How to define point cuts for a sequence of method(s)? - aop

Question

For example if I have 3 classes,
class A {
public void doA() {
/* do something */
}
}
class B {
public void doB() {
A a = new A();
a.doA();
}
}
class MyClass {
public static void main(String args[]) {
B b = new B();
b.doB();
}
}
Now I want to define a point cut for flow doB() -> doA(), like if doB() calls doA() grab parameters from class A and class B and do something in aspect method. Could someone help me out.

Answer 1

Let me slightly extend your sample code in order to make you understand what my solution does and what it cannot do:
class A {
public void doA() {}
}
class B {
public void doB() {
new A().doA();
new C().doC();
}
}
class C {
public void doC() {
new A().doA();
}
}
class MyClass {
public static void main(String args[]) {
new A().doA(); // should not be captured
new B().doB(); // should be captured
}
}
As you can see, there is a new class C now and we have three control flows now:
MyClass.main -> A.doA
MyClass.main -> B.doB -> A.doA
MyClass.main -> B.doB -> C.doC -> A.doA
You want to exclude #1 and capture #2, but what about #3? In this case a.doA is called indirectly from B.doB via C.doC. My solution also captures this indirect case. If this is fine for you or it does not happen in your code base, you can use my solution. Otherwise things would get a little more complicated and you would need to inspect the call stack. Tell me if you need to exclude #2, and I will extend my answer, but the solution will not look as simple as this one, I can promise.
Now here is the aspect:
import org.aspectj.lang.JoinPoint;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Before;
#Aspect
public class ControlFlowInterceptor {
#Before("execution(void A.doA()) && target(a) && cflow(execution(void B.doB()) && target(b))")
public void advice(JoinPoint thisJoinPoint, A a, B b) {
System.out.println(thisJoinPoint);
System.out.println(" " + a);
System.out.println(" " + b);
}
}
The console output looks like this:
execution(void A.doA())
A#7b19f779
B#65c66812
execution(void A.doA())
A#4df2868
B#65c66812
Please note that we have the same B object ID in both outputs, but because C.doC creates an new A object, we have two different A object IDs.