error Type referred to is not an annotation type: MyAnnotation

Question

I am following the given documentation at Custom Spring AOP Annotation

Following are sources I have written in my project with similar dependencies as mentioned in the article.

Annotation Definition:

package com.sell.annotations;

import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;

@Target(ElementType.METHOD)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public @interface CommitServiceAdvice {}

Aspect definition:

    package com.sell.business.service.aspect;

import org.aspectj.lang.ProceedingJoinPoint;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Around;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
import com.sell.aggregator.MessageFlowAggregator;

@Aspect
@Component
public class CommitServiceAspect {

    private Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(this.getClass());

    @Around(value="@annotation(CommitServiceAdvice)",argNames="mfa")
    public MessageFlowAggregator advice(ProceedingJoinPoint joinPoint,MessageFlowAggregator mfa) throws Throwable {
        log.debug(">>> matching advice on {}",joinPoint);
        mfa= (MessageFlowAggregator) joinPoint.proceed();   
        log.debug("<<< returning advice on {}",joinPoint);
        return mfa;
    }
}

Joint Point:

package com.sell.business.service;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Qualifier;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;

import com.sell.aggregator.MessageFlowAggregator;
import com.sell.annotations.CommitServiceAdvice;
import com.sell.stage.processor.StageProcessor;

@Component("commitService")
public class CommitServiceImpl implements DCSService{

    @Override
    @CommitServiceAdvice
    public Object process(MessageFlowAggregator mfa){

        return null;
    }
}

pom.xml dependencies: parent pom uses: spring-boot-starter-parent version 1.5.2

<dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web-services</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>
        <!--Using Springfox implementation of Swagger API -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>io.springfox</groupId>
            <artifactId>springfox-swagger2</artifactId>
            <version>2.8.0</version>
        </dependency>
        <!-- Swagger UI to make interaction with the Swagger-generated API documentation 
            easier. -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>io.springfox</groupId>
            <artifactId>springfox-swagger-ui</artifactId>
            <version>2.8.0</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
            <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
            <version>3.4</version>
        </dependency>
        <!-- httpclient -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.httpcomponents</groupId>
            <artifactId>httpclient</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.scala-lang</groupId>
            <artifactId>scala-library</artifactId>
            <version>2.11.0</version>
        </dependency>       
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-aop</artifactId>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

Having all this setup done, I am getting the following exception on application startup. Since, I am new to aop am not able to understand the root cause of it. Kindly help me here. Thanks

2018-01-31 17:47:36.416  WARN 15272 --- [           main] ationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext : Exception encountered during context initialization - cancelling refresh attempt: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'objectMapperConfigurer' defined in class path resource [springfox/documentation/spring/web/SpringfoxWebMvcConfiguration.class]: Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: error Type referred to is not an annotation type: CommitServiceAdvice
2018-01-31 17:47:36.432 ERROR 15272 --- [           main] o.s.b.f.s.DefaultListableBeanFactory     : Destroy method on bean with name 'org.springframework.boot.context.properties.ConfigurationPropertiesBindingPostProcessor' threw an exception

java.lang.IllegalStateException: ApplicationEventMulticaster not initialized - call 'refresh' before multicasting events via the context: org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.AnnotationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext@5cdd8682: startup date [Wed Jan 31 17:47:33 IST 2018]; root of context hierarchy
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.getApplicationEventMulticaster(AbstractApplicationContext.java:404) [spring-context-4.3.7.RELEASE.jar:4.3.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.ApplicationListenerDetector.postProcessBeforeDestruction(ApplicationListenerDetector.java:97) ~[spring-context-4.3.7.RELEASE.jar:4.3.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DisposableBeanAdapter.destroy(DisposableBeanAdapter.java:253) ~[spring-beans-4.3.7.RELEASE.jar:4.3.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.destroyBean(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:578) [spring-beans-4.3.7.RELEASE.jar:4.3.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.destroySingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:554) [spring-beans-4.3.7.RELEASE.jar:4.3.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.destroySingleton(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:961) [spring-beans-4.3.7.RELEASE.jar:4.3.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.destroySingletons(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:523) [spring-beans-4.3.7.RELEASE.jar:4.3.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.destroySingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:968) [spring-beans-4.3.7.RELEASE.jar:4.3.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.destroyBeans(AbstractApplicationContext.java:1033) [spring-context-4.3.7.RELEASE.jar:4.3.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:555) [spring-context-4.3.7.RELEASE.jar:4.3.7.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.refresh(EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java:122) [spring-boot-1.5.2.RELEASE.jar:1.5.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refresh(SpringApplication.java:737) [spring-boot-1.5.2.RELEASE.jar:1.5.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.refreshContext(SpringApplication.java:370) [spring-boot-1.5.2.RELEASE.jar:1.5.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:314) [spring-boot-1.5.2.RELEASE.jar:1.5.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1162) [spring-boot-1.5.2.RELEASE.jar:1.5.2.RELEASE]
    at org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication.run(SpringApplication.java:1151) [spring-boot-1.5.2.RELEASE.jar:1.5.2.RELEASE]
    at com.DCSSell_WSApplication.main(DCSSell_WSApplication.java:17) [classes/:na]

Answer 1

Since your aspect and annotation are defined in different packages, you need to use the fully qualified class name of the annotation class when you reference it in your pointcut expression. Also, you want to reference a method argument named mfa, you need to specify it in the pointcut expression. The argNames annotation parameter is only required in case you're compiling without debug info and the argument names for the method representing the advice are not available.

@Around("@annotation(com.sell.annotations.CommitServiceAdvice) && args(mfa)" 
        /*, argNames="mfa"*/)