Spring AOP + AspectJ Annotation Example

Posted on June 21, 2011 ,     Last modified : August 29, 2012

By mkyong

In this tutorial, we show you how to integrate AspectJ annotation with Spring AOP framework. In simple, Spring AOP + AspectJ allow you to intercept method easily.

Common AspectJ annotations :

1. @Before – Run before the method execution
2. @After – Run after the method returned a result
3. @AfterReturning – Run after the method returned a result, intercept the returned result as well.
4. @AfterThrowing – Run after the method throws an exception
5. @Around – Run around the method execution, combine all three advices above.

Note
For Spring AOP without AspectJ support, read this build-in Spring AOP examples.

1. Directory Structure

See directory structure of this example.

2. Project Dependencies

To enable AspectJ, you need aspectjrt.jar, aspectjweaver.jar and spring-aop.jar. See following Maven pom.xml file.

AspectJ supported since Spring 2.0
This example is using Spring 3, but the AspectJ features are supported since Spring 2.0.

File : pom.xml

 ...>
 
 
  3.0.5.RELEASE

    org.springframework spring-core ${spring.version}   org.springframework spring-context ${spring.version}   org.springframework spring-aop ${spring.version}   org.aspectj aspectjrt 1.6.11   org.aspectj aspectjweaver 1.6.11  

3. Spring Beans

Normal bean, with few methods, later intercept it via AspectJ annotation.

package com.mkyong.customer.bo;
 
public interface CustomerBo {
 
 void addCustomer();
 
 String addCustomerReturnValue();
 
 void addCustomerThrowException() throws Exception;
 
 void addCustomerAround(String name);
}

package com.mkyong.customer.bo.impl;
 
import com.mkyong.customer.bo.CustomerBo;
 
public class CustomerBoImpl implements CustomerBo {
 
 public void addCustomer(){
  System.out.println("addCustomer() is running ");
 }
 
 public String addCustomerReturnValue(){
  System.out.println("addCustomerReturnValue() is running ");
  return "abc";
 }
 
 public void addCustomerThrowException() throws Exception {
  System.out.println("addCustomerThrowException() is running ");
  throw new Exception("Generic Error");
 }
 
 public void addCustomerAround(String name){
  System.out.println("addCustomerAround() is running, args : " + name);
 }
}

4. Enable AspectJ

In Spring configuration file, put ““, and define your Aspect (interceptor) and normal bean.

File : Spring-Customer.xml

 xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
 xmlns:aop="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop"
 xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
 http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd 
 http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop 
 http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-3.0.xsd ">
 
  />
 
  id="customerBo" class="com.mkyong.customer.bo.impl.CustomerBoImpl" />
 
 
  id="logAspect" class="com.mkyong.aspect.LoggingAspect" />
 

4. AspectJ @Before

In below example, the logBefore() method will be executed before the execution of customerBo interface, addCustomer()method.

Note
AspectJ “pointcuts” is used to declare which method is going to intercept, and you should refer to this Spring AOP pointcuts guide for full list of supported pointcuts expressions.

File : LoggingAspect.java

package com.mkyong.aspect;
 
import org.aspectj.lang.JoinPoint;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Before;
 
@Aspect
public class LoggingAspect {
 
 @Before("execution(* com.mkyong.customer.bo.CustomerBo.addCustomer(..))")
 public void logBefore(JoinPoint joinPoint) {
 
  System.out.println("logBefore() is running!");
  System.out.println("hijacked : " + joinPoint.getSignature().getName());
  System.out.println("******");
 }
 
}

Run it

 CustomerBo customer = (CustomerBo) appContext.getBean("customerBo");
 customer.addCustomer();

Output

logBefore() is running!
hijacked : addCustomer
******
addCustomer() is running

5. AspectJ @After

In below example, the logAfter() method will be executed after the execution of customerBo interface, addCustomer()method.

File : LoggingAspect.java

package com.mkyong.aspect;
 
import org.aspectj.lang.JoinPoint;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.After;
 
@Aspect
public class LoggingAspect {
 
 @After("execution(* com.mkyong.customer.bo.CustomerBo.addCustomer(..))")
 public void logAfter(JoinPoint joinPoint) {
 
  System.out.println("logAfter() is running!");
  System.out.println("hijacked : " + joinPoint.getSignature().getName());
  System.out.println("******");
 
 }
 
}

Run it

 CustomerBo customer = (CustomerBo) appContext.getBean("customerBo");
 customer.addCustomer();

Output

addCustomer() is running 
logAfter() is running!
hijacked : addCustomer
******

6. AspectJ @AfterReturning

In below example, the logAfterReturning() method will be executed after the execution of customerBo interface,addCustomerReturnValue() method. In addition, you can intercept the returned value with the “returning” attribute.

To intercept returned value, the value of the “returning” attribute (result) need to be same with the method parameter (result).

File : LoggingAspect.java

package com.mkyong.aspect;
 
import org.aspectj.lang.JoinPoint;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.AfterReturning;
 
@Aspect
public class LoggingAspect {
 
   @AfterReturning(
      pointcut = "execution(* com.mkyong.customer.bo.CustomerBo.addCustomerReturnValue(..))",
      returning= "result")
   public void logAfterReturning(JoinPoint joinPoint, Object result) {
 
 System.out.println("logAfterReturning() is running!");
 System.out.println("hijacked : " + joinPoint.getSignature().getName());
 System.out.println("Method returned value is : " + result);
 System.out.println("******");
 
   }
 
}

Run it

 CustomerBo customer = (CustomerBo) appContext.getBean("customerBo");
 customer.addCustomerReturnValue();

Output

addCustomerReturnValue() is running 
logAfterReturning() is running!
hijacked : addCustomerReturnValue
Method returned value is : abc
******

7. AspectJ @AfterReturning

In below example, the logAfterThrowing() method will be executed if the customerBo interface,addCustomerThrowException() method is throwing an exception.

File : LoggingAspect.java

package com.mkyong.aspect;
 
import org.aspectj.lang.JoinPoint;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.AfterThrowing;
 
@Aspect
public class LoggingAspect {
 
   @AfterThrowing(
      pointcut = "execution(* com.mkyong.customer.bo.CustomerBo.addCustomerThrowException(..))",
      throwing= "error")
    public void logAfterThrowing(JoinPoint joinPoint, Throwable error) {
 
 System.out.println("logAfterThrowing() is running!");
 System.out.println("hijacked : " + joinPoint.getSignature().getName());
 System.out.println("Exception : " + error);
 System.out.println("******");
 
    }
}

Run it

 CustomerBo customer = (CustomerBo) appContext.getBean("customerBo");
 customer.addCustomerThrowException();

Output

addCustomerThrowException() is running 
logAfterThrowing() is running!
hijacked : addCustomerThrowException
Exception : java.lang.Exception: Generic Error
******
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.Exception: Generic Error
 //...

8. AspectJ @Around

In below example, the logAround() method will be executed before the customerBo interface, addCustomerAround()method, and you have to define the “joinPoint.proceed();” to control when should the interceptor return the control to the original addCustomerAround() method.

File : LoggingAspect.java

package com.mkyong.aspect;
 
import org.aspectj.lang.ProceedingJoinPoint;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Around;
 
@Aspect
public class LoggingAspect {
 
   @Around("execution(* com.mkyong.customer.bo.CustomerBo.addCustomerAround(..))")
   public void logAround(ProceedingJoinPoint joinPoint) throws Throwable {
 
 System.out.println("logAround() is running!");
 System.out.println("hijacked method : " + joinPoint.getSignature().getName());
 System.out.println("hijacked arguments : " + Arrays.toString(joinPoint.getArgs()));
 
 System.out.println("Around before is running!");
 joinPoint.proceed(); //continue on the intercepted method
 System.out.println("Around after is running!");
 
 System.out.println("******");
 
   }
 
}

Run it

 CustomerBo customer = (CustomerBo) appContext.getBean("customerBo");
 customer.addCustomerAround("mkyong");

Output

logAround() is running!
hijacked method : addCustomerAround
hijacked arguments : [mkyong]
Around before is running!
addCustomerAround() is running, args : mkyong
Around after is running!
******

Conclusion

It’s always recommended to apply the least power AsjectJ annotation. It’s rather long article about AspectJ in Spring. for further explanations and examples, please visit the reference links below.

Anti annotation or using JDK 1.4 ?
No worry, AspectJ supported XML configuration also, read this Spring AOP + AspectJ XML example.

Download Source Code

Download it – Spring3-AOP-AspectJ-Example.zip (8 KB)

References

1. AspectJ programming guide
2. Spring AOP + AspectJ reference