[aspectj-users] Don't completely understand the preinitialization pointc

[Russell Miles <russellmiles@xxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

Sorry if this has been asked before, I've searched the faq/cookbook/my 
previous stored mailings and I'm getting nowhere in understanding the 
reason for the preinitialization pointcut. Ok, I understand that it 
doesn't pick join points in the constructor execution, and it doesn't 
have a this object initialized similar to the call(* new(..)).

I believe that like the initialization pointcut it checks that a 
constructor is indeed being specified at compile/weave time? So that's 
one advantage over the call(* new(..)) But with the call(* new(..)) I 
can at least take control of the object instantiated (as used before in 
providing test harnesses etc). But I don't have a useful case for when 
I'd use the preinitialization pointcut, apart from the added degree of 
safety perhaps with the check that it is indeed a constructor being 
specified when i don't need to override the constructor at all.

Or is that the best example. When I need to pick join points around a 
classes instantiation, don't need to override anything, don't want to 
weave into the class itself (as would occur with initialization) and 
want to have some compile time checks that I am indeed specifying a 
constructor.

Basically, are my assumptions correct in the first place and does 
anyone else have a better use for preinitialization?

Cheers,

Russ Miles