Declaring an Aspect

With @AspectJ support enabled, any bean defined in your application context with a class that is an @AspectJ aspect (has the @Aspect annotation) is automatically detected by Infra and used to configure Infra AOP. The next two examples show the minimal steps required for a not-very-useful aspect.

The first of the two examples shows a regular bean definition in the application context that points to a bean class that is annotated with @Aspect:

public class ApplicationConfiguration {

  @Bean
  public NotVeryUsefulAspect myAspect() {
    NotVeryUsefulAspect myAspect = new NotVeryUsefulAspect();
    // Configure properties of the aspect here
    return myAspect;
  }
}

The second of the two examples shows the NotVeryUsefulAspect class definition, which is annotated with @Aspect:

@Aspect
public class NotVeryUsefulAspect {
}

Aspects (classes annotated with @Aspect) can have methods and fields, the same as any other class. They can also contain pointcut, advice, and introduction (inter-type) declarations.

Autodetecting aspects through component scanning

You can register aspect classes as regular beans in your Infra XML configuration, via @Bean methods in @Configuration classes, or have Infra autodetect them through classpath scanning — the same as any other Infra-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 Infra component scanner).

Advising aspects with other aspects?

In Infra AOP, aspects themselves cannot be the targets of advice from other aspects. The @Aspect annotation on a class marks it as an aspect and, hence, excludes it from auto-proxying.