README.md

README – Document Lifecycle State Machine

Overview:

This code focuses on demonstrating the state transitions, exception handling, and how an Aspect can be used to manage infrastructure errors.

Contents:

1. DocumentLifecycleException
2. DocumentLifecycleState
3. DocumentEvent / DocumentEventType
4. InfrastructureExceptionHandlerAspect

1. DocumentLifecycleException

• A sealed class hierarchy for all possible errors.

• Divided into two main branches:

  • Infrastructure: Represents technical failures from external systems (e.g., MinIO, Elasticsearch, OCR tools, Messaging).
  • Domain: Represents business logic issues (e.g., invalid state transitions, missing documents, validations).

• Example:

  • Domain.IllegalStateTransition is thrown for invalid state changes.
  • Infrastructure.Storage wraps errors related to storage systems.

  The Infrastructure branch can be extended to include other technical errors, such as Messaging for message queue issues.

2. DocumentLifecycleState

• An enum representing each possible stage of a document's lifecycle: CREATED, PERSISTING_DATABASE, PERSISTING_STORAGE, SAVED, PROCESSING, PROCESSED, INDEXED, and FAILED.
• Each state overrides a transition method specifying which events cause valid movement to a new state.
• Invalid events for a state throw a Domain.IllegalStateTransition exception.
• Terminal states (INDEXED, FAILED) do not allow further transitions.

3. DocumentEvent and DocumentEventType

• DocumentEventType: An enum listing all recognized events:
  • SAVE_TO_DATABASE, SAVE_TO_STORAGE, SAVE_COMPLETE
  • PROCESS_START, PROCESS_COMPLETE, PROCESS_FAILED
  • INDEX_COMPLETE
• DocumentEvent: A record that bundles the event with a documentId and optional metadata.
• These events trigger lifecycle transitions (e.g., PERSISTING_STORAGE → SAVED upon SAVE_COMPLETE).

4. InfrastructureExceptionHandlerAspect

• An AspectJ component that intercepts calls within the com.example.infrastructure package (where infrastructure interactions are assumed to reside).
• Translates caught exceptions into appropriate Infrastructure.* subclasses, ensuring only domain-aware exceptions propagate.
• Enhances maintainability by handling and wrapping external library errors consistently.

Summary:

• The code enforces valid state transitions, preventing illegal changes.
• Domain exceptions highlight business logic concerns (e.g., illegal transitions or missing documents).
• Infrastructure exceptions uniformly wrap external (library) issues.
• This design provides a structured approach to building a document management feature with robust error handling and logical flow control.