Caching is great for speed, but what happens when your data changes? If you don't update your cache, your users will see old "stale" data. Today, we’re learning how to refresh cache entries using Spring Cache and EhCache.
Why Refreshing Cache is Critical
Imagine a user updates their profile picture, but your website still shows the old one because the old image is stuck in the cache. To fix this, we need to tell Spring to update that specific entry whenever a change happens.
The Solution: @CachePut. Unlike @Cacheable which skips the method, @CachePut always runs the method and updates the cache with the fresh result!
How to Implement Cache Updates
Step 1: Use @CachePut on your update methods.
Step 2: Match the key and value (cache name) to your original @Cacheable method.
Step 3: Watch as Spring automatically replaces the old data with the new return value.
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In Spring Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), Throws Advice is a type of "after advice" that only runs if a method exits by throwing an exception. It is incredibly useful for centralized error handling, logging specific failure details, or even triggering notification systems when something goes wrong in your application.
How to Configure it Using XML
While modern Spring often uses annotations, many enterprise systems still rely on XML configuration. To implement Throws Advice with XML, you define your aspect as a standard bean and then use the section to map it.
Step-by-Step Implementation
The Target Method: Create a service (like an Employee Service) that purposefully throws an exception under certain conditions.
The Aspect Class: Create a Java class with a method designed to catch the exception details.
XML Setup: Use the tag. You specify the pointcut (where the advice applies) and the method in your aspect class that should handle the error.
Why Use Throws Advice?
Instead of cluttering every single method with try-catch blocks, you can define one "Throws Advice" globally. This keeps your business logic clean and ensures that every error is handled or logged in a consistent way across your entire project.
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publicclass EmployeeService { publicString addEmployee() { System.out.println("addEmployee() is called"); String name = null;
name.toLowerCase(); return"Employee Peter information is added successfully"; }
publicvoid modifyEmployee() { System.out.println("modifyEmployee() is called"); }
publicvoid deleteEmployee() { System.out.println("deleteEmployee() is called"); }
Nov 13, 2018 9:38:13 AM org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext prepareRefresh
INFO: Refreshing org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext@32709393: startup date [Tue Nov 13 09:38:13 IST 2018]; root of context hierarchy
Nov 13, 2018 9:38:13 AM org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader loadBeanDefinitions
INFO: Loading XML bean definitions from class path resource [applicationContext.xml]
---------------------------------------
addEmployee() is called
logAfterThrowing() is running!, after addEmployee method throwing exception
exception = java.lang.NullPointerException
******
exception message = null
modifyEmployee() is called
deleteEmployee() is called
In this tutorial, we dive deep into Spring AOP (Aspect Oriented Programming). You will learn how to target specific methods for advice using regular expressions and automate the proxy creation process.
1. The Core Components
To make this work, we use two powerful Spring classes:
RegexpMethodPointcutAdvisor: This allows us to define which methods should be "advised" based on a pattern (regular expression).
DefaultAdvisorAutoProxyCreator: This is the "magic" bean. If it finds any advisor that matches your beans, it automatically creates the necessary proxies so you don't have to do it manually.
2. Defining our Services
In the video, we look at two services: EmployeeService and CustomerService. Both have methods like getName, getAge, and getAddress. Our goal is to apply logic only to the "Age" methods.
3. Setting up the XML Configuration
Inside the Spring configuration file, we set the pattern in our advisor to look for the word "age". This ensures that whether it is getEmployeeAge or getCustomerAge, our AroundAdvice will trigger perfectly.
4. Seeing the Results
When the application runs, you’ll see that the Around Advice is executed for the age-related methods, while the name and address methods run normally without interference. This is the power of clean, automated AOP!
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Oct 30, 2018 9:29:55 AM org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext prepareRefresh
INFO: Refreshing org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext@736e9adb: startup date [Tue Oct 30 09:29:55 IST 2018]; root of context hierarchy
Oct 30, 2018 9:29:55 AM org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader loadBeanDefinitions
INFO: Loading XML bean definitions from class path resource [applicationContext.xml]
---------------------------------------
Get Employee Name
----------------------------------------
AroundAdvice applied before actual method = getEmployeeAge
Get Employee Age
obj = 28
AroundAdvice applied after actual method = getEmployeeAge
----------------------------------------
Get Employee Address
----------------------------------------
Get Customer Name
----------------------------------------
AroundAdvice applied before actual method = getCustomerAge
Get Customer Age
obj = 38
AroundAdvice applied after actual method = getCustomerAge
----------------------------------------
Get Customer Address
Spring AOP: Understanding Advice, Pointcuts, and Advisors
In this tutorial, we take a hands-on look at how to apply specific logic to certain methods in your application without cluttering your business logic. We focus on the NameMatchMethodPointcut to filter exactly where our advice runs.
1. What is a Pointcut?
Think of a Pointcut as a targeting system. It defines where in your code the extra logic (Advice) should be applied. Instead of applying logic to every method in a class, a pointcut helps you pick and choose specific methods.
2. Using NameMatchMethodPointcut
The NameMatchMethodPointcut class is perfect for beginners. It allows you to specify method names directly. For example, if you only want to intercept a method named getEmployeeName, you can simply tell the pointcut to look for that exact name.
3. Bringing it Together with an Advisor
An Advisor is a simple object that groups your Advice (the logic) and your Pointcut (the target) together. In our XML configuration, we link these components so that Spring knows exactly which logic to run for which method.
Why Use This Approach?
Granular Control: You decide exactly which methods are affected.
Separation of Concerns: Your main code stays clean of logging or security logic.
Flexibility: You can change which methods are intercepted just by editing your configuration file.
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Oct 19, 2018 5:22:11 PM org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext prepareRefresh
INFO: Refreshing org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext@6ebc05a6: startup date [Fri Oct 19 17:22:11 IST 2018]; root of context hierarchy
Oct 19, 2018 5:22:11 PM org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader loadBeanDefinitions
INFO: Loading XML bean definitions from class path resource [applicationContext.xml]
---------------------------------------
Get Employee Name
----------------------------------------
AroundAdvice applied before actual method = getEmployeeAge
Get Employee Age