I am working my way through Spring in Action 3 and there is an

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Editorial Team

Asked: May 17, 20262026-05-17T15:53:22+00:00 2026-05-17T15:53:22+00:00

I am working my way through Spring in Action 3 and there is an

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I am working my way through Spring in Action 3 and there is an example in there of using AOP with the around aspect.

This is the Aspect class:

package com.xetius.springIdol;

import org.aspectj.lang.ProceedingJoinPoint;

public class Audience {

public void watchPerformance(ProceedingJoinPoint joinpoint) {
    try {
        System.out.println("The audience is taking their seats.");
        System.out.println("The audience is turning off their cell phones.");   
        long start = System.currentTimeMillis();

    joinpoint.proceed();

        long end = System.currentTimeMillis();  
        System.out.println("CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP");
        System.out.println("The performance took " + (end - start) + " milliseconds.");
    } catch (Throwable e) {
        System.out.println("Boo! We want our money back!");
    }
}

and here is the spring xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:util="http://www.springframework.org/schema/util"
    xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
    xmlns:aop="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-3.0.xsd
        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-2.0.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context.xsd">

    <bean id="audience" class="com.xetius.springIdol.Audience" />

    <aop:config>
        <aop:aspect ref="audience">
            <aop:pointcut id="performance2" expression="execution(* com.xetius.springIdol.Performer.perform(..))"/>
            <aop:around pointcut-ref="performance2" method="watchPerformance()"/>
        </aop:aspect>
    </aop:config>
</beans>

However, when I run this I am getting the following exception thrown:

Exception in thread "main" org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'audience' defined in class path resource [springIdol.xml]: BeanPostProcessor before instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.aop.aspectj.AspectJPointcutAdvisor#0': Cannot create inner bean '(inner bean)' of type [org.springframework.aop.aspectj.AspectJAroundAdvice] while setting constructor argument; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name '(inner bean)': Cannot create inner bean '(inner bean)' of type [org.springframework.aop.config.MethodLocatingFactoryBean] while setting constructor argument; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name '(inner bean)': Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unable to locate method [watchPerformance()] on bean [audience]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:452)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:291)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:222)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:288)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:190)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:580)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:895)
    at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:425)
    at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:139)
    at org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.<init>(ClassPathXmlApplicationContext.java:83)
    at com.xetius.springIdol.SpringIdolMain.main(SpringIdolMain.java:13)
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'org.springframework.aop.aspectj.AspectJPointcutAdvisor#0': Cannot create inner bean '(inner bean)' of type [org.springframework.aop.aspectj.AspectJAroundAdvice] while setting constructor argument; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name '(inner bean)': Cannot create inner bean '(inner bean)' of type [org.springframework.aop.config.MethodLocatingFactoryBean] while setting constructor argument; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name '(inner bean)': Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unable to locate method [watchPerformance()] on bean [audience]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveInnerBean(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:281)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveValueIfNecessary(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:125)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.resolveConstructorArguments(ConstructorResolver.java:630)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.autowireConstructor(ConstructorResolver.java:148)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.autowireConstructor(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1003)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:907)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:485)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:291)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:222)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:288)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:194)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.BeanFactoryAdvisorRetrievalHelper.findAdvisorBeans(BeanFactoryAdvisorRetrievalHelper.java:86)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.findCandidateAdvisors(AbstractAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:100)
    at org.springframework.aop.aspectj.autoproxy.AspectJAwareAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.shouldSkip(AspectJAwareAdvisorAutoProxyCreator.java:107)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.autoproxy.AbstractAutoProxyCreator.postProcessBeforeInstantiation(AbstractAutoProxyCreator.java:278)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.applyBeanPostProcessorsBeforeInstantiation(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:848)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.resolveBeforeInstantiation(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:820)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:446)
    ... 10 more
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name '(inner bean)': Cannot create inner bean '(inner bean)' of type [org.springframework.aop.config.MethodLocatingFactoryBean] while setting constructor argument; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name '(inner bean)': Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unable to locate method [watchPerformance()] on bean [audience]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveInnerBean(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:281)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveValueIfNecessary(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:125)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.resolveConstructorArguments(ConstructorResolver.java:616)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.autowireConstructor(ConstructorResolver.java:148)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.autowireConstructor(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1003)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBeanInstance(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:907)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:485)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveInnerBean(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:270)
    ... 28 more
Caused by: org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name '(inner bean)': Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unable to locate method [watchPerformance()] on bean [audience]
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:527)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionValueResolver.resolveInnerBean(BeanDefinitionValueResolver.java:270)
    ... 36 more
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unable to locate method [watchPerformance()] on bean [audience]
    at org.springframework.aop.config.MethodLocatingFactoryBean.setBeanFactory(MethodLocatingFactoryBean.java:75)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeAwareMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1439)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1408)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:519)
    ... 38 more

I believe the pertinent line is:

nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Unable to locate method [watchPerformance()] on bean [audience]
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:452)

I am trying to do this using Springs implementation of AOP, but I believe I have to include part of AspectJ to do this.

If I remove the parameter ProceedingJoinPoint joinpoint then it can locate this method. I thought that this was an implicit parameter in the method for the around aspect. Is this correct? If not, what am I doing wrong here?

I am using Maven to build this. Here is my POM:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

<groupId>com.xetius</groupId>
<artifactId>springIdol</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1</version>
<packaging>jar</packaging>

<name>springIdol</name>
<url>http://maven.apache.org</url>

<properties>
    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    <spring.version>3.0.4.RELEASE</spring.version>
    <aspectj.version>1.6.9</aspectj.version>
    <junit.version>4.6</junit.version>
</properties>

<dependencies>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
        <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-aop</artifactId>
        <version>${spring.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.aspectj</groupId>
        <artifactId>aspectjtools</artifactId>
        <version>${aspectj.version}</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>junit</groupId>
        <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
        <version>${junit.version}</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>
</project>

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1 Answer

Editorial Team · Answer 1 · 2026-05-17T15:53:23+00:00

Editorial Team

2026-05-17T15:53:23+00:00Added an answer on May 17, 2026 at 3:53 pm

The method name should be specified without the brackets:

method="watchPerformance"

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