IssueTracker

Component used: Annotation Version used: 1.2.0

With the following class:

package com.example.visiblefortestingbug;

import static androidx.annotation.VisibleForTesting.*;
import androidx.annotation.VisibleForTesting;

public class Foo {

  @VisibleForTesting
  public void unscopedMethod_defaultsToOtherwisePrivate() {}

  @VisibleForTesting(otherwise = NONE)
  public void otherwiseNone() {}

  @VisibleForTesting(otherwise = PRIVATE)
  public void otherwisePrivate() {}

  @VisibleForTesting(otherwise = PACKAGE_PRIVATE)
  public void otherwisePackagePrivate() {}

  @VisibleForTesting(otherwise = PROTECTED)
  public void otherwiseProtected() {}
}

And the following usages in a class in the same package:

package com.example.visiblefortestingbug;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    Foo foo = new Foo();
    foo.unscopedMethod_defaultsToOtherwisePrivate();
    foo.otherwiseNone();
    foo.otherwisePrivate();
    foo.otherwisePackagePrivate();
    foo.otherwiseProtected();
  }
}

Expected

All @VisibleForTesting violations are treated the same by lint, either as errors or warnings. In this case I expect to see errors/warnings raised on:

foo.unscopedMethod_defaultsToOtherwisePrivate();
foo.otherwiseNone();
foo.otherwisePrivate();

Actual

A @VisibleForTesting(otherwise = NONE) violation seems to generate a lint error, while all other violations generate warnings. Why is there this asymmetry?

The wording of the warning/errors are also slightly different:

Foo.otherwiseNone can only be called from tests

This method should only be accessed from tests or within private scope

Violating otherwise = PROTECTED and otherwise = PACKAGE_PRIVATE also generates warnings with wording similar to violating PRIVATE:

This method should only be accessed from tests or within package private scope

This method should only be accessed from tests or within protected scope

I noticed that the NONE error is identical to that produced by RestrictTo(TESTS):

Foo.restrictToTests can only be called from tests

Maybe this inconsistency in the @VisibleForTesting lint handling is an artefact of delegating the implementation of otherwise = NONE to @RestrictTo(TESTS) (complete guess!).