Eclipse IDE 3.4+ http://www.eclipse.org

AJDT, the AspectJ plugin for Eclipse http://www.eclipse.org/ajdt

AspectJ (i.e. the version that matches the AspectJ version from the ADJT plugin that you are using) http://www.eclipse.org/aspectj

Dependency utility jars:

Logging framework jars:

Apache Tomcat 6.x, 7.x or JBoss AS 4.x for testing in a web application or for trying the tutorial example. These are the application servers that have been tested on so far.

Install the Eclipse IDE, this usually just involves unzipping the downloaded file to a location of your choosing.

Install the ADJT plugin into Eclipse.

Get the TestDataCaptureJ project, either from version control (using Git) or download testdatacapturej-xxx.zip and unzip it.

Import TestDataCaptureJ into the Eclipse IDE as an existing project.

Install the app server, if required.

Deploy your test web application to the app server and ensure that it runs properly, especially at the point that you want to capture the test data, e.g. at the end of the checkout process for a shopping application. Then stop the app server so that it can be configure and setup for TestDataCaptureJ.

Configure the project to intercept the application at the point where you want to capture the test data. You will need access to the source code or the API for the test application to determine the best place for this. Also you will need to know about how to configure AspectJ pointcuts, refer the the AspectJ documentation for this.

Edit conf/META-INF/aop.xml in the TestDataCaptureJ project in Eclipse by adding a <concrete-aspect> tag to the xml file nested inside the <aspects> tag. Following the template in the listing below, you need to:

Fragment of 'conf/META-INF/aop.xml':

<aspectj>
<aspects>
	<aspect name="au.dom.dw.testdatacapturej.aspect.Trace"/>
	<aspect name="au.dom.dw.testdatacapturej.aspect.TraceAdaptor"/>
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.
    <!-- Template for your own tests -->
	<concrete-aspect name="au.dom.dw.testdatacapturej.aspect.[Insert dummy class name]"
                            extends="au.dom.dw.testdatacapturej.aspect.TraceAdaptor">
             <pointcut name="loggedParamOperations" expression="execution([Insert AspectJ pointcut expression])"/>
             <pointcut name="loggedReturnOperations" expression="execution([Insert AspectJ pointcut expression])"/>
    </concrete-aspect>
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</aspects>
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</aspectj>

Have a look at the tutorial for an example.

Configure the LogBack configuration file conf/logback.groovy. There is a choice whether to have every logged object intercepted by the AspectJ pointcuts logged to separate files, or to have all the logging sent to one file.

In order to have the logging of each intercepted object sent to separate files, which is the default, configure the logger 'au.com.dw.testdatacapturej-trace' to use the 'SIFT' appender. Then configure the location that you want in the sift appender.

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appender("SIFT", GSiftingAppender) {
  discriminator(MDCBasedDiscriminator) {
    key="traceClass"
    defaultValue = "unknownValue"
  }
  sift {
    appender("FILE-${traceClass}", FileAppender) {
      file = "[Insert logging location]/${traceClass}.java"
      encoder(PatternLayoutEncoder) {
        pattern = "// Generated %d%n%m%n"
      }
    }
  }
}
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logger("au.com.dw.testdatacapturej-trace", INFO, ["SIFT"], false)
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.

If you want all the test data logging to go to a single file, then configure the logger 'au.com.dw.testdatacapturej-trace' to use the 'FILE' appender instead. Then configure the location and log file name you want in the file appender.

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appender("FILE", FileAppender) {
  file = "[Insert logging location and file name]"
  encoder(PatternLayoutEncoder) {
    pattern = "// Generated %d%n%m%n"
  }
}
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logger("au.com.dw.testdatacapturej-trace", INFO, ["FILE"], false)
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Note that LogBack Groovy cofiguration file may be setup for a particular app server (i.e. Tomcat) and may need further configuration is another server is being used.

Configure the file conf/log4j.xml to set the name and location of the generated log file that you want. This log file should contain the test data you're after.

Fragment of 'conf/log4j.xml':

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE log4j:configuration SYSTEM "log4j.dtd">

<!-- ===================================================================== -->
<!--                                                                       -->
<!--  Log4j Configuration                                                  -->
<!--                                                                       -->
<!-- ===================================================================== -->

<log4j:configuration xmlns:log4j="http://jakarta.apache.org/log4j/" debug="false">
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    <appender name="au.com.dw.testdatacapturej-file"
		class="org.apache.log4j.FileAppender">
		<param name="file" value="[Insert logging location and file name]" />
		<param name="threshold" value="info" />
		<param name="immediateFlush" value="true" />
		<param name="append" value="false" />
		<layout class="org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout">
			<param name="ConversionPattern" value="// Generated %d{ABSOLUTE} %n%m%n" />
		</layout>
	</appender>
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The changes involve editing the <appender> tag named 'au.com.dw.testdatacapturej-file'. Just change the value for the <param> tag for 'file' to a valid path on your local machine. For example if it is setup in Tomcat to '${catalina.home}/logs/Test.java' so that the generated file will appear in the 'logs' directory in your Tomcat installation. Have a look at the tutorial for an example.

Create the a jar file by exporting the TestDataCaptureJ project as a jar file with AspectJ support in Eclipse. You can call this jar file whatever you want, but for this documentation we'll just call in 'capture-xxx.jar' where 'xxx' is some sort of identifier or date.

Right click on the TestDataCaptureJ project in the package explorer window in Eclipse, and select 'Export ...' from the context menu.

Figure 1. generate_jar-menu.jpg

From the Export dialog, select the 'JAR file with AspectJ support' option.

Go through the export wizard using your own name and location for the generated capture jar file. Hint: In the 'JAR Package Specification' dialog, you can edit the resources to export to only include the files needed for runtime, e.g. leave out source code, build files, etc.

Configure the app server to handle AspectJ load time weaving and copy the capture jar file you have generated, the AspectJ runtime jars, the log4j.xml file and the necessary dependencies to the app server. This step is specific to the app server you are using, see below.