Aspect weaving process in Aspect Faces is driven by model configuration and current context. The model comprises of fields, their names and data types but also of annotations which are bound to class or fields. These annotations are processed by AF core and passed to referred AnnotationDescriptors which read them and set variables in Aspect Faces and JavaServer Faces contexts. Those variables then may be used in widget templates and profile mappings to declare decision rules.

Model Example

Let's look at typical entity model example enhanced by additional UI and business logic annotations to ensure proper UI rendering.

Entity Example

#!java


package com.codingcrayons.aspectfaces.tutorial.model;

import com.codingcrayons.aspectfaces.annotations.UiOrder;
import org.hibernate.validator.constraints.Email;
import org.hibernate.validator.constraints.Length;
import org.hibernate.validator.constraints.NotBlank;

import javax.validation.constraints.Max;
import javax.validation.constraints.Min;
import javax.validation.constraints.NotNull;

/** <p>Tasks to do with a responsible person.</p> */
public class Task {

    private Long identifier;

    private String name;

    private String responsible;

    private String email;

    private Integer priority;

    private Boolean done;

    public Long getIdentifier() { return identifier; }

    public void setIdentifier(Long identifier) { this.identifier = identifier; }

    @NotBlank
    @UiOrder(3)
    @Length(min = 6)
    public String getName() { return name; }

    public void setName(String name) { this.name = name; }

    @NotBlank
    @UiOrder(4)
    @Length(min = 6)
    public String getResponsible() { return responsible; }

    public void setResponsible(String responsible) { this.responsible = responsible; }

    @NotNull
    @UiOrder(1)
    public Boolean getDone() { return done; }

    public void setDone(Boolean done) { this.done = done; }

    @Email
    @NotBlank
    @UiOrder(5)
    public String getEmail() { return email; }

    public void setEmail(String email) { this.email = email; }

    @Min(1)
    @Max(5)
    @NotNull
    @UiOrder(2)
    public Integer getPriority() { return priority; }

    public void setPriority(Integer priority) { this.priority = priority; }
}

AnnotationDescriptors

All used annotations are then scanned by related AnnotationDescriptor and the JSF context is configured according to this information. List of all registered AnnotationDescriptor classes is in /WEB-INF/aspectfaces-config.xml file and you are free to remove existing or add your own. A custom descriptor may look as follows:

Custom AnnotationDescriptor

#!java

public class LengthAnnotationDescriptor implements AnnotationDescriptor, VariableJoinPoint {

    @Override
    public String getAnnotationName() {
        return "org.hibernate.validator.constraints.Length";
    }

    @Override
    public List<Variable> getVariables(AnnotationProvider annotationProvider) {
        List<Variable> variables = new ArrayList<Variable>();
        variables.add(new Variable("minLength", annotationProvider.getValue("min")));
        variables.add(new Variable("maxLength", annotationProvider.getValue("max")));
        return variables;
    }
}

As you can see, the annotation is passed to the descriptor and it produces a list of variables to be set into JSF context. Here they are variables minLength and maxLength. Besides that you can define and use your own annotations, the only thing you need to do is to write your own AnnotationDescriptor.

Aspect Faces Default AnnotationDescriptors

By default. Aspect Faces supports a bunch of annotations mostly from Java Persistence API (JPA), Javax Validation API and Hibernate Validator. Besides that, it defines a lot of its own annotations and here follows the list of them.

Global

Annotation	Published Variables	Notes
AF core	entityBean	Name of inspected class
AF core	className	Simple name of inspected class
AF core	ClassName	Simple name of inspected class (first upper)
AF core	fullClassName	Name of inspected class
AF core	FullClassName	Name of inspected class (first upper)
AF core	fieldName	Property name
AF core	FieldName	Property name (first upper)
AF core	dataType	Property type
AF core	DataType	Property type (first upper)
AF core	instance	instanceVariablePrefix (i) and entity name
AF core	value	Instance.field
AF core	fragment	Fragment name (applies to header and footer)
AF core	label	Human readable property name (the first field name letter as upperCase, next upperCases separated with space)

org.hibernate.validator

Annotation	Published Variables	Notes
@Email	email	Boolean indicating that the value is supposed to be an email.
@Length	minLength, maxLength
@Max	max
@Min	min
@NotNull	required, notNull
@Future	future	Boolean indicating that the date is meant to be in future.
@Past	past	Boolean indicating that the date is meant to be in past.
@Pattern	javaPattern, javaPatternFlags
@Range	min, max

org.hibernate.validator.constraints

Annotation	Published Variables	Notes
@ConstraintComposition	compositionType
@CreditCardNumber	creditCardNumber
@Email	email
@Length	minLength, maxLength
@NotBlank	required, notBlank
@NotEmpty	required, notEmpty
@Range	min, max
@SafeHtml	safeHtml,whitelistType, additionalTags
@ScriptAssert	scriptAssert, lang, script, alias
@URL	url, protocol, host, port, regexp, flags

javax.validation.constraints

Annotation	Published Variables	Notes
@DecimalMax	max
@DecimalMin	min
@Digits	digitsize, digitfraction
@Future	future
@Max	max
@Min	min
@NotNull	required, notNull
@Past	past
@Pattern	pattern
@Size	min, max

javax.persistence

Annotation	Published Variables	Notes
@Column	notNull, required, maxLength, unique, precision, scale	{}
@JoinColumn	notNull, required, unique
@Temporal	temporal, temporalType

org.jboss.seam.annotations.security

Annotation	Published Variables	Notes
@Restrict	value

com.codingcrayons.jformbuilder.annotations

Annotation	Published Variables	Notes
@UiAfter	after
@UiBefore	before
@UiCollection	collection
@UiFormOrder
@UiFormProfiles
@UiFormUserRoles
@UiHtml	html
@UiLabel	label
@UiLink	link
@UiOrder
@UiParam	name,value,type
@UiParams	UiParam[]
@UiPassword	password
@UiPattern	pattern
@UiProfiles
@UiRequired	required
@UiRestrict	value
@UiSize	size
@UiTableOrder
@UiTableProfiles
@UiTableUserRoles
@UiText	text,cols,rows
@UiType	type
@UiUserRoles

Wiki

AspectFaces / 7.Model-Annotations

Model Example

AnnotationDescriptors

Aspect Faces Default AnnotationDescriptors