AspectJ Modules

There are a number of different structures [Parnas]: "the module structure, the uses structure, the runtime structure, .."  This document overviews module structure and summarizes what is hidden by each. For detailed documentation refer to the individual module sources and docs available via CVS.

Core Modules

CVS Location: dev.eclipse.org:/cvsroot/technology/org.aspectj/modules

To set up for building, one need only check out the module directories within the modules/ directory. In Eclipse, check out each module into the the workspace as a project. (Note: module dependencies may change at any time, so this documentation might be out of date. The Eclipse .classpath files specify the module dependencies, even when using Ant to build outside of Eclipse.)

Module	Dependencies	Description
ajbrowser	ajde, asm, bridge, util, taskdefs (pseudo, for build system)	This module contains the ajbrowser application. It depends on the ajde module for access to the aspectj compiler, and also for the swing user interface components that ajde provides.
ajde	asm, bridge, org.aspectj.ajdt.core, org.eclipse.jdt.core, util	Hides the details of accessing the aspectj compiler and interpreting compilation results (error messages, structure model, etc.) from other applications (typically IDEs) that need to invoke it programmatically. Changing any public interface in ajde can break all the IDE integration projects and should be done with care. It also contains a library of common swing user interface components that can be used by any swing based IDE. Ajbrowser and the non-eclipse IDE integration projects use this library (except for the emacs support).
asm	bridge	Contains the Abstract Structure Model, which represents the result of an aspectj compilation. Clients of ajde are returned an instance of the structure model which allows them to navigate and interpret the static structure of an aspectj program.
bridge	util	Contains an interface and implementation of classes realted to compiler messages including: source locations, handling, and formatting.  Intended to minimize dependencies between testing, the compiler, and ajde.
org.aspectj.ajdt.core	asm, bridge, org.eclipse.jdt.core, runtime, testing-util, util, weaver	Front-end of the AspectJ compiler and extension of Eclipse's JDT compiler.  Extends the JDT compiler's parsing and name resolution to understand AspectJ declarations.  Also extends incremental behavior with understanding of AspectJ dependancies.
org.eclipse.jdt.core		The Eclipse JDT compiler, slightly patched for AspectJ and stored in binary form to avoid accidental changes. Sources are available in CVS at dev.eclipse.org:/cvsroot/technology/org.aspectj/shadows.
runtime		Small runtime library required for building and running AspectJ programs.
taskdefs	bridge, org.aspectj.ajdt.core, util	Ant taskdef for the AspectJ compiler/weaver, ajc.
util		Common utility classes including data type, file, and stream manipulation.
weaver	asm, bridge, runtime, testing-util, util	Back-end of the AspectJ compiler, built on top of the BCEL bytecode toolkit.  All advice planning and weaving is done here.  Takes an aspect bytecode format and other Java classfiles as input.

 

Supporting Modules

CVS Location: dev.eclipse.org:/cvsroot/technology/org.aspectj/modules

Module	Description
build	Ant files, scripts, and taskdefs required for building the AspectJ distribution.  Also contains the GUI installer.
docs	Programmer and developer documentation.
lib	Libraries required for building AspectJ.
testing	Test support classes.
testing-client	Client used for running the harness and reporting results.
testing-drivers	Testing harness drivers and support classes.
testing-util	Common testing utility classes used by the unit test suites in the core modules.
tests	AspectJ test suite, including all language tests, regression tests, and test system sources.

Eclipse AspectJ Development Tools (AJDT)

CVS Location: dev.eclipse.org:/cvsroot/technology/org.eclipse.ajdt/plugins/org.eclipse.ajdt

JBuilder Support

CVS Location: cvs.aspectj4jbuildr.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/aspectj4jbuildr

NetBeans Support

CVS Location: cvs.aspectj4netbean.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/aspectj4netbean

Emacs Support

CVS Location: cvs.aspectj4emacs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/aspectj4emacs