Constant referenced in annotation is not recognized as a constant value

[s-albers]

Since Eclipse 2025-12 (JDT 3.20.400), I have a compile error with the following class:

package testing;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonPropertyOrder;

import testing.Test.JsonProperties;

@JsonPropertyOrder({
	JsonProperties.CONSTANT_ONE,
	JsonProperties.CONSTANT_TWO,
})
public record Test(
    @JsonProperty(JsonProperties.CONSTANT_ONE) String attributeOne, // Error in this line
    @JsonProperty(JsonProperties.CONSTANT_TWO) String attributeTwo) {

	class JsonProperties {

		public static final String CONSTANT_ONE = "one";

		public static final String CONSTANT_TWO = "two";
	}
}

I have a dependency to com.fasterxml.jackson.core:jackson-annotations:2.20

In line 13, JsonProperties.CONSTANT_ONE is not recognized as a constant value.
The error message is: The value for annotation attribute JsonProperty.value must be a constant expression

With Eclipse 2025-09 (JDT 3.20.300), the exact same code works without error.
The OpenJDK 21 compiler can also compile this class.

Do you have any ideas, what's wrong here? Thank you very much!

[s-albers]

[srikanth-sankaran]

Can you try the latest I-Build from here: https://download.eclipse.org/eclipse/downloads/ ?

[s-albers]

Thank you for your quick reply!

I already tested it in Eclipse 2026-03 M2 (JDT 3.20.500). The same error occurs.

[s-albers]

I'll try again with the latest I-build.

[srikanth-sankaran]

In future, please stub out dependencies and report a standalone test case like this: Problem is reproducible with this, single file test case. I'll take a look

package testing;

import testing.X.JsonProperties;

import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;

@Target({ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE, ElementType.FIELD, ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.PARAMETER})
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)

@interface JsonProperty {
	String value();
}

@Target({ElementType.ANNOTATION_TYPE, ElementType.TYPE,
    ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.CONSTRUCTOR, ElementType.FIELD})
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)

@interface JsonPropertyOrder {
    public String[] value() default { };
}


@JsonPropertyOrder({
	JsonProperties.CONSTANT_ONE,
	JsonProperties.CONSTANT_TWO,
})
public record X(
    @JsonProperty(JsonProperties.CONSTANT_ONE) String attributeOne, // Error in this line
    @JsonProperty(JsonProperties.CONSTANT_TWO) String attributeTwo) {

	class JsonProperties {

		public static final String CONSTANT_ONE = "one";

		public static final String CONSTANT_TWO = "two";
	}
}

[srikanth-sankaran]

I'll try again with the latest I-build.

You can skip this step, since I am able to reproduce this on master/HEAD

[s-albers]

In future, please stub out dependencies and report a standalone test case like this: Problem is reproducible with this, single file test case. I'll take a look

Thank you. I'll keep that in mind.

[srikanth-sankaran]

I expect to fix it tomorrow, but it is likely too late for M3, unless there are special builds tomorrow.

[srikanth-sankaran]

I expect to fix it tomorrow, but it is likely too late for M3, unless there are special builds tomorrow.

That was optimistic - this is another case of re-entrancy triggered by annotation handling. Such cases are involved and so may take some time ... it is worked on priority basis just that it shouldn't be rushed.