Package org.testng.annotations

Annotation Type Optional

@Retention(RUNTIME)
@Target(PARAMETER)
public @interface Optional

Specifies that the current parameter is optional. TestNG will pass in a specified default value, or null if none is specified.

Optional Element Summary

Optional Elements

Modifier and Type	Optional Element	Description
java.lang.String	value	The default value to pass to this parameter.

Element Detail

value

java.lang.String value

The default value to pass to this parameter.

The default deserves a bit of explanation. JSR-175 (which defines annotations) says that Java annotation parameters can only be ConstantExpressions, which can be primitive/string literals, but not null.

In this case, we use this string as a substitute for null; in practice, TestNG will pass null to your code, and not the string "null", if you do not specify a default value here in this parameter.

Default:

"null"