Maven Error " annotations are not supported....." - spring

Question

This is one of the most annoying errors ? What I can understand is that I am using a lower version of Java for compiling. How can I specify java version for maven ?
Failed to execute goal
org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:2.0.2:compile
(default-compile) on project
springAopMavenDemo: Compilation
failure D:\JAVA
Stuffs\projects\springAopMavenDemo\src\main\java\service\EmployeeServiceImpl.java:[13,1]
annotations are not supported in
-source 1.3 (use -source 5 or higher to enable annotations) #Service
-> [Help 1]
To see the full stack trace of the
errors, re-run Maven with the -e
switch. Re-run Maven using the -X
switch to enable full debug logging.
For more information about the errors
and possible solutions, please read
the following articles: [Help 1]
http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/MojoFailureException
I really appreciate any help......I am using NetBeans 7.0 and Maven 3

Answer 1

You need to tell maven which version of java the source should be compiled to
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.3.2</version>
<configuration>
<source>1.5</source>
<target>1.5</target>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-compiler-plugin/examples/set-compiler-source-and-target.html

Answer 2

You are using some annotated code in your java, but compiling in your ide is using source java 1.3 by passing an additional commandline parameter most likely
I had the same thing in intellij a while back
In netbeans config (sorry I am not a netbeans person) find where jdk/compiler setup is and change the command line arg
Update: quick net serach says it may be under Properties > Build > Compiling

Answer 3

emeraldjava answer is correct. However, I want to add two things:
First, you can set the source and target information as Maven properties:
<build>
...
<maven.compiler.source>1.5</maven.compiler.source>
<maven.compiler.target>1.5</maven.compiler.target>
Second, if you use the latest version of the Maven compiler plugin (2.3.2 for example), the default version for compiler is 1.5, so you will not need any additional configuration:
The Compiler Plugin is used to compile
the sources of your project. The
default compiler is javac and is used
to compile Java sources. Also note
that at present the default source
setting is 1.5 and the default target
setting is 1.5, independently of the
JDK you run Maven with.
(source)