AOP using Spring Boot - spring-boot

Question

I am using this Spring AOP code in my Spring Boot starter project in STS. After debugging this for some time I don't see any problem with the AspectJ syntax. The Maven dependencies are generated by STS for a AOP starter project. Is there a glaring omission in this code like an annotation ? The other problem could be with the AOP starter project or with the way I try to test the code in a #PostConstruct method.
I installed AJDT but it appears STS should show AspectJ markers in the IDE on its own. Right ? I don't see the markers. What other AspectJ debugging options are included in STS ? -Xlint is what I used in Eclipse/AJDT.
StateHandler.java
public class StateHandler<EVENTTYPE extends EventType> {
private State<EVENTTYPE> state;
private Event<EVENTTYPE> event;
public StateHandler(State<EVENTTYPE> state, Event<EVENTTYPE> event) {
this.state = state;
this.event = event;
}
public void handle( Event<EVENTTYPE> event ){
state = state.handle( event );
}
public State<EVENTTYPE> getState() {
return state;
}
}
DeviceLogger .java
#Aspect
#Component
public class DeviceLogger {
private static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger("Device");
#Around("execution(* com.devicemachine.StateHandler.*(..))")
public void log() {
logger.info( "Logger" );
}
}
LoggerApplication.java
#SpringBootApplication
public class LoggerApplication {
private static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger("Device");
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(LoggerApplication.class, args);
}
#PostConstruct
public void log(){
DeviceState s = DeviceState.BLOCKED;
StateHandler<DeviceEvent> sh = new StateHandler<DeviceEvent>( s,
Event.block(DeviceEvent.BLOCKED, "AuditMessage") );
sh.handle(Event.block(DeviceEvent.UNBLOCKED, "AuditMessage"));
}
}

Answer 1

There are 3 obvious things wrong and 1 not so obvious wrong.
Your aspect is wrong and breaks proper method execution. When using an around aspect you must always return Object and use a ProceedingJoinPoint and call proceed() on that.
You are creating new instances of classes yourself, Spring, by default, uses proxy based AOP and will only proxy beans it knows.
In a #PostConstruct method it might be that proxies aren't created yet and that nothing is being intercepted
You need to use class based proxies for that to be enabled add spring.aop.proxy-target-class=true to your application.properties. By default JDK Dynamic Proxies are used which are interface based.
Fix Aspect
Your current aspect doesn't use a ProceedingJoinPoint and as such never does the actual method call. Next to that if you now would have a method that returns a value it would all of a sudden return null. As you aren't calling proceed on the ProceedingJoinPoint.
#Around("execution(* com.devicemachine.StateHandler.*(..))")
public Object log(ProceedingJoinPoint pjp) throws Throwable {
logger.info( "Logger" );
return pjp.proceed();
}
Create a bean to fix proxying and #PostConstruct
#SpringBootApplication
public class LoggerApplication {
private static Logger logger = Logger.getLogger("Device");
public static void main(String[] args) {
ApplicationContext context = SpringApplication.run(LoggerApplication.class, args);
StateHandler<DeviceEvent> sh = context.getBean(StateHandler<DeviceEvent>.class);
sh.handle(Event.block(DeviceEvent.UNBLOCKED, "AuditMessage"));
}
#Bean
public StateHandler<DeviceEvent> auditMessageStateHandler() {
return new StateHandler<DeviceEvent>(DeviceState.BLOCKED, Event.block(DeviceEvent.BLOCKED, "AuditMessage") );
}
}
Add property to enable class proxies
In your application.properties in src\main\resources add the following property with a value of true
spring.aop.proxy-target-class=true