title: Why does my @Before annotation not work in Spring app?
body: <p>I'm training <code>Spring</code>. My app is not perfect but it's not a case of my problem.
  I have an <code>Aspect</code> which has to be executed before <code>save()</code> method in book Dao. But when I start JUnit tests in debug mode, first line of Aspect's  <code>before</code> method (<code>checkNotNullId()</code>) is never reached, and I get an <code>AssertionError</code> in my test as it reaches <code>fail()</code> method. Why is that so? Here is my JUnit class, Aspect class, and class <code>@Before</code> is pointing at:</p>
  
  <p>BookDaoAdvisor</p>
  
  <pre><code>import org.aspectj.lang.JoinPoint;
  import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
  import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Before;
  import org.springframework.aop.MethodBeforeAdvice;
  import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
  import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
  
  import pl.spring.demo.annotation.NullableId;
  import pl.spring.demo.common.Sequence;
  import pl.spring.demo.dao.AbstractDao;
  import pl.spring.demo.exception.BookNotNullIdException;
  import pl.spring.demo.to.IdAware;
  
  import java.lang.reflect.Method;
  
  @Aspect
  public class BookDaoAdvisor {
  
  @Autowired
  private Sequence sequence;
  private AbstractDao&lt;? extends IdAware&gt; objects;
  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
  @Before("execution(* pl.spring.demo.dao.impl.BookDaoImpl.save(..))")
  public void before(JoinPoint joinPoint, NullableId nullableId) throws BookNotNullIdException {
      checkNotNullId(joinPoint.getArgs()[0]);
      if (joinPoint.getThis() instanceof AbstractDao){
          objects = (AbstractDao&lt;? extends IdAware&gt;)joinPoint.getThis();
          setNextId(joinPoint.getArgs()[0]);
      }
  }
  
  private void checkNotNullId(Object o){
      if (o instanceof IdAware &amp;&amp; ((IdAware) o).getId() != null) {
          throw new BookNotNullIdException();
      }
  }
  private void setNextId(Object o){
      if (o instanceof IdAware){
          ((IdAware) o).setId(sequence.nextValue(objects.findAll()));
      }
  }
  
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>BookDaoImpl</p>
  
  <pre><code>package pl.spring.demo.dao.impl;
  
  import pl.spring.demo.annotation.NullableId;
  import pl.spring.demo.common.Sequence;
  import pl.spring.demo.dao.BookDao;
  import pl.spring.demo.exception.BookNotNullIdException;
  import pl.spring.demo.mapper.BookEntityBookToMapper;
  import pl.spring.demo.to.AuthorTo;
  import pl.spring.demo.to.BookEntity;
  import pl.spring.demo.to.BookTo;
  
  import java.util.ArrayList;
  import java.util.HashSet;
  import java.util.List;
  import java.util.Set;
  
  import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
  import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
  import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
  
  @Service
  public class BookDaoImpl implements BookDao {
  
  private final Set&lt;BookEntity&gt; ALL_BOOKS = new HashSet&lt;&gt;();
  @Autowired
  private Sequence sequence;
  @Autowired
  private BookEntityBookToMapper bookMapper;
  
  public BookDaoImpl() {
      addTestBooks();
  }
  
  @Override
  public List&lt;BookTo&gt; findAll() {
      List&lt;BookTo&gt; books = new ArrayList&lt;BookTo&gt;();
      for (BookEntity book: ALL_BOOKS) {
          books.add(bookMapper.mapBookEntityToBookTo(book));
      }
      return books;
  }
  
  @Override
  public List&lt;BookTo&gt; findBookByTitle(String title) {
      method code...
  }
  
  @Override
  public List&lt;BookTo&gt; findBooksByAuthor(String authorName) {
      method code...
  }
  
  @Override
  @NullableId
  public BookTo save(BookTo book) throws BookNotNullIdException {
      ALL_BOOKS.add(bookMapper.mapBookToToBookEntity(book));
      return book;
  }
  
  public void setSequence(Sequence sequence) {
      this.sequence = sequence;
  }
  
  private void addTestBooks() {
      ALL_BOOKS.add(new BookEntity(1L, "book1", "author1"));
      ALL_BOOKS.add(new BookEntity(2L, "book2", "author2"));
      ALL_BOOKS.add(new BookEntity(3L, "book3", "author3"));
      ALL_BOOKS.add(new BookEntity(4L, "book4", "author4"));
      ALL_BOOKS.add(new BookEntity(5L, "book5", "author5"));
      ALL_BOOKS.add(new BookEntity(6L, "book6", "author6"));
  }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>JUnit</p>
  
  <pre><code>package pl.spring.demo.service;
  
  import org.junit.Before;
  import org.junit.Ignore;
  import org.junit.Test;
  import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
  import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
  import org.springframework.cache.CacheManager;
  import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
  import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
  import pl.spring.demo.exception.BookNotNullIdException;
  import pl.spring.demo.to.BookTo;
  
  import java.util.List;
  
  import static org.junit.Assert.*;
  
  @RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
  @ContextConfiguration(locations = "CommonServiceTest-context.xml")
  public class BookServiceImplTest {
  
  @Autowired
  private BookService bookService;
  @Autowired
  private CacheManager cacheManager;
  
  @Before
  public void setUp() {
      cacheManager.getCache("booksCache").clear();
  }
  
  @Test(expected = BookNotNullIdException.class)
  public void testShouldThrowBookNotNullIdException() {
      // given
      final BookTo bookToSave = new BookTo();
      bookToSave.setId(22L);
      // when
      bookService.saveBook(bookToSave);
      // then
      fail("test should throw BookNotNullIdException");
  }
  }
  
  bookService.saveBook()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>returns</p>
  
  <pre><code>bookDao.save()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>which is interface method implemented by BookDaoImpl class. </p>
  
  <p>my error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>java.lang.Exception: Unexpected exception, expected&lt;pl.spring.demo.exception.BookNotNullIdException&gt; but was&lt;java.lang.AssertionError&gt;
  at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.ExpectException.evaluate(ExpectException.java:28)
  at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.RunBefores.evaluate(RunBefores.java:26)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestMethodCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestMethodCallbacks.java:73)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestMethodCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestMethodCallbacks.java:82)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.SpringRepeat.evaluate(SpringRepeat.java:73)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runLeaf(ParentRunner.java:325)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:224)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:83)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:290)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:71)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:288)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:58)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:268)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.java:61)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.java:68)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:363)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.run(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:163)
  at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit4.runner.JUnit4TestReference.run(JUnit4TestReference.java:86)
  at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38)
  at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:459)
  at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:675)
  at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:382)
  at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:192)
  
  Caused by: java.lang.AssertionError: test should throw BookNotNullIdException
  at org.junit.Assert.fail(Assert.java:88)
  at pl.spring.demo.service.BookServiceImplTest.testShouldThrowBookNotNullIdException(BookServiceImplTest.java:63)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
  at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
  at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod$1.runReflectiveCall(FrameworkMethod.java:50)
  at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
  at org.junit.runners.model.FrameworkMethod.invokeExplosively(FrameworkMethod.java:47)
  at org.junit.internal.runners.statements.InvokeMethod.evaluate(InvokeMethod.java:17)
  at     org.junit.internal.runners.statements.ExpectException.evaluate(ExpectException.java:19)
  ... 22 more
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>XML:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt;
  &lt;beans xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans 
  http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd                   http://www.springframework.org/schema/util http://www.springframework.org/schema/util/spring-util.xsd http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop.xsd http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context.xsd" 
  xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context" 
  xmlns:aop="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop"     xmlns:util="http://www.springframework.org/schema/util" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"&gt;
  
  &lt;import resource="cache-context.xml" /&gt;
  &lt;context:annotation-config/&gt;
  &lt;aop:aspectj-autoproxy/&gt;
  &lt;context:component-scan base-package="pl.spring.demo"&gt;&lt;/context:component-scan&gt;
  &lt;util:properties location="classpath:config/application.properties" id="applicationProperties"/&gt;
  &lt;bean id="bookService" class="pl.spring.demo.service.impl.BookServiceImpl"/&gt;
  &lt;bean id="bookDaoAdvisor" class="pl.spring.demo.aop.BookDaoAdvisor"/&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p></p>
  
  <p>And Exception after adding BookDaoAdvisor to XML:</p>
  
  <pre><code>java.lang.IllegalStateException: Failed to load ApplicationContext
  at org.springframework.test.context.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContext(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:94)
  at org.springframework.test.context.DefaultTestContext.getApplicationContext(DefaultTestContext.java:72)
  at org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.injectDependencies(DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.java:117)
  at org.springframework.test.context.support.DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.prepareTestInstance(DependencyInjectionTestExecutionListener.java:83)
  at org.springframework.test.context.TestContextManager.prepareTestInstance(TestContextManager.java:212)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.createTest(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:200)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner$1.runReflectiveCall(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:259)
  at org.junit.internal.runners.model.ReflectiveCallable.run(ReflectiveCallable.java:12)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.methodBlock(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:261)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:219)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.runChild(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:83)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$3.run(ParentRunner.java:290)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$1.schedule(ParentRunner.java:71)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.runChildren(ParentRunner.java:288)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.access$000(ParentRunner.java:58)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner$2.evaluate(ParentRunner.java:268)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunBeforeTestClassCallbacks.java:61)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.statements.RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.evaluate(RunAfterTestClassCallbacks.java:68)
  at org.junit.runners.ParentRunner.run(ParentRunner.java:363)
  at org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.run(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.java:163)
  at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit4.runner.JUnit4TestReference.run(JUnit4TestReference.java:86)
  at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.TestExecution.run(TestExecution.java:38)
  at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:459)
  at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.runTests(RemoteTestRunner.java:675)
  at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.run(RemoteTestRunner.java:382)
  at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.junit.runner.RemoteTestRunner.main(RemoteTestRunner.java:192)
  
  Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.cache.annotation.AnnotationCacheOperationSource#0': Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.cache.config.internalCacheAdvisor': Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: error at ::0 formal unbound in pointcut 
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:547)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:476)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:303)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:230)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:299)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:194)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:755)
  at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:757)
  at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:480)
  at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:125)
  at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractGenericContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractGenericContextLoader.java:60)
  at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.delegateLoading(AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.java:109)
  at org.springframework.test.context.support.AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.loadContext(AbstractDelegatingSmartContextLoader.java:261)
  at org.springframework.test.context.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContextInternal(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:68)
  at org.springframework.test.context.DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.loadContext(DefaultCacheAwareContextLoaderDelegate.java:86)
  ... 25 more
  
  Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.cache.config.internalCacheAdvisor': Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: error at ::0 formal unbound in pointcut 
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:547)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:476)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:303)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:230)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:299)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:199)
  at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.BeanFactoryAdvisorRetrievalHelper.findAdvisorBeans(BeanFactoryAdvisorRetrievalHelper.java:92)
  at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.findCandidateAdvisors(AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:101)
  at org.springframework.aop.aspectj.annotation.AnnotationAwareAspectJAutoProxyCreator.findCandidateAdvisors(AnnotationAwareAspectJAutoProxyCreator.java:85)
  at org.springframework.aop.aspectj.autoproxy.AspectJAwareAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.shouldSkip(AspectJAwareAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:103)
  at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAutoProxyCreator.wrapIfNecessary(AbstractAutoProxyCreator.java:324)
  at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAutoProxyCreator.postProcessAfterInitialization(AbstractAutoProxyCreator.java:293)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyBeanPostProcessorsAfterInitialization(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:422)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1579)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:539)
  ... 39 more
  
  Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: error at ::0 formal unbound in pointcut 
  at org.aspectj.weaver.tools.PointcutParser.parsePointcutExpression(PointcutParser.java:301)
  at org.springframework.aop.aspectj.AspectJExpressionPointcut.buildPointcutExpression(AspectJExpressionPointcut.java:206)
  at org.springframework.aop.aspectj.AspectJExpressionPointcut.checkReadyToMatch(AspectJExpressionPointcut.java:192)
  at org.springframework.aop.aspectj.AspectJExpressionPointcut.getClassFilter(AspectJExpressionPointcut.java:169)
  at org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils.canApply(AopUtils.java:208)
  at org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils.canApply(AopUtils.java:262)
  at org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils.findAdvisorsThatCanApply(AopUtils.java:294)
  at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.findAdvisorsThatCanApply(AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:118)
  at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.findEligibleAdvisors(AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:88)
  at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.getAdvicesAndAdvisorsForBean(AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:69)
  at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAutoProxyCreator.wrapIfNecessary(AbstractAutoProxyCreator.java:330)
  at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAutoProxyCreator.getEarlyBeanReference(AbstractAutoProxyCreator.java:232)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.getEarlyBeanReference(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:819)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory$2.getObject(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:529)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:192)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:173)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:240)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:194)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveReference(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:351)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveValueIfNecessary(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:108)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyPropertyValues(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1477)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.populateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1222)
  at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:537)
  ... 53 more
  </code></pre>