The value for annotation attribute Min.value must be a constant expression

Question

Eclipse keeps giving me the error:

The value for annotation attribute Min.value must be a constant expression

But I am most definitely giving the annotation a constant.

private static final int MIN_YEAR = Calendar.getInstance().get(Calendar.YEAR) - 1;

@Min(MIN_YEAR)

If I change it to be

private static final int MIN_YEAR = 2013;

It's perfectly happy, but I shouldn't have to do that. Does anyone know why or how my MIN_YEAR constant isn't considered a constant if it's declared with an evaluated expression instead of a plain number?

Answer 1

The expression

private static final int MIN_YEAR = Calendar.getInstance().get(Calendar.YEAR) - 1;

will be determined only in run-time, but

private static final int MIN_YEAR = 2013;

is determined in compilation time, so it's allowed since the values in the annotations should be resolved at compilation time and not runtime.