RE: [aspectj-dev] Introducing a method to classes that are in the JRE

[jerry_liu@xxxxxxxxxxx]

What I had wanted to do was be able to annotate instances of Java classes and then act on these instances based on the annotation.  The actual application is too complex to describe, but here's a contrived example which captures the flavor.

Say I have a text processing system where String (java.lang.String) objects were being passed around.  I want to be able to tag the language encoding of the String to the String object.  Since String is final, I can't subclass it, and since all my processing code act on 'String', I can't make a MyString object which wraps a String.

I was hoping to be able to use AspectJ to introduce a 'language' attribute, and associated methods, to the String class, and in effect add this little bit of annotation to the String objects.  Getting around the 'final' keyword, so to speak...

Is there another way to do this with Aspects?

Thanks,

Jerry

> -----Original Message-----
> From: aspectj-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:aspectj-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Wes Isberg
> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 12:39 PM
> To: aspectj-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [aspectj-dev] Introducing a method to classes that are in
> the JRE
> 
> 
> The mechanics of doing something like this are 
> described in the Programmer's Guide discussion of
> inter-type declaration and the Development Environment
> Guide section on the ajc tool -injars option.  Both
> are linked off the AspectJ documentation page.
> 
> But we recommend against modifying Java classes because 
> doing violates the spirit and perhaps the letter of Sun's
> license.  Further, I think it unwise to modify final
> classes, and believe that AspectJ should avoid this
> (perhaps permitting it under the rubric of privilege):
> 
>   https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=47919
> 
> If you can specify the code you'd actually like to
> write and what you're trying to do, then perhaps 
> someone can help you do it another way.
> 
> Wes
> 
> On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 10:56:59 -0800
>  jerry_liu@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > Are there any tips on how I can introduce methods and
> > attributes to a class like java.lang.Integer which is
> > packaged in the Java runtime?  Or pointers to a FAQ if
> > this is a known question.  I'm new to this. :-)
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > 
> > Jerry
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> > aspectj-dev mailing list
> > aspectj-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
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