of the current JVMs is to disable system
assertions.
<p>
Note also that there is no apparent documentation for what parts of the JRE come with useful
assertions.

<h3>Nested elements</h3>

<h4>enable</h4>
<p>
Enable assertions in portions of code.  If neither a package nor class is specified, assertions
are turned on in <em>all</em> (user) code.
</p>
<table class="attr">
  <tr>
    <th>Attribute</th>
    <th>Description</th>
    <th>Required</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>class</td>
    <td>The name of a class on which to enable assertions.</td>
    <td>No</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>package</td>
    <td>
    The name of a package in which to enable assertions on all classes. (Includes subpackages.)
    Use <q>...</q> for the anonymous package.
    </td>
    <td>No</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<h4>disable</h4>
<p>
Disable assertions in portions of code.
</p>
<table class="attr">
  <tr>
    <th>Attribute</th>
    <th>Description</th>
    <th>Required</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>class</td>
    <td>The name of a class on which to disable assertions.</td>
    <td>No</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>package</td>
    <td>
    The name of a package in which to disable assertions on all classes. (Includes subpackages.)
    Use <q>...</q> for the anonymous package.
    </td>
    <td>No</td>
  </tr>
</table>
<p>
Because assertions are disabled by default, it only makes sense to disable assertions where they
have been enabled in a parent package.
</p>
<h4>Examples</h4>

<h5>Example: enable assertions in all user classes</h5>

All classes not in the JRE (i.e. all non-system classes) will have assertions turned on.
<pre>
&lt;assertions&gt;
  &lt;enable/&gt;
&lt;/assertions&gt;
</pre>

<h5>Example: enable a single class</h5>

Enable assertions in a class called Test
<pre>
&lt;assertions&gt;
  &lt;enable class="Test"/&gt;
&lt;/assertions&gt;
</pre>

<h5>Example: enable a package</h5>

Enable assertions in the <code>org.apache</code> package and all packages starting with
the <code>org.apache.</code> prefix
<pre>
&lt;assertions&gt;
  &lt;enable package="org.apache"/&gt;
&lt;/assertions&gt;
</pre>

<h5>Example: System assertions</h5>

Enable system assertions and assertions in all <code>org.apache</code> packages except for Ant
(but including <code>org.apache.tools.ant.Main</code>)
<pre>
&lt;assertions enableSystemAssertions="true"&gt;
  &lt;enable package="org.apache"/&gt;
  &lt;disable package="org.apache.tools.ant"/&gt;
  &lt;enable class="org.apache.tools.ant.Main"/&gt;
&lt;/assertions&gt;
</pre>

<h5>Example: disabled and anonymous package assertions</h5>

Disable system assertions; enable those in the anonymous package
<pre>
&lt;assertions enableSystemAssertions="false"&gt;
  &lt;enable package="..."/&gt;
&lt;/assertions&gt;
</pre>

<h5>Example: referenced assertions</h5>

This type is a datatype, so you can declare assertions and use them later
<pre>
&lt;assertions id="project.assertions"&gt;
  &lt;enable package="org.apache.test"/&gt;
&lt;/assertions&gt;

&lt;assertions refid="project.assertions"/&gt;
</pre>

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