[aspectj-dev] Use of non-statically resolvable pointcut designators in d

[Andrew Clement <CLEMAS@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I'm looking at a bug on this - and
I noticed someone else mailed 
the list on a similar topic earlier
today.

Eric Bodden reported a problem with
using if() in a declare 
warning/error message.  This was
a ClassCastException - which of
course I'll fix - but it made me think
more about what our 
position is on allowing users to use
pointcuts that can't
be wholely resolved at compile time
with the declare error/warning
mechanism.

At the moment, if a pointcut cannot
be entirely statically
evaluated then it will behave as if
it has matched and the error
or warning message will be produced.
 I don't think this is 
quite what we want.

However, it is not clear whether we
should be flagging an 
error if any of the designators that
exhibit this behavior 
are used against declare error/warning
or if we should be 
flagging an error/warning if it just
the case that the entire 
pointcut cannot be completely resolved
statically.  There are 
some designators that *could* lead
to runtime tests but might 
not if there is enough static info
around.  For example 
target()/this() may or may not create
an instanceof test for 
execution at runtime depending on what
the compiler can 
determine statically. 

So, we have the options:

Error/Warning if we see a declare error/warning
statement whose
pointcut uses any of the designators
that *might*
lead to dynamic residue.

Error/Warning if we see a declare error/warning
statement whose
pointcut cannot be completely statically
evaluated.

Any comments?
Andy.
---
Andy Clement
AJDT/AspectJ Development