Explicit notes on class/method-level semantics in class hierarchies

Issue: SPR-17445

Author: jhoeller

spring-tx/src/main/java/org/springframework/transaction/annotation/Transactional.java

@@ -27,7 +27,12 @@
 import org.springframework.transaction.TransactionDefinition;
 
 /**
- * Describes transaction attributes on a method or class.
+ * Describes a transaction attribute on an individual method or on a class.
+ *
+ * <p>At the class level, this annotation applies as a default to all methods of
+ * the declaring class and its subclasses. Note that it does not apply to ancestor
+ * classes up the class hierarchy; methods need to be locally redeclared in order
+ * to participate in a subclass-level annotation.
  *
  * <p>This annotation type is generally directly comparable to Spring's
  * {@link org.springframework.transaction.interceptor.RuleBasedTransactionAttribute}

src/docs/asciidoc/data-access.adoc

@@ -1100,8 +1100,19 @@ Consider the following class definition:
 ----
 ====
 
-When the preceding POJO is defined as a bean in a Spring IoC container, you can make the bean instance
-transactional by adding only one line of XML configuration:
+Used at the class level as above, the annotation indicates a default for all methods
+of the declaring class (as well as its subclasses). Alternatively, each method can
+get annotated individually. Note that a class-level annotation does not apply to
+ancestor classes up the class hierarchy; in such a scenario, methods need to be
+locally redeclared in order to participate in a subclass-level annotation.
+
+When a POJO class such as the one above is defined as a bean in a Spring context,
+you can make the bean instance transactional through an `@EnableTransactionManagement`
+annotation in a `@Configuration` class. See the
+{api-spring-framework}/transaction/annotation/EnableTransactionManagement.html[javadoc]
+for full details.
+
+In XML configuration, the `<tx:annotation-driven/>` tag provides similar convenience:
 
 ====
 [source,xml,indent=0]
@@ -1126,6 +1137,7 @@ transactional by adding only one line of XML configuration:
 
 		<!-- enable the configuration of transactional behavior based on annotations -->
 		<tx:annotation-driven transaction-manager="txManager"/><!-- a PlatformTransactionManager is still required --> <1>
+
 		<bean id="txManager" class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DataSourceTransactionManager">
 			<!-- (this dependency is defined somewhere else) -->
 			<property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource"/>
@@ -1144,11 +1156,6 @@ if the bean name of the `PlatformTransactionManager` that you want to wire in ha
 dependency-inject has any other name, you have to use the `transaction-manager` attribute,
 as in the preceding example.
 
-NOTE: If you use Java-based configuration, the `@EnableTransactionManagement` annotation
-provides equivalent support . You can add the annotation to a `@Configuration` class.
-See the {api-spring-framework}/transaction/annotation/EnableTransactionManagement.html[javadoc]
-for full details.
-
 .Method visibility and `@Transactional`
 ****
 When you use proxies, you should apply the `@Transactional` annotation only to methods
@@ -1158,13 +1165,13 @@ method does not exhibit the configured transactional settings. If you need to an
 non-public methods, consider using AspectJ (described later).
 ****
 
-You can place the `@Transactional` annotation before an interface definition, a method
+You can apply the `@Transactional` annotation to an interface definition, a method
 on an interface, a class definition, or a public method on a class. However, the
 mere presence of the `@Transactional` annotation is not enough to activate the
-transactional behavior. The `@Transactional` annotation is merely metadata that can be
-consumed by some runtime infrastructure that is `@Transactional`-aware and that can use
-the metadata to configure the appropriate beans with transactional behavior. In the
-preceding example, the `<tx:annotation-driven/>` element switches on the
+transactional behavior. The `@Transactional` annotation is merely metadata that can
+be consumed by some runtime infrastructure that is `@Transactional`-aware and that
+can use the metadata to configure the appropriate beans with transactional behavior.
+In the preceding example, the `<tx:annotation-driven/>` element switches on the
 transactional behavior.
 
 TIP: The Spring team recommends that you annotate only concrete classes (and methods of
@@ -1173,9 +1180,8 @@ You certainly can place the `@Transactional` annotation on an interface (or an i
 method), but this works only as you would expect it to if you use interface-based
 proxies. The fact that Java annotations are not inherited from interfaces means that,
 if you use class-based proxies (`proxy-target-class="true"`) or the weaving-based
-aspect (`mode="aspectj"`), the transaction settings are not recognized by the
-proxying and weaving infrastructure, and the object is not wrapped in a
-transactional proxy, which would be decidedly bad.
+aspect (`mode="aspectj"`), the transaction settings are not recognized by the proxying
+and weaving infrastructure, and the object is not wrapped in a transactional proxy.
 
 NOTE: In proxy mode (which is the default), only external method calls coming in through
 the proxy are intercepted. This means that self-invocation (in effect, a method within