Declarative aspects and aspect containers for application development

Abstract

An aspect container being operable to generate an instance of itself at run time is provided. The aspect container comprises logic operable to create an instance of the aspect container by reading configuration information specifying a sequence of one or more aspects from an aspect container configuration file corresponding to the aspect container. The logic is also operable to generate instances of the aspects in the sequence, configure each aspect instance with its configuration information from an aspect configuration file corresponding to the aspect, and chain the aspect instances according to the specified sequence, such that the chain of aspect instances preamble and postamble activities of a class or method.

1 . A computer-readable storage medium whose contents cause a computing device to create an aspect container, by performing a method comprising: 
 reading configuration information from a configuration file corresponding to an aspect container, the configuration information specifying a sequence of one or more aspects, wherein the aspect container is a unit of aspect deployment, and wherein the aspect is functional areas that apply uniformly across a variety of usage instances;    for each aspect in the sequence: 
 creating an instance of each aspect in the aspect container;  
 configuring the instance of each aspect with details from its respective configuration file; and  
 sequencing the instances of the aspects together in sequence,  
 wherein a last aspect in the sequence of aspects is operable to call a method, and each aspect in the sequence of aspects is exercised in sequence before the call to the method, and each aspect in the sequence of aspects is exercised in reverse sequence after the call to the method.  
   
   
   
       2 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the configuration file is an XML file.  
   
   
       3 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the aspect container contains logic to read its corresponding configuration file and to create instances of the sequence of aspects.  
   
   
       4 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the aspect container is operable to be deployed at a class level, such that the aspect container governs all exposed methods in the class.  
   
   
       5 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the aspect container is operable to be deployed at a method level, such that the aspect container governs the method.  
   
   
       6 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the aspect container is attached to a sender.  
   
   
       7 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the aspect container is attached to a receiver.  
   
   
       8 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the aspect container is declared as attributes in an application.  
   
   
       9 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 1  further comprising contents that cause the computing device to create the aspect container, by performing a method comprising caching the aspect container in memory.  
   
   
       10 . A computer-implemented method for populating an instance of an aspect container, the method comprising: 
 responsive to being initially invoked, creating an instance of an aspect container, reading in configuration information specifying a sequence of one or more aspects from a configuration file corresponding to the aspect container, and populating the instance of the aspect container according to the configuration information by: 
 creating instances of the aspects in the sequence of aspects;  
 configuring each aspect instance with its particular details; and  
 chaining each aspect instance together,  
 wherein each aspect instance in the sequence of aspects has a chance to exercise itself in sequence before the call to the method, and each aspect instance in the sequence of aspects has a chance to exercise itself in reverse sequence after the call to the method.  
   
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the configuration file is an XML file.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the particular details for each aspect instance is read from a configuration file corresponding to the aspect.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the aspect is an auditing function.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the aspect is an instrumentation function.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the aspect is a security function.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the aspect is a caching function.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the aspect is an exception handling function.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the aspect is a validation function.  
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the aspect is a function that applies uniformly across a variety of usage instances.  
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein an aspect instance at the end of the claim is operable to call a method, and each aspect instance in the chain has a chance to exercise itself in sequence before the call to the method, and each aspect instance in the chain has a chance to exercise itself in reverse sequence after the call to the method.  
   
   
       21 . One or more computer memories collectively containing a graphical user interface for configuring an aspect container, the user interface comprising a first window being operable to display aspects and aspect containers in an expandable tree structure, 
 wherein an aspect or multiple aspects presently outside an aspect container can be selected and dragged into the aspect container thus adding the selected aspects to the aspect container in a desired sequence, and an aspect or multiple aspects presently inside an aspect container can be dragged out of the aspect container thus removing the selected aspects from the aspect container.    
   
   
       22 . The computer memories of  claim 20 , wherein the user interface further comprises a second window being operable to display configuration information corresponding to a presently selected aspect or aspect container in the first window.  
   
   
       23 . The computer memories of  claim 21 , wherein the second window being also operable to receive modifications to the configuration information.  
   
   
       24 . An aspect container comprising logic operable to create an instance of the aspect container, operable to read configuration information specifying a sequence of one or more aspects from an aspect container configuration file corresponding to the aspect container, operable to generate an instance of each aspect in the sequence in the aspect container instance, operable to configure each aspect instance with its configuration information from an aspect configuration file corresponding to the aspect, and operable to chain the aspect instances according to the specified sequence, 
 wherein the chain of aspect instances preamble and postamble activities of a class or method.    
   
   
       25 . The aspect container of  claim 24 , wherein the aspect container configuration file has a same name as the aspect container.  
   
   
       26 . The aspect container of  claim 24 , wherein the aspect container configuration file is an XML file.  
   
   
       27 . The aspect container of  claim 24 , wherein the aspect configuration file is an XML file.  
   
   
       28 . The aspect container of  claim 24 , wherein the aspect container instance is operable to be deployed at a class level, such that the aspect container governs all exposed methods in the class.  
   
   
       29 . The aspect container of  claim 24 , wherein the aspect container instance is operable to be deployed at a method level, such that the aspect container governs the method.  
   
   
       30 . The aspect container of  claim 24 , wherein the aspect container instance is attached to a sender.  
   
   
       31 . The aspect container of  claim 24 , wherein the aspect container instance is attached to a receiver.  
   
   
       32 . The aspect container of  claim 24 , wherein the aspect container is declared as attributes in an application.  
   
   
       33 . The aspect container of  claim 24 , wherein the logic is further operable to cache the aspect container instance in memory.  
   
   
       34 . The aspect container of  claim 24 , wherein the aspect container is configurable subsequent to deployment within an application.  
   
   
       35 . The aspect container of  claim 24 , wherein the aspect container is configurable via a graphical user interface.  
   
   
       36 . The aspect container of  claim 24 , wherein the chain of aspect instances preamble and postamble activities of a class or method.