This version is still in development and is not considered stable yet. For the latest stable version, please use Spring Framework 6.0.25!

Using @Transactional with AspectJ

You can also use the Spring Framework’s @Transactional support outside of a Spring container by means of an AspectJ aspect. To do so, first annotate your classes (and optionally your classes' methods) with the @Transactional annotation, and then link (weave) your application with the org.springframework.transaction.aspectj.AnnotationTransactionAspect defined in the spring-aspects.jar file. You must also configure the aspect with a transaction manager. You can use the Spring Framework’s IoC container to take care of dependency-injecting the aspect. The simplest way to configure the transaction management aspect is to use the <tx:annotation-driven/> element and specify the mode attribute to aspectj as described in Using @Transactional. Because we focus here on applications that run outside of a Spring container, we show you how to do it programmatically.

Prior to continuing, you may want to read Using @Transactional and AOP respectively.

The following example shows how to create a transaction manager and configure the AnnotationTransactionAspect to use it:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

// construct an appropriate transaction manager
DataSourceTransactionManager txManager = new DataSourceTransactionManager(getDataSource());

// configure the AnnotationTransactionAspect to use it; this must be done before executing any transactional methods
AnnotationTransactionAspect.aspectOf().setTransactionManager(txManager);
// construct an appropriate transaction manager
val txManager = DataSourceTransactionManager(getDataSource())

// configure the AnnotationTransactionAspect to use it; this must be done before executing any transactional methods
AnnotationTransactionAspect.aspectOf().transactionManager = txManager
When you use this aspect, you must annotate the implementation class (or the methods within that class or both), not the interface (if any) that the class implements. AspectJ follows Java’s rule that annotations on interfaces are not inherited.

The @Transactional annotation on a class specifies the default transaction semantics for the execution of any public method in the class.

The @Transactional annotation on a method within the class overrides the default transaction semantics given by the class annotation (if present). You can annotate any method, regardless of visibility.

To weave your applications with the AnnotationTransactionAspect, you must either build your application with AspectJ (see the AspectJ Development Guide) or use load-time weaving. See Load-time weaving with AspectJ in the Spring Framework for a discussion of load-time weaving with AspectJ.