- AOP stands for Aspect Oriented Programming
- The key unit of modularity in OOP is the class, whereas in AOP the unit of modularity is the aspect.
- Aspects enable the modularization of concerns such as transaction management that cut across multiple types and objects.
- Spring AOP is implemented in pure Java.
- Spring AOP currently supports only method execution join points (advising the execution of methods on Spring beans). Field interception is not implemented, although support for field interception could be added without breaking the core Spring AOP APIs. If you need to advise field access and update join points, consider a language such as AspectJ.
AOP concepts
- Aspect: a modularization of a concern that cuts across multiple classes. Transaction management is a good example of a crosscutting concern in enterprise Java applications. In Spring AOP, aspects are implemented using regular classes (the schema-based approach) or regular classes annotated with the @Aspect annotation (the @AspectJ style).
- Join point: a point during the execution of a program, such as the execution of a method or the handling of an exception. In Spring AOP, a join point always represents a method execution.
- Advice: action taken by an aspect at a particular join point. Different types of advice include "around," "before" and "after" advice. Many AOP frameworks, including Spring, model an advice as an interceptor, maintaining a chain of interceptors around the join point.
- Pointcut: a predicate that matches join points. Advice is associated with a pointcut expression and runs at any join point matched by the pointcut (for example, the execution of a method with a certain name). The concept of join points as matched by pointcut expressions is central to AOP, and Spring uses the AspectJ pointcut expression language by default.
- Introduction: declaring additional methods or fields on behalf of a type. Spring AOP allows you to introduce new interfaces (and a corresponding implementation) to any advised object. For example, you could use an introduction to make a bean implement an IsModified interface, to simplify caching. (An introduction is known as an inter-type declaration in the AspectJ community.)
- Target object: object being advised by one or more aspects. Also referred to as the advised object. Since Spring AOP is implemented using runtime proxies, this object will always be a proxied object.
- AOP proxy: an object created by the AOP framework in order to implement the aspect contracts (advise method executions and so on). In the Spring Framework, an AOP proxy will be a JDK dynamic proxy or a CGLIB proxy.
- Weaving: linking aspects with other application types or objects to create an advised object. This can be done at compile time (using the AspectJ compiler, for example), load time, or at runtime. Spring AOP, like other pure Java AOP frameworks, performs weaving at runtime.
Types of advice:
- Before advice: Advice that executes before a join point, but which does not have the ability to prevent execution flow proceeding to the join point (unless it throws an exception).
- After returning advice: Advice to be executed after a join point completes normally: for example, if a method returns without throwing an exception.
- After throwing advice: Advice to be executed if a method exits by throwing an exception.
- After (finally) advice: Advice to be executed regardless of the means by which a join point exits (normal or exceptional return).
- Around advice: Advice that surrounds a join point such as a method invocation. This is the most powerful kind of advice. Around advice can perform custom behavior before and after the method invocation. It is also responsible for choosing whether to proceed to the join point or to shortcut the advised method execution by returning its own return value or throwing an exception.
Around advice is the most general kind of advice. if you need only to update a cache with the return value of a method, you are better off implementing an after returning advice than an around advice, although an around advice can accomplish the same thing. Using the most specific advice type provides a simpler programming model with less potential for errors. For example, you do not need to invoke the proceed() method on the JoinPoint used for around advice, and hence cannot fail to invoke it.
In Spring 2.0, all advice parameters are statically typed, so that you work with advice parameters of the appropriate type (the type of the return value from a method execution for example) rather than Object arrays.
The concept of join points, matched by pointcuts, is the key to AOP which distinguishes it from older technologies offering only interception. Pointcuts enable advice to be targeted independently of the Object-Oriented hierarchy. For example, an around advice providing declarative transaction management can be applied to a set of methods spanning multiple objects (such as all business operations in the service layer).
Declaring an aspect
With the @AspectJ support enabled, any bean defined in your application context with a class that is an @AspectJ aspect (has the @Aspect annotation) will be automatically detected by Spring and used to configure Spring AOP.
package org.xyz; import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect; @Aspect public class TestAspect { }
NOTE : You may register aspect classes as regular beans in your Spring XML configuration, or autodetect them through classpath scanning - just like any other Spring-managed bean. However, note that the @Aspect annotation is not sufficient for autodetection in the classpath: For that purpose, you need to add a separate @Component annotation (or alternatively a custom stereotype annotation that qualifies, as per the rules of Spring’s component scanner).
In Spring AOP, it is not possible to have aspects themselves be the target of advice from other aspects. The @Aspect annotation on a class marks it as an aspect, and hence excludes it from auto-proxying.
Declaring a pointcut
Recall that pointcuts determine join points of interest, and thus enable us to control when advice executes. Spring AOP only supports method execution join points for Spring beans, so you can think of a pointcut as matching the execution of methods on Spring beans. A pointcut declaration has two parts: a signature comprising a name and any parameters, and a pointcut expression that determines exactly which method executions we are interested in. In the @AspectJ annotation-style of AOP, a pointcut signature is provided by a regular method definition, and the pointcut expression is indicated using the @Pointcut annotation (the method serving as the pointcut signature must have a void return type).
@Pointcut("execution(* transfer(..))")// the pointcut expression private void anyOldTransfer() {}// the pointcut signature
Supported Pointcut Designators (PCD)
Spring AOP supports the following AspectJ pointcut designators (PCD) for use in pointcut expressions:
- execution - for matching method execution join points, this is the primary pointcut designator you will use when working with Spring AOP
- within - limits matching to join points within certain types (simply the execution of a method declared within a matching type when using Spring AOP)
- this - limits matching to join points (the execution of methods when using Spring AOP) where the bean reference (Spring AOP proxy) is an instance of the given type
- target - limits matching to join points (the execution of methods when using Spring AOP) where the target object (application object being proxied) is an instance of the given type
- args - limits matching to join points (the execution of methods when using Spring AOP) where the arguments are instances of the given types
- @target - limits matching to join points (the execution of methods when using Spring AOP) where the class of the executing object has an annotation of the given type
- @args - limits matching to join points (the execution of methods when using Spring AOP) where the runtime type of the actual arguments passed have annotations of the given type(s)
- @within - limits matching to join points within types that have the given annotation (the execution of methods declared in types with the given annotation when using Spring AOP)
- @annotation - limits matching to join points where the subject of the join point (method being executed in Spring AOP) has the given annotation
Declaring advice
Advice is associated with a pointcut expression, and runs before, after, or around method executions matched by the pointcut. The pointcut expression may be either a simple reference to a named pointcut, or a pointcut expression declared in place.
Before advice
Before advice is declared in an aspect using the @Before annotation:
After returning advice
After returning advice runs when a matched method execution returns normally. It is declared using the @AfterReturning annotation:
After throwing advice
After throwing advice runs when a matched method execution exits by throwing an exception. It is declared using the @AfterThrowing annotation:
After (finally) advice
After (finally) advice runs however a matched method execution exits. It is declared using the @After annotation. After advice must be prepared to handle both normal and exception return conditions. It is typically used for releasing resources, etc.
Around advice
The final kind of advice is around advice. Around advice runs "around" a matched method execution.
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