Ankur Mhatre
86246dc860
configuration-properties/ @ConfigurationProperties vs @Value on Spring Boot 4.1.1. The relaxed-binding matrix is generated by binding each spelling rather than transcribed, and re-checked against real processes -- the in-process probe was wrong twice before it was right. Records the three findings that came out of it: @Value does get relaxed resolution inside Spring Boot (Boot attaches ConfigurationPropertySources), the configuration processor silently stops generating metadata on JDK 23+ when declared as a plain dependency, and @Valid is not what makes nested constraints run. profiles-and-config/ Precedence, profiles, spring.config.import and config trees. /precedence reports every source holding a property in rank order with file and line, which turns "my profile file had no effect" into a two-line answer. Also pins the counterintuitive one: an imported file outranks the file that imported it. spring-aop/ Designators, proxy types, and aspects that do not fire. One advice per supported designator so the reference table is generated from real matches; all fourteen unsupported designators fed to the parser. Two corrections to the reference documentation: unsupported designators throw UnsupportedPointcutPrimitiveException (extends RuntimeException, not IllegalArgumentException), and spring-boot-starter-aop was renamed to spring-boot-starter-aspectj in Boot 4. 19 contract tests across the three modules, 15 captured transcripts, all regenerated by scripts/run-all.sh. Verified on Spring Boot 4.1.1, Spring Framework 7.0.9, JDK 25.0.4.1. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Gip4srpzMwjgoba6uEfbr5
87 lines
3.9 KiB
Markdown
87 lines
3.9 KiB
Markdown
[← What Spring AOP is](01-what-spring-aop-is.md) · [Index](../README.md) · [Proxy types →](03-proxy-types.md)
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# 2. The designator reference
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Generated by [`DesignatorAspect`](../src/main/java/com/ankurm/aop/aspect/DesignatorAspect.java)
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and [`PointcutParserEndpoint`](../src/main/java/com/ankurm/aop/web/PointcutParserEndpoint.java).
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Transcript: [`01-designators.txt`](output/01-designators.txt).
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## Supported
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| Designator | Matches on | Evaluated | Cost |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| `execution(...)` | method signature | statically | cheap |
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| `within(Type)` | the declaring type | statically | cheap |
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| `this(Type)` | the **proxy**'s type | at runtime | per call |
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| `target(Type)` | the **target object**'s type | at runtime | per call |
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| `args(Types)` | argument runtime types; can bind | at runtime | per call |
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| `@target(Ann)` | annotation on the executing object's class | at runtime | per call |
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| `@args(Ann)` | annotation on argument runtime types | at runtime | per call |
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| `@within(Ann)` | annotation on the declaring type | statically | cheap |
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| `@annotation(Ann)` | annotation on the method | statically | cheap |
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| `bean(name)` | Spring bean name, wildcards allowed | — | cheap |
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`bean(...)` is Spring's own; it does not exist in AspectJ.
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The runtime group cannot be decided from the signature alone, so Spring must check on every
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candidate invocation. Prefer the static equivalent where one exists: `@within` instead of
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`@target`, `within` instead of `this`, when the distinction does not matter.
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## What each one actually matched here
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```
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execution (full signature) -> DefaultOrderService.place(..)
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execution (wildcards) -> DefaultOrderService.cancel(..)
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within -> InventoryService.reserve(..)
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this(OrderService) -> place, cancel, interfaceless
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target(DefaultOrderService) -> place, cancel, interfaceless
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args (bound: SKU-1/2) -> DefaultOrderService.place(..)
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@target(Audited) -> DefaultOrderService.cancel(..)
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@args(Trackable) -> DefaultOrderService.interfaceless(..)
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@within(Audited) -> DefaultOrderService.place(..)
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@annotation(Marker) -> DefaultOrderService.place(..)
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bean(inventoryService) -> InventoryService.reserve(..)
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bean(*OrderService) -> place, cancel, interfaceless
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```
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`InventoryService.finalCheck` was called and appears nowhere: it is `final`, so no proxy could
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override it. That is [failure 4](05-broken-aspect-gallery.md).
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## Not supported
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`call`, `get`, `set`, `preinitialization`, `staticinitialization`, `initialization`, `handler`,
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`adviceexecution`, `withincode`, `cflow`, `cflowbelow`, `if`, `@this`, `@withincode`.
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All fourteen were fed to the parser. All fourteen were rejected, with:
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```
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org.aspectj.weaver.tools.UnsupportedPointcutPrimitiveException
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Pointcut expression 'call(* ...place(..))' contains unsupported pointcut primitive 'call'
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```
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**The reference documentation says these throw `IllegalArgumentException`. They do not.**
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`UnsupportedPointcutPrimitiveException extends RuntimeException` directly — checked with
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`javap`, pinned by `AopContractTests.unsupportedDesignatorExceptionType`. A
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`catch (IllegalArgumentException)` will not catch it.
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## When the failure happens
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`setExpression(...)` only stores the string. The expression is not parsed or validated until
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something asks it to match. An unsupported designator therefore fails at the first candidate
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invocation, not at startup — so a rarely-exercised aspect can ship broken.
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## Combining and naming
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`&&`, `||` and `!` compose designators. Name the result rather than repeating it:
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```java
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@Pointcut("within(com.ankurm.aop.service..*)")
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public void inServiceLayer() {}
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@Before("this(OrderService) && inServiceLayer()")
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public void advice(JoinPoint jp) { }
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```
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A named pointcut is referenced by its method name and is the single biggest readability win
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available here.
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