AspectJ in back-end Java thread with POM based weaving

Question

I have a back-end thread, which I created inside start method of JBoss Mbeans:

public interface HScannerServiceMBean {
  public void create();
  public void start();
  public void stop();
  public void destroy();
  public boolean isMasterNode();
  public void startSingleton(); 
  public void stopSingleton();
}

public class HScannerService implements HScannerServiceMBean {
  public void create() {
    log.info("Creating Service.......................................");
  }

  public void start() {
    log.info("Starting Service.......................................");
    TestThread tt;
    try {
      tt = new TestThread(1);
      tt.startThread();
    } catch (NamingException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }
}

public class TestThread implements Runnable {
  private boolean running = false;
  int mThreadName;

  private Thread thread;

  protected TestThread(int pThreadName) throws NamingException {
    mThreadName = pThreadName;
    this.thread = new Thread(this);
    this.thread.setDaemon(true);
    this.thread.setPriority(Thread.MIN_PRIORITY);
  }

  public void startThread() {
    if (!this.running) {
      this.running = true;
      this.thread.start();
    } else {
      log.info("Thread already running");
    }
  }

  public void run() {
    System.out.println("Thread run method");
    throw new NumberFormatException("incorrect number");
  }

  public void terminate() {
    setRunning(false);
  }

  public boolean isRunning() {
    return running;
  }

  public void setRunning(boolean running) {
    this.running = running;
  }
}

I have added AspectJ in the pom.xml:

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.aspectj</groupId>
  <artifactId>aspectjrt</artifactId>
  <version>1.7.4</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>org.aspectj</groupId>
  <artifactId>aspectjweaver</artifactId>
  <version>1.8.9</version>
</dependency>

My aspect class looks like this:

@Aspect
public class ExceptionTranslationAspect {
  @AfterThrowing(pointcut = "execution(* com.ent.service..*(..)) || execution(* com.ent.domain..*(..))", throwing = "ex")
  public void logAfterThrowingExceptionCall(Exception ex) throws Throwable {
    System.out.println("****exception received!");
  }
}

The thread is throwing a simple exception, which should be caught by this aspect and print "****exception received!". But the aspect method is not getting called. My question is, can we use AspectJ with back-end threads? If yes, what is the problem with my code?

I am using JDK 8 and Wildfly 16.

Answer 1

Adding AspectJ libraries to your POM will not activate AspectJ. You either need to use load-time weaving by means of -javaagent:/path/to/aspectweaver.jar or by another means of configuring your agent in WildFly, if there is any. Or you can use compile-time weaving, utilising AspectJ Maven Plugin.

Besides, specifying two conflicting versions of AspectJ in the same POM is not helping either. I recommend to simply use the latest release AspectJ 1.9.20.1.