[aspectj-users] Defining pointcuts or aspects within a normal java class

[Piers <piers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi

I am a total newbie to AspectJ, so apologies in advance if this  
question is stupid.

Quick question - Is either of the above possible and how?

If more explanation is required then read on -

I want to create an aspect for unit testing that can be used to  
replace method call return values with mock objects. I can do this  
already but I have to define the mocks, pointcuts and advice in an  
aspect and define separate pointcuts and advice for each object I  
want to replace. The downside is that looking at the test function it  
is not clear what is going on and I am defining a lot of around  
advice which essentially all does the same thing -(return a mock for  
a given pointcut).  I was thinking that maybe it would be possible to  
make a method call within the test class, having for parameters a  
list of mock objects and a list of pointcuts, which is intercepted by  
an aspect that exposes the pointcuts and objects and can then use  
around advice on the specified pointcuts to replace the return values  
of those calls with the mock objects.

Or I would like to define an aspect within my test class so that it  
can have access to all the mock objects used.

Thanks

Piers