[aspectj-users] Good practice for Tomcat and webapps.

[Bruno Harbulot <Bruno.Harbulot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

I would like to use AspectJ in a project that uses Tomcat (5.5.15).

It is an application that comprises a Web Service (in Axis), a webpage 
servlet and another webapp (not mapped to any web page) that does core 
background tasks depending on what happens on the webpage or on the 
webservice side (it is a webapp only because it is the only way I found 
to load it when Tomcat is launched.)
To update the webpage when the web service is queried, there is a 
singleton in the 'shared' Tomcat directory. This way, the three webapps 
share this singleton (otherwise they are in different classloader 
environments).

I would like to use an Observer pattern (via an Aspect) to notify the 
core tasks webapp when an event is received on the web service side.

Is there a "good practice" when it comes to using such an aspect across 
several web applications, in Tomcat? (I suppose it might be linked to 
the question of weaving into several Eclipse projects, that was 
discussed on this list in mid-January.)

Is load-time weaving necessary? (Would it be necessary for making this 
work with JSP too?)

I am looking for a design simple enough so that I can show it to someone 
who has never done any AOP at all. I have got full control of the Tomcat 
server (generating deployable 'war' files is not really important).

Thanks,

Bruno.