Spring AOP + AspectJ annotation example

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.

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


<project ...>

	<properties>
		<spring.version>3.0.5.RELEASE</spring.version>
	</properties>

	<dependencies>

		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
			<artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
			<version>${spring.version}</version>
		</dependency>

		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
			<artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
			<version>${spring.version}</version>
		</dependency>

		<!-- Spring AOP + AspectJ -->
		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
			<artifactId>spring-aop</artifactId>
			<version>${spring.version}</version>
		</dependency>

		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.aspectj</groupId>
			<artifactId>aspectjrt</artifactId>
			<version>1.6.11</version>
		</dependency>
		
		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.aspectj</groupId>
			<artifactId>aspectjweaver</artifactId>
			<version>1.6.11</version>
		</dependency>
		
	</dependencies>
</project>

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 “<aop:aspectj-autoproxy />“, and define your Aspect (interceptor) and normal bean.

File : Spring-Customer.xml


<beans 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 ">

	<aop:aspectj-autoproxy />

	<bean id="customerBo" class="com.mkyong.customer.bo.impl.CustomerBoImpl" />

	<!-- Aspect -->
	<bean id="logAspect" class="com.mkyong.aspect.LoggingAspect" />

</beans>

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

59 comments on “Spring AOP + AspectJ annotation example

  1. Is it possible to apply the AOP concept in website(with spring mvc) means before any bean method, can we execute any aspect

    Reply
  2. i called @before on controller but want to stop execution of controller if user is not logged-in and want to return something as response-body (json shows the status that USER NOT LOGGED-IN ) else normal controller execution??(work around i throw error(“USER NOT LOGGED-IN”)) but want permanent solution.

    Reply
  3. I had a question. Is it possible to get method argument names in @Around advice?

    Reply
  4. There is typo AfterThrowing —> AfterReturning

    Reply
  5. I need to log method calling methods ?? Any tutorial on LTW .

    Reply
  6. What is the best method to log chained method! ?? I don’t know MAVEN so please any solution through spring

    Reply
  7. 7. AspectJ @AfterReturning has to be 7. AspectJ @AfterThrowing

    Reply
  8. Hi,

    My main package folder is com.base and it has multiple folders like aspect, dao, web/controller, domain, service etc
    I want to apply this aspect for all the methods from all the classes under com.base folder.

    My spring config (web-servlet.xml) has

    I have created one logging aspect as below

    @Aspect
    public class LoggingAspect {
    /** Following is the definition for a pointcut to select
    * all the methods available. So advice will be called
    * for all the methods.
    */

    @Pointcut(“execution(* com.base.*.*(..))”)
    private void selectAll(){System.out.println(“logBefore() is running!”);}

    /**
    * This is the method which I would like to execute
    * before a selected method execution.
    */
    @Before(“selectAll()”)
    public void logBefore(JoinPoint joinPoint) {
    MDC.put(“logFileName”, “AppLog”);
    System.out.println(“logBefore() is running!”);
    System.out.println(“hijacked : ” + joinPoint.getSignature().getName());
    System.out.println(“******”);
    MDC.remove(“logFileName”);
    }
    }

    But when I run my application, I am not getting any message printed on console from this logger aspect.

    Please help. Thanks in Advance.

    Amrut

    Reply
    1. The pattern for execution is as below:
      @Pointcut(“execution(* com.base.*.*.*(..))”)
      –Notice the extra * added in the pattern. Depending upon level of packages, you may need to give that..

      Reply
  9. The 7th point.. Please make it @AfterThrowing..6th and 7th both has @AfterReturning, a typo mistake..

    Reply
  10. do you have any idea how i can get the trace of the current running method? like i need to get the full text of the current method in a running program, not the name, signature etc.

    Reply
  11. I am getting an exception as:

    java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Can not set com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper field in.dao.whooshbox.BaseDao.mapper to com.sun.proxy.$Proxy30

    at sun.reflect.UnsafeFieldAccessorImpl.throwSetIllegalArgumentException(UnsafeFieldAccessorImpl.java:167)

    at sun.reflect.UnsafeFieldAccessorImpl.throwSetIllegalArgumentException(UnsafeFieldAccessorImpl.java:171)

    at sun.reflect.UnsafeObjectFieldAccessorImpl.set(UnsafeObjectFieldAccessorImpl.java:81)

    at java.lang.reflect.Field.set(Field.java:764)

    at org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.AutowiredAnnotationBeanPostProcessor$AutowiredFieldElement.inject(AutowiredAnnotationBeanPostProcessor.java:551)

    at org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.InjectionMetadata.inject(InjectionMetadata.java:87)

    at org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.AutowiredAnnotationBeanPostProcessor.postProcessPropertyValues(AutowiredAnnotationBeanPostProcessor.java:331)

    Could you please help me figure out the issue.

    Reply
  12. I have a question on enabling logging for different methods in classes of a module: Do I need to create bean object from context for each class intending to get logging. Is there any way I can enable logging for every method using aspectj without creating object through context. Also, incase of a method inside the same class. I would not need to create a object. I can simply call the method by name. How to enable logging for it?

    Reply
  13. I have one service method which calls the Dao method to fetch the record from the database. When i deploy the web application it is working fine and fetching the records from database but the moment i apply the around advice(which just have the sysout statements) on the service method, it is returning the null value. When i enabled the debug logger level i have noticed the below behavior
    1. As per the logs, the dao method successfully loads the records from database
    2. The aspect is also applied on the service method

    But I’m not sure, on applying aspect, why I’m getting the null value in controller from service? Can any one help me on this

    Reply
    1. This is resolved now. Some how the @Aspect and @Component annotation was applied on the loggingAspect class, as soon as i removed @component annotation, it worked!

      Reply
  14. An important note for @Around is missing here and that is that an @Around advice must also return the value from the call to joinPoint.proceed() – you should correct the sample or at least add a note about it

    Reply
  15. Thanks for putting all this together.

    I have a one question in spring transaction management AOP is used and following XML configuration is used to manage transaction.

    I don’t see any pointcut (Before/after/AfterReturning/AfterThrowing/Around) like . Please help me out to understand that how this transaction advise executes.

    Thanks

    Reply
  16. I do believe all of the ideas you’ve introduced for your post. They’re very convincing and can certainly work.

    Still, the posts are too brief for beginners. May you please extend them a bit from next time?

    Thanks for the post.

    Reply
  17. Hi i am a completely newbie in AOP what if i need to to fill some fields in a class before call another method some flags (update,delete,save) i use beforeAdvice

    @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(“******”);
    }

    and the method receives a parameter example

    DAO.Student.update(Student studenToBeUpdated)

    how can i access the Student to apply my flags befored saved??

    Reply
  18. There is very blog explain in very lucid manner to understand newbie
    Keep it good work!
    Thanks a lot 🙂

    Reply
  19. 7. AspectJ @AfterReturning should be 7. AspectJ @AfterThrowing

    Reply
  20. Hi Kyoung,

    First of all, thanks a lot for publishing all this valuable information and aggregating on 1 web site. I visit your site frequently to clarify my knowledge. Now i have 1 question and the scenario is as follows:
    org.abc.xyz.service.CounterService.activeCount()
    and this service will be invoked from 2 execution paths:
    1. org.abc.xyx.controllers.ABCController and
    2. org.abc.xyz.controllers.XYZController

    Now my question is can we have an aspect on activeCount for the execution path:- ABCController–>CounterService

    thanks,
    jagan

    Reply
  21. I have a question… how can these aspects work when the methods are called without it getting the instance from a bean…. As in…

    Right now it works like this…
    CustomerBo customer = (CustomerBo) appContext.getBean(“customerBo”);
    customer.addCustomerAround(“mkyong”);

    I want it make it work like this….
    CustomerBo customer = new CustomerBoImpl();
    customer.addCustomerAround(“mkyong”);

    Reply
    1. I think the appContext.getBean doesn’t returns the “real” bean, returns just a proxy, and in this proxy, when you call some method, it execute the joinpoints from the aspect after or before the method of real bean.

      When you use new CustomerBoImpl(); you get the real bean, so this is not a proxy that will execute the joinpoints after or before the CustomerBoImpl methods.

      Am I right? Did I understand it well?

      Reply
      1. Yeah…Im trying to figure out how to make it work..but it seems that we need to use only AspectJ for that

        Reply
  22. Its such as you read my mind! You appear to know a
    lot about this, such as you wrote the e-book in it or something.
    I think that you simply can do with some percent to drive the message home a bit, but instead
    of that, that is great blog. An excellent read. I’ll certainly be back.

    Reply
  23. Thanks for sharing this concise tutorial. It was a great help. One question. Is there a way to define an aspect which intercepts annotated fields? For e.g. If I’ve below class

    package com.jak.sandbox.aspect;
    
    public class MyClass {
         @MyAnnotation
         private String myField;
    
         public void doSomething() {
              System.out.println("Saving the world");
         }
    }
    

    Now is it possible to define an aspect which will intercept the the field

    myField

    and invoke pointcut?

    Reply
  24. hi,
    this is really gr8 tutorial, I just follow all the steps and work fine for me, but I am facing issue in point number 6.

    I have a DAO class which has two method, addUser(user) and List getAllUsers() and I have one test call which create an user, add this user to db using DAO addUser method and after that it retrieve it.

    this unit test class works fine without adding this process, but if I add this, its giving error while retrieving the values I am getting null user list in Test class while in DAO class same list has one user.

    I am not able to figure it out how this user is getting destroyed in logging class. even in logging class itself the return value is null inside

    @AfterReturning(pointcut = "execution(* po.hike.dao..*.*(..))", 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("***************************************************");
    
    	}
    

    method

    Please help me to find the issue

    Thanks

    Reply
    1. the main problem is with the around function, after removing around it works fine. but still I don’t know why around cause issue her

      Reply
  25. thanks, it is helpful.

    btw,?????????

    7. AspectJ @AfterReturning
    

    ???

    7. AspectJ @AfterThrowing
    
    Reply
  26. 7. AspectJ @AfterReturning -> @AfterThrowing

    Great tutorial anyway!!!

    Reply
  27. Nice work Mkyong,

    I have tried your example it is working fine in Tomcat but not working in Websphere and not getting any exception.

    I am using below jars for AOP.
    aopalliance-1.0.jar
    aspectjtools-1.5.3.jar
    spring-aop-3.0.5.RELEASE.jar
    cglib-nodep-2.1_3.jar

    kindly advice me why it is not working in Websphere 6.1

    Reply
    1. WebSphere products are all weird, and always have its own IBM standard. Advice is consult WebSphere document for AOP support, or call IBM 🙂

      Reply
      1. I have a quick question for you at the moment.

        How can we use Spring AOP along with AspectJ for static methods. If possible, can you show an example.

        Thanks in advance :).

        Reply
  28. Hi Young,

    You have posted a great tutorial regarding the usage of Spring AOP along with AspectJ. Great work, we are looking forward for more articles from you.

    I have a quick question for you at the moment.

    How can we use Spring AOP along with AspectJ for static methods. If possible, can you show an example.

    Thanks in advance :).

    Reply
  29. Nice work Mkyong, I suggest avoid xml configuration in bean aspect definition , you can annotate your class as @Configurable and Spring will add it to context:

    import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Configurable;

    @Configurable
    @Aspect
    public class LoggingAspect {
    ….
    }

    I hope you help.
    Regards

    Reply
    1. I am sorry for my questio, i am just trying to set up logger through spring aspect annotations,do you you mean in case a make my aspect class @configurable there is no need for config.xml? Thank you

      Reply
  30. Outstanding tutorial to get started with Spring AOP, thank’s a lot !

    Reply
  31. Anyway to dynamically set the value of aspectj annotation within a java class instead of “hard wired” during compilation time?

    @Pointcut(“execution(public * *(..))”)
    This seem to be promising, but if this can be dynamically set during runtime of the program without restarting the JVM, it would be really nice.

    Reply
  32. Nice work

    I think one heading is typed incorrect by mistake.
    So, Please correct the heading in
    7. AspectJ @AfterReturning => 7. AspectJ @AfterThrowing

    I would like to suggest that you have used only

      <b>execution</b>

    in the examples.
    So, you can also show how to broaden the scope for pointcut. For example using

      <b>within</b>

    like

    @Pointcut("execution(public * *(..))")
        private void anyPublicOperation() {}
        
        @Pointcut("within(com.xyz.someapp.trading..*)")
        private void inTrading() {}
        
        @Pointcut("anyPublicOperation() && inTrading()")
        private void tradingOperation() {}
     
    Reply
  33. Great Article, mkyong. Thanks for saving us lot of time !

    Reply
  34. Can we apply Spring AOP with AspectJ to class which is outside Spring context but part of the same web project?Please reply with spring 3.1.1.

    Reply
  35. Please correct Point 7 heading “AspectJ @AfterReturning” to “AspectJ @AfterThrowing”.

    Good Work!

    Reply
  36. is possible to apply AspectJ on Bean Using Annotations. I have to capture entry and exit point of Bean Method.

    Ramkumar

    Reply

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