Pointcut annotation vs Final String

Question

So I'm studying tutorial on Spring AOP and when the concept of pointcut annotations was explained I thought "why not use final private String?". I've looked up but didn't find anything that might explain why use the overhead of pointcut?

with pointcut:

@Before("pointcutMethod()")
public void loggingAdvice(){
    System.out.println("loggin advice");
}

@Before("pointcutMethod()")
public void loggingAdviceTwo(){
    System.out.println("loggin advice2");
}

@Before("pointcutMethod() || secondPointcutMethod()")
public void loggingAdviceTree(){
    System.out.println("loggin advice3");
}

@Pointcut("execution(public * get*())")
public void pointcutMethod(){}

 @Pointcut("within(shapes.Circle)")
public void secondPointcutMethod(){}

and with private final String:

private static final String EXECUTION_PUBLIC_GET = "execution(public * get*())";
private static final String WITHIN_SHAPES_CIRCLE = "within(shapes.Circle)";
private static final String OR = " || ";

@Before(EXECUTION_PUBLIC_GET)
public void loggingAdvice(){
    System.out.println("loggin advice");
}


@Before(EXECUTION_PUBLIC_GET)
public void loggingAdviceTwo(){
    System.out.println("loggin advice2");
}

@Before(EXECUTION_PUBLIC_GET + OR + WITHIN_SHAPES_CIRCLE)
public void loggingAdviceTree(){
    System.out.println("loggin advice3");

edit: I was pointed at fact that there is xml-based configuration with AOP, so I edited the question to address only annotation of pointcut.

It's a question of style and brevity. Use constants if you prefer them. — Boris Pavlović, Mar 07 '16 at 07:53
Question is a bit unclear. Is it about using String constants instead of literals, or about using `@Pointcut` vs just `@Before`? — Thilo, Mar 07 '16 at 07:54
shmosel, using method instead of defining constant is not overhead? — Andrii Plotnikov, Mar 07 '16 at 08:11
Thilo, @ Pointcut vs private final String. And Boris Pavlovich has (probably) answered the question. ps: I still don't understand the need to invent the wheel with @ Pointcut if final Strings exist. — Andrii Plotnikov, Mar 07 '16 at 08:35
I was pointed at fact that there is xml-based configuration with AOP, so I edited the question to address only annotation of pointcut. — Andrii Plotnikov, Mar 08 '16 at 18:13

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 05 '16 at 09:28

The usage of pointcuts add a level of abstraction/redirection between the advice and the actual join points, improving scalability and separation of concerns:

In case of refactoring of your program, only the pointcuts need to be adapted, not every advices.
Pointcuts and advices can be defined separately (for example, the maintainer of a library can provide some pointcuts to the actual user of the library).
Composition (combination) of pointcuts allows to keep things clear (in your example, you could have defined a @Pointcut("pointcutMethod() || secondPointcutMethod()") ).

More details and examples can be found directly in the spring documentation: http://docs.spring.io/spring/docs/current/spring-framework-reference/html/aop.html#aop-pointcuts

But as said by Boris Pavlović, it is a matter of style, and you should use what is the most convenient to you.

One question... (sry for replying so late) pointcutMethod() or secondPointcutMethod() are custom String methods defined in the same class itself? Or they have to be the pointcuts themselves? — Dhruv Singhal, Jul 26 '18 at 13:25

Pointcut annotation vs Final String

1 Answers1