[aspectj-users] Type introspection using joinpoints

[Ruben Vermeersch <ruben@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I am currently working on a masters thesis on aspect-oriented middleware
platforms. In these platforms, services are usually composed with the
application, by means of annotations. This makes aspects (and aspectj in
particular, which I have chosen to be my platform to build upon) a
perfect fit for inserting the middleware services into the application.

The grand idea is that I separate each middleware service into an small
module. Upon launching an application, dependency analysis is performed
and the application is combined with exactly its needs, using load-time
weaving. The effect being that the application runs in a just-in-time
created middleware architecture, fit to its needs.

This works fine for some cases, but in others I have found the joinpoint
model lacking, or I am still looking for a good way to handle them.

As an example: Declaring @WebService on a class might imply that this
class is accessible as a SOAP service.

To provide this SOAP endpoint, I have to register this class with the
web stack. This has to occur when starting the application, so I need a
way to match all classes annotated with @WebService and act upon them.

If I understand correctly though, load-time weaving is only performed
when actually loading the class, so there's no way to find these classes
until they are invoked.

Does anyone know a solution to this problem? Is it possible to do type
introspection using joinpoints?

All help appreciated!

Thanks already,
   Ruben Vermeersch


--
Ruben Vermeersch (rubenv)
http://www.savanne.be/