[[miscellaneous]]
= Other Changes in AspectJ 5

[[pointcuts-change]]
== Pointcuts

AspectJ 5 is more liberal than AspectJ 1.2.1 in accepting pointcut
expressions that bind context variables in more than one location. For
example, AspectJ 1.2.1 does not allow:

[source, java]
....
pointcut foo(Foo foo) :
  (execution(* *(..)) && this(foo) ) ||
  (set(* *) && target(foo));
....

whereas this expression is permitted in AspectJ 5. Each context variable
must be bound exactly once in each branch of a disjunction, and the
disjunctive branches must be mutually exclusive. In the above example
for instance, no join point can be both an execution join point and a
set join point so the two branches are mutually exclusive.

[[declare-soft-change]]
== Declare Soft

The semantics of the `declare soft` statement have been refined in
AspectJ 5 to only soften exceptions that are not already runtime
exceptions. If the exception type specified in a declare soft statement
is `RuntimeException` or a subtype of `RuntimeException` then a new
XLint warning will be issued:

[source, java]
....
declare soft : SomeRuntimeException : execution(* *(..));

// "SomeRuntimeException will not be softened as it is already a
// RuntimeException" [XLint:runtimeExceptionNotSoftened]
....

This XLint message can be controlled by setting the
`runtimeExceptionNotSoftened` XLint parameter.

If the exception type specified in a declare soft statement is a super
type of `RuntimeException` (such as `Exception` for example) then any
_checked_ exception thrown at a matched join point, where the exception
is an instance of the softened exception, will be softened to an
`org.aspectj.lang.SoftException`.

[source, java]
....
public aspect SoftenExample {
  declare soft : Exception : execution(* Foo.*(..));
}

class Foo {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Foo foo = new Foo();
    foo.foo();
    foo.bar();
  }

  void foo() throws Exception {
    throw new Exception();        // this will be converted to a SoftException
  }

  void bar() throws Exception {
    throw new RuntimeException();  // this will remain a RuntimeException
  }
}
....