IoC container
3.1. Introduction
This chapter covers the Spring Framework's implementation of the Inversion of Control (IoC) [1] principle.
The org.springframework.beans and org.springframework.context packages provide the basis for the Spring Framework's IoC container. The BeanFactory interface provides an advanced configuration mechanism capable of managing objects of any nature. The ApplicationContext interface builds on top of the BeanFactory (it is a sub-interface) and adds other functionality such as easier integration with Spring's AOP features, message resource handling (for use in internationalization), event propagation, and application-layer specific contexts such as the WebApplicationContext for use in web applications.
In short, the BeanFactory provides the configuration framework and basic functionality, while the ApplicationContext adds more enterprise-centric functionality to it. The ApplicationContext is a complete superset of the BeanFactory, and any description of BeanFactory capabilities and behavior is to be considered to apply to the ApplicationContext as well.
This chapter is divided into two parts, with the first part covering the basic principles that apply to both the BeanFactory and ApplicationContext, and with the second part covering those features that apply only to the ApplicationContext interface.
3.2.1. The container
The org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory is the actual representation of the Spring IoC container that is responsible for containing and otherwise managing the aforementioned beans.
Find below an example of the basic structure of XML-based configuration metadata.
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd">
3.2.2. Instantiating a container
Instantiating a Spring IoC container is straightforward.
ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext( new String[] {"services.xml", "daos.xml"}); // an ApplicationContext is also a BeanFactory (via inheritance) BeanFactory factory = context;
3.2.3.2.2. Instantiation using a static factory method
factory-method="createInstance"/>
3.2.3.2.3. Instantiation using an instance factory method
factory-method="createInstance"/>
3.3. Dependencies
The basic principle behind Dependency Injection (DI) is that objects define their dependencies (that is to say the other objects they work with) only through constructor arguments, arguments to a factory method, or properties which are set on the object instance after it has been constructed or returned from a factory method.
Then, it is the job of the container to actually inject those dependencies when it creates the bean. This is fundamentally the inverse, hence the name Inversion of Control (IoC), of the bean itself being in control of instantiating or locating its dependencies on its own using direct construction of classes, or something like the Service Locator pattern.
3.3.1.1. Constructor Injection
Constructor-based DI is effected by invoking a constructor with a number of arguments, each representing a dependency. Additionally, calling a static factory method with specific arguments to construct the bean, can be considered almost equivalent, and the rest of this text will consider arguments to a constructor and arguments to a static factory method similarly. Find below an example of a class that could only be dependency injected using constructor injection.
3.3.1.1.1. Constructor Argument Resolution
Constructor argument resolution matching occurs using the argument's type. If there is no potential for ambiguity in the constructor arguments of a bean definition, then the order in which the constructor arguments are defined in a bean definition is the order in which those arguments will be supplied to the appropriate constructor when it is being instantiated. Consider the following class:
package x.y;
public class Foo {
public Foo(Bar bar, Baz baz) {
// ...
}
}
When another bean is referenced, the type is known, and matching can occur (as was the case with the preceding example). When a simple type is used, such as
package examples;
public class ExampleBean {
// No. of years to the calculate the Ultimate Answer
private int years;
// The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything
private String ultimateAnswer;
public ExampleBean(int years, String ultimateAnswer) {
this.years = years;
this.ultimateAnswer = ultimateAnswer;
}
}
3.3.1.1.1.2. Constructor Argument Index
Constructor arguments can have their index specified explicitly by use of the index attribute. For example:
As well as solving the ambiguity problem of multiple simple values, specifying an index also solves the problem of ambiguity where a constructor may have two arguments of the same type. Note that the index is 0 based.
3.3.1.2. Setter Injection
Setter-based DI is realized by calling setter methods on your beans after invoking a no-argument constructor or no-argument static factory method to instantiate your bean.
Find below an example of a class that can only be dependency injected using pure setter injection. Note that there is nothing special about this class... it is plain old Java.
public class SimpleMovieLister { // the SimpleMovieLister has a dependency on the MovieFinder private MovieFinder movieFinder; // a setter method so that the Spring container can 'inject' a MovieFinder public void setMovieFinder(MovieFinder movieFinder) { this.movieFinder = movieFinder; } // business logic that actually 'uses' the injected MovieFinder is omitted... }
Bean dependency resolution generally happens as follows:
1.
The BeanFactory is created and initialized with a configuration which describes all the beans. (Most Spring users use a BeanFactory or ApplicationContext implementation that supports XML format configuration files.)
2.
Each bean has dependencies expressed in the form of properties, constructor arguments, or arguments to the static-factory method when that is used instead of a normal constructor. These dependencies will be provided to the bean, when the bean is actually created.
3.
Each property or constructor argument is either an actual definition of the value to set, or a reference to another bean in the container.
4.
Each property or constructor argument which is a value must be able to be converted from whatever format it was specified in, to the actual type of that property or constructor argument. By default Spring can convert a value supplied in string format to all built-in types, such as int, long, String, boolean, etc.
The Spring container validates the configuration of each bean as the container is created, including the validation that properties which are bean references are actually referring to valid beans. However, the bean properties themselves are not set until the bean is actually created. For those beans that are singleton-scoped and set to be pre-instantiated (such as singleton beans in an ApplicationContext), creation happens at the time that the container is created, but otherwise this is only when the bean is requested.
3.3.1.3. Some examples
First, an example of using XML-based configuration metadata for setter-based DI. Find below a small part of a Spring XML configuration file specifying some bean definitions.
public class ExampleBean {
private AnotherBean beanOne;
private YetAnotherBean beanTwo;
private int i;
public void setBeanOne(AnotherBean beanOne) {
this.beanOne = beanOne;
}
public void setBeanTwo(YetAnotherBean beanTwo) {
this.beanTwo = beanTwo;
}
public void setIntegerProperty(int i) {
this.i = i;
}
}
As you can see, setters have been declared to match against the properties specified in the XML file. Find below an example of using constructor-based DI.
public class ExampleBean {
private AnotherBean beanOne;
private YetAnotherBean beanTwo;
private int i;
public ExampleBean(
AnotherBean anotherBean, YetAnotherBean yetAnotherBean, int i) {
this.beanOne = anotherBean;
this.beanTwo = yetAnotherBean;
this.i = i;
}
}
As you can see, the constructor arguments specified in the bean definition will be used to pass in as arguments to the constructor of the ExampleBean.
Now consider a variant of this where instead of using a constructor, Spring is told to call a static factory method to return an instance of the object:
public class ExampleBean {
// a private constructor
private ExampleBean(...) {
...
}
// a static factory method; the arguments to this method can be
// considered the dependencies of the bean that is returned,
// regardless of how those arguments are actually used.
public static ExampleBean createInstance (
AnotherBean anotherBean, YetAnotherBean yetAnotherBean, int i) {
ExampleBean eb = new ExampleBean (...);
// some other operations...
return eb;
}
}
Note that arguments to the static factory method are supplied via
3.3.4. Lazily-instantiated beans
3.3.7.1. Lookup method injection
3.3.7.1. Lookup method injection
Lookup method injection refers to the ability of the container to override methods on container managed beans, to return the result of looking up another named bean in the container. The lookup will typically be of a prototype bean as in the scenario described above. The Spring Framework implements this method injection by dynamically generating a subclass overriding the method, using bytecode generation via the CGLIB library.
So if you look at the code from previous code snippet (the CommandManager class), the Spring container is going to dynamically override the implementation of the createCommand() method. Your CommandManager class is not going to have any Spring dependencies, as can be seen in this reworked example below:
package fiona.apple;
// no more Spring imports!
public abstract class CommandManager {
public Object process(Object commandState) {
// grab a new instance of the appropriate Command interface
Command command = createCommand();
// set the state on the (hopefully brand new) Command instance
command.setState(commandState);
return command.execute();
}
// okay... but where is the implementation of this method?
protected abstract Command createCommand();
}
In the client class containing the method to be injected (the CommandManager in this case), the method that is to be 'injected' must have a signature of the following form:
If the method is abstract, the dynamically-generated subclass will implement the method. Otherwise, the dynamically-generated subclass will override the concrete method defined in the original class. Let's look at an example:
The bean identified as commandManager will call its own method createCommand() whenever it needs a new instance of the command bean. It is important to note that the person deploying the beans must be careful to deploy the command bean as a prototype (if that is actually what is needed). If it is deployed as a singleton, the same instance of the command bean will be returned each time!
Please be aware that in order for this dynamic subclassing to work, you will need to have the CGLIB jar(s) on your classpath. Additionally, the class that the Spring container is going to subclass cannot be final, and the method that is being overridden cannot be final either. Also, testing a class that has an abstract method can be somewhat odd in that you will have to subclass the class yourself and supply a stub implementation of the abstract method. Finally, objects that have been the target of method injection cannot be serialized.
3.4. Bean scopes
singleton
Scopes a single bean definition to a single object instance per Spring IoC container.
prototype
Scopes a single bean definition to any number of object instances.
request
Scopes a single bean definition to the lifecycle of a single HTTP request; that is each and every HTTP request will have its own instance of a bean created off the back of a single bean definition. Only valid in the context of a web-aware Spring ApplicationContext.
session
Scopes a single bean definition to the lifecycle of a HTTP Session. Only valid in the context of a web-aware Spring ApplicationContext.
global session
Scopes a single bean definition to the lifecycle of a global HTTP Session. Typically only valid when used in a portlet context. Only valid in the context of a web-aware Spring ApplicationContext.
3.4.4.1. Initial web configuration
In order to support the scoping of beans at the request, session, and global session levels (web-scoped beans), some minor initial configuration is required before you can set about defining your bean definitions. Please note that this extra setup is not required if you just want to use the 'standard' scopes (namely singleton and prototype).
...
...
If you are using an older web container (Servlet 2.3), you will need to use the provided javax.servlet.Filter implementation. Find below a snippet of XML configuration that has to be included in the 'web.xml' file of your web application if you want to have access to web-scoped beans in requests outside of Spring's DispatcherServlet on a Servlet 2.3 container. (The filter mapping depends on the surrounding web application configuration and so you will have to change it as appropriate.)
..
...
3.4.4.5. Scoped beans as dependencies
Being able to define a bean scoped to a HTTP request or Session (or indeed a custom scope of your own devising) is all very well, but one of the main value-adds of the Spring IoC container is that it manages not only the instantiation of your objects (beans), but also the wiring up of collaborators (or dependencies). If you want to inject a (for example) HTTP request scoped bean into another bean, you will need to inject an AOP proxy in place of the scoped bean. That is, you need to inject a proxy object that exposes the same public interface as the scoped object, but that is smart enough to be able to retrieve the real, target object from the relevant scope (for example a HTTP request) and delegate method calls onto the real object.
Let's look at the configuration that is required to effect this; the configuration is not hugely complex (it takes just one line), but it is important to understand the “why” as well as the “how” behind it.
xmlns:aop="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop"
xsi:schemaLocation="
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-2.5.xsd">
3.5.1. Lifecycle callbacks
3.5.1.1. Initialization callbacks
Implementing the org.springframework.beans.factory.InitializingBean interface allows a bean to perform initialization work after all necessary properties on the bean have been set by the container. The InitializingBean interface specifies exactly one method:
void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception;
Implementing the org.springframework.beans.factory.InitializingBean interface allows a bean to perform initialization work after all necessary properties on the bean have been set by the container. The InitializingBean interface specifies exactly one method:
void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception;
Generally, the use of the InitializingBean interface can be avoided and is actually discouraged since it unnecessarily couples the code to Spring. As an alternative, bean definitions provide support for a generic initialization method to be specified. In the case of XML-based configuration metadata, this is done using the 'init-method' attribute. For example, the following definition:
public class ExampleBean {
public void init() {
// do some initialization work
}
}
...is exactly the same as...
public class AnotherExampleBean implements InitializingBean {
public void afterPropertiesSet() {
// do some initialization work
}
}
... but does not couple the code to Spring.
3.5.1.2. Destruction callbacks
Implementing the org.springframework.beans.factory.DisposableBean interface allows a bean to get a callback when the container containing it is destroyed. The DisposableBean interface specifies a single method:
void destroy() throws Exception;
Generally, the use of the DisposableBean callback interface can be avoided and is actually discouraged since it unnecessarily couples the code to Spring. As an alternative, bean definitions provide support for a generic destroy method to be specified. When using XML-based configuration metadata this is done via the 'destroy-method' attribute on the
public class ExampleBean {
public void cleanup() {
// do some destruction work (like releasing pooled connections)
}
}
...is exactly the same as...
public class AnotherExampleBean implements DisposableBean {
public void destroy() {
// do some destruction work (like releasing pooled connections)
}
}
... but does not couple the code to Spring.
3.8.5. Convenient ApplicationContext instantiation for web applications
As opposed to the BeanFactory, which will often be created programmatically, ApplicationContext instances can be created declaratively using for example a ContextLoader. Of course you can also create ApplicationContext instances programmatically using one of the ApplicationContext implementations. First, let's examine the ContextLoader mechanism and its implementations.
The ContextLoader mechanism comes in two flavors: the ContextLoaderListener and the ContextLoaderServlet. They both have the same functionality but differ in that the listener version cannot be reliably used in Servlet 2.3 containers. Since the Servlet 2.4 specification, servlet context listeners are required to execute immediately after the servlet context for the web application has been created and is available to service the first request (and also when the servlet context is about to be shut down): as such a servlet context listener is an ideal place to initialize the Spring ApplicationContext. It is up to you as to which one you use, but all things being equal you should probably prefer ContextLoaderListener; for more information on compatibility, have a look at the Javadoc for the ContextLoaderServlet.
You can register an ApplicationContext using the ContextLoaderListener as follows:
The listener inspects the 'contextConfigLocation' parameter. If the parameter does not exist, the listener will use /WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml as a default. When it does exist, it will separate the String using predefined delimiters (comma, semicolon and whitespace) and use the values as locations where application contexts will be searched for. Ant-style path patterns are supported as well: e.g. /WEB-INF/*Context.xml (for all files whose name ends with "Context.xml", residing in the "WEB-INF" directory) or /WEB-INF/**/*Context.xml (for all such files in any subdirectory of "WEB-INF").
The ContextLoaderServlet can be used instead of the ContextLoaderListener. The servlet will use the 'contextConfigLocation' parameter just as the listener does.
3.3.5. Autowiring collaborators
The Spring container is able to autowire relationships between collaborating beans. This means that it is possible to automatically let Spring resolve collaborators (other beans) for your bean by inspecting the contents of the BeanFactory. The autowiring functionality has five modes. Autowiring is specified per bean and can thus be enabled for some beans, while other beans will not be autowired. Using autowiring, it is possible to reduce or eliminate the need to specify properties or constructor arguments, thus saving a significant amount of typing. [2] When using XML-based configuration metadata, the autowire mode for a bean definition is specified by using the autowire attribute of the
Table 3.2. Autowiring modes
Mode Explanation
no
No autowiring at all. Bean references must be defined via a ref element. This is the default, and changing this is discouraged for larger deployments, since explicitly specifying collaborators gives greater control and clarity. To some extent, it is a form of documentation about the structure of a system.
byName
Autowiring by property name. This option will inspect the container and look for a bean named exactly the same as the property which needs to be autowired. For example, if you have a bean definition which is set to autowire by name, and it contains a master property (that is, it has a setMaster(..) method), Spring will look for a bean definition named master, and use it to set the property.
byType
Allows a property to be autowired if there is exactly one bean of the property type in the container. If there is more than one, a fatal exception is thrown, and this indicates that you may not use byType autowiring for that bean. If there are no matching beans, nothing happens; the property is not set. If this is not desirable, setting the dependency-check="objects" attribute value specifies that an error should be thrown in this case.
constructor
This is analogous to byType, but applies to constructor arguments. If there isn't exactly one bean of the constructor argument type in the container, a fatal error is raised.
autodetect
Chooses constructor or byType through introspection of the bean class. If a default constructor is found, the byType mode will be applied.
3.7.2. Customizing configuration metadata with BeanFactoryPostProcessors
The next extension point that we will look at is the org.springframework.beans.factory.config.BeanFactoryPostProcessor. The semantics of this interface are similar to the BeanPostProcessor, with one major difference: BeanFactoryPostProcessors operate on the bean configuration metadata; that is, the Spring IoC container will allow BeanFactoryPostProcessors to read the configuration metadata and potentially change it before the container has actually instantiated any other beans.
A bean factory post-processor is executed manually (in the case of a BeanFactory) or automatically (in the case of an ApplicationContext) to apply changes of some sort to the configuration metadata that defines a container. Spring includes a number of pre-existing bean factory post-processors, such as PropertyOverrideConfigurer and PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer, both described below. A custom BeanFactoryPostProcessor can also be used to register custom property editors, for example.
In a BeanFactory, the process of applying a BeanFactoryPostProcessor is manual, and will be similar to this:
XmlBeanFactory factory = new XmlBeanFactory(new FileSystemResource("beans.xml"));
// bring in some property values from a Properties file
PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer cfg = new PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer();
cfg.setLocation(new FileSystemResource("jdbc.properties"));
// now actually do the replacement
cfg.postProcessBeanFactory(factory);
This explicit registration step is not convenient, and this is one of the reasons why the various ApplicationContext implementations are preferred above plain BeanFactory implementations in the vast majority of Spring-backed applications, especially when using BeanFactoryPostProcessors.
An ApplicationContext will detect any beans which are deployed into it which implement the BeanFactoryPostProcessor interface, and automatically use them as bean factory post-processors, at the appropriate time. Nothing else needs to be done other than deploying these post-processor in a similar fashion to any other bean.
3.7.2.1. Example: the PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer
The PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer is used to externalize property values from a BeanFactory definition, into another separate file in the standard Java Properties format. This is useful to allow the person deploying an application to customize environment-specific properties (for example database URLs, usernames and passwords), without the complexity or risk of modifying the main XML definition file or files for the container.
Consider the following XML-based configuration metadata fragment, where a DataSource with placeholder values is defined. We will configure some properties from an external Properties file, and at runtime, we will apply a PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer to the metadata which will replace some properties of the DataSource:
Spring
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