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Spring – Annotation-based Configuration

Starting from Spring 2.5 it became possible to configure the dependency injection using annotations. So instead of using XML to describe a bean wiring, you can move the bean configuration into the component class itself by using annotations on the relevant class, method, or field declaration.

Annotation injection is performed before XML injection. Thus, the latter configuration will override the former for properties wired through both approaches.

Annotation wiring is not turned on in the Spring container by default. So, before we can use annotation-based wiring, we will need to enable it in our Spring configuration file. So consider the following configuration file in case you want to use any annotation in your Spring application.

Once <context:annotation-config/> is configured, you can start annotating your code to indicate that Spring should automatically wire values into properties, methods, and constructors. Let us look at a few important annotations to understand how they work:

Sr.No.	Annotation & Description
1	@Required The @Required annotation applies to bean property setter methods.
2	@Autowired The @Autowired annotation can apply to bean property setter methods, nonsetter methods, constructor and properties.
3	@Qualifier The @Qualifier annotation along with @Autowired can be used to remove the confusion by specifiying which exact bean will be wired.
4	JSR-250 Annotations Spring supports JSR-250 based annotations which include @Resource, @PostConstruct and @PreDestroy annotations.

@Required Annotation

The @Required annotation applies to bean property setter methods and it indicates that the affected bean property must be populated in XML configuration file at configuration time. Otherwise, the container throws a BeanInitializationException exception. Following is an example to show the use of @Required annotation.

Example

Let us have a working Eclipse IDE in place and take the following steps to create a Spring application:

Steps	Description
1	Create a project with a name SpringExample and create a packagecom.jtc under the src folder in the created project.
2	Add required Spring libraries using Add External JARs option as explained in the Spring Hello World Example chapter.
3	Create Java classes Student and MainApp under the com.jtcpackage.
4	Create Beans configuration file Beans.xml under the src folder.
5	The final step is to create the content of all the Java files and Bean Configuration file and run the application as explained below.

Here is the content of Student.java file:

package com.jtc;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Required;
public class Student {
private Integer age;
private String name;
@Required
public void setAge(Integer age) {
this.age = age;
}
public Integer getAge() {
return age;
}
@Required
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
}

Following is the content of the MainApp.java file:

package com.jtc;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
public class MainApp {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("Beans.xml");
Student student = (Student) context.getBean("student");
System.out.println("Name : " + student.getName() );
System.out.println("Age : " + student.getAge() );
}
}

Following is the content of the configuration file Beans.xml:

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

<bean id="student" class="com.jtc.Student">
<property name="name" value="Zara" />


</bean>
</beans>

Once you are done creating the source and bean configuration files, let us run the application. If everything is fine with your application, it will raise BeanInitializationException exception and print the following error along with other log messages:

Property 'age' is required for bean 'student'

Next, you can try the above example after removing the comment from 'age' property as follows:

The above example will produce the following result:

Name : Zara
Age : 11

@Autowired Annotation

The @Autowired annotation provides more fine-grained control over where and how autowiring should be accomplished. The @Autowired annotation can be used to autowire bean on the setter method just like @Required annotation, constructor, a property or methods with arbitrary names and/or multiple arguments.

@Autowired on Setter Methods

You can use @Autowiredannotation on setter methods to get rid of the <property> element in XML configuration file. When Spring finds an @Autowired annotation used with setter methods, it tries to perform byType autowiring on the method.

Example

Let us have a working Eclipse IDE in place and take the following steps to create a Spring application:

Steps	Description
1	Create a project with a name SpringExample and create a packagecom.jtc under the src folder in the created project.
2	Add required Spring libraries using Add External JARs option as explained in the Spring Hello World Example chapter.
3	Create Java classes TextEditor, SpellChecker and MainApp under thecom.jtc package.
4	Create Beans configuration file Beans.xml under the src folder.
5	The final step is to create the content of all the Java files and Bean Configuration file and run the application as explained below.

Here is the content of TextEditor.java file

package com.jtc;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
public class TextEditor {
private SpellChecker spellChecker;
@Autowired
public void setSpellChecker( SpellChecker spellChecker ){
this.spellChecker = spellChecker;
}
public SpellChecker getSpellChecker( ) {
return spellChecker;
}
public void spellCheck() {
spellChecker.checkSpelling();
}
}

Following is the content of another dependent class file SpellChecker.java:

package com.jtc;
public class SpellChecker {
public SpellChecker(){
System.out.println("Inside SpellChecker constructor." );
}
public void checkSpelling(){
System.out.println("Inside checkSpelling." );
}
}

Following is the content of the MainApp.java file

package com.jtc;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
public class MainApp {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ApplicationContext context = new
ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("Beans.xml");
TextEditor te = (TextEditor) context.getBean("textEditor");
te.spellCheck();
}
}

Following is the configuration file Beans.xml

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

<bean id="textEditor" class="com.jtc.TextEditor">
</bean>

<bean id="spellChecker" class="com.jtc.SpellChecker">
</bean>
</beans>

Once you are done creating the source and bean configuration files, let us run the application. If everything is fine with your application, it will print the following message:

Inside SpellChecker constructor.
Inside checkSpelling.

@Autowired on Properties

You can use @Autowired annotation on properties to get rid of the setter methods. When you pass the values of autowired properties using <property>, Spring will automatically assign those properties with the passed values or references. Thus, with the usage of @Autowired on properties, yourTextEditor.java file will become as follows:

package com.jtc;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
public class TextEditor {
@Autowired
private SpellChecker spellChecker;
public TextEditor() {
System.out.println("Inside TextEditor constructor." );
}
public SpellChecker getSpellChecker( ){
return spellChecker;
}
public void spellCheck(){
spellChecker.checkSpelling();
}
}

Following is the configuration file Beans.xml

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

<bean id="textEditor" class="com.jtc.TextEditor">
</bean>

<bean id="spellChecker" class="com.jtc.SpellChecker">
</bean>
</beans>

Once you are done with the above two changes in the source and bean configuration files, let us run the application. If everything is fine with your application, it will print the following message:

Inside TextEditor constructor.
Inside SpellChecker constructor.
Inside checkSpelling.

@Autowired on Constructors

You can apply @Autowired to constructors as well. A constructor @Autowired annotation indicates that the constructor should be autowired when creating the bean, even if no <constructor-arg> elements are used while configuring the bean in XML file. Let us check the following example.

Here is the content of TextEditor.java file

package com.jtc;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
public class TextEditor {
private SpellChecker spellChecker;
@Autowired
public TextEditor(SpellChecker spellChecker){
System.out.println("Inside TextEditor constructor." );
this.spellChecker = spellChecker;
}
public void spellCheck(){
spellChecker.checkSpelling();
}
}

Following is the configuration file Beans.xml

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

<bean id="textEditor" class="com.jtc.TextEditor">
</bean>

<bean id="spellChecker" class="com.jtc.SpellChecker">
</bean>
</beans>

Once you are done with the above two changes in the source and bean configuration files, let us run the application. If everything is fine with your application, it will print the following message:

Inside TextEditor constructor.
Inside SpellChecker constructor.
Inside checkSpelling.

@Autowired with (required=false) Option

By default, the @Autowired annotation implies the dependency is required similar to @Required annotation, however, you can turn off the default behavior by using the (required=false) option with @Autowired.

The following example will work even if you do not pass any value for age property but still it will demand for the name property. You can try this example yourself because this is similar to the @Required annotation example except that only Student.java file has been changed.

package com.jtc;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
public class Student {
private Integer age;
private String name;
@Autowired(required=false)
public void setAge(Integer age) {
this.age = age;
}
public Integer getAge() {
return age;
}
@Autowired
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
}

@Qualifier Annotation

There may be a situation when you create more than one bean of the same type and want to wire only one of them with a property. In such cases, you can use the @Qualifier annotation along with the @Autowired to remove the confusion by specifying which exact bean will be wired. Following is an example to show the use of @Qualifier annotation.

Example

Let us have a working Eclipse IDE in place and take the following steps to create a Spring application:

Steps	Description
1	Create a project with a name SpringExample and create a packagecom.jtc under the src folder in the created project.
2	Add required Spring libraries using Add External JARs option as explained in the Spring Hello World Example chapter.
3	Create Java classes Student, Profile and MainApp under thecom.jtc package.
4	Create Beans configuration file Beans.xml under the src folder.
5	The final step is to create the content of all the Java files and Bean Configuration file and run the application as explained below.

Here is the content of Student.java file:

package com.jtc;
public class Student {
private Integer age;
private String name; public void setAge(Integer age) {
this.age = age;
}
public Integer getAge() {
return age;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
}

Here is the content of Profile.java file

package com.jtc;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Qualifier;
public class Profile {
@Autowired
@Qualifier("student1")
private Student student;
public Profile(){
System.out.println("Inside Profile constructor." );
}
public void printAge() {
System.out.println("Age : " + student.getAge() );
}
public void printName() {
System.out.println("Name : " + student.getName() );
}
}

Following is the content of the MainApp.java file

package com.jtc;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
public class MainApp {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ApplicationContext context = new
ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("Beans.xml");
Profile profile = (Profile) context.getBean("profile");
profile.printAge();
profile.printName();
}
}

Consider the example of the following configuration file Beans.xml

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

<bean id="profile" class="com.jtc.Profile">
</bean>

<bean id="student1" class="com.jtc.Student">
<property name="name" value="Zara" />
<property name="age" value="11"/>
</bean>

<bean id="student2" class="com.jtc.Student">
<property name="name" value="Nuha" />
<property name="age" value="2"/>
</bean>
</beans>

Once you are done creating the source and bean configuration files, let us run the application. If everything is fine with your application, it will print the following message:

Inside Profile constructor.
Age : 11
Name : Zara

JSR-250 Annotations

Spring also supports JSR-250 based annotations which include @PostConstruct, @PreDestroy and @Resource annotations. Though these annotations are not really required because you already have other alternates, yet let us get a brief idea about them.

@PostConstruct and @PreDestroy Annotations

To define the setup and teardown for a bean, we simply declare the <bean> with initmethod and/or destroy-method parameters. The init-method attribute specifies a method that is to be called on the bean immediately upon instantiation. Similarly, the destroy-method specifies a method that is called just before a bean is removed from the container.

You can use @PostConstruct annotation as an alternate of initialization callback and @PreDestroy annotation as an alternate of destruction callback as explained in the following example.

Example

Let us have a working Eclipse IDE in place and take the following steps to create a Spring application:

Steps	Description
1	Create a project with a name SpringExample and create a packagecom.jtc under the src folder in the created project.
2	Add required Spring libraries using Add External JARs option as explained in the Spring Hello World Example chapter.
3	Create Java classes HelloWorld and MainApp under the com.jtcpackage.
4	Create Beans configuration file Beans.xml under the src folder.
5	The final step is to create the content of all the Java files and Bean Configuration file and run the application as explained below.

Here is the content of HelloWorld.java file:

package com.jtc;
import javax.annotation.*;
public class HelloWorld {
private String message;
public void setMessage(String message){
this.message = message;
}
public String getMessage(){
System.out.println("Your Message : " + message);
return message;
}
@PostConstruct
public void init(){
System.out.println("Bean is going through init.");
}
@PreDestroy
public void destroy(){
System.out.println("Bean will destroy now.");
}
}

Following is the content of the MainApp.java file. Here, you need to register a shutdown hook registerShutdownHook() method that is declared on the AbstractApplicationContext class. This will ensure a graceful shutdown and call the relevant destroy methods.

package com.jtc;
import org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
public class MainApp {
public static void main(String[] args) {
AbstractApplicationContext context =
new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("Beans.xml");
HelloWorld obj = (HelloWorld) context.getBean("helloWorld");
obj.getMessage();
context.registerShutdownHook();
}
}

Following is the configuration file Beans.xml required for init and destroy methods:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.0.xsd">
<context:annotation-config/>
<bean id="helloWorld"
class="com.jtc.HelloWorld"
init-method="init" destroy-method="destroy">
<property name="message" value="Hello World!"/>
</bean>
</beans>

Once you are done creating the source and bean configuration files, let us run the application. If everything is fine with your application, it will print the following message:

Bean is going through init.
Your Message : Hello World!
Bean will destroy now.

@Resource Annotation

You can use @Resource annotation on fields or setter methods and it works the same as in Java EE 5. The @Resource annotation takes a 'name' attribute which will be interpreted as the bean name to be injected. You can say, it follows by-name autowiring semantics as demonstrated in the following example:

package com.jtc;
import javax.annotation.Resource;
public class TextEditor {
private SpellChecker spellChecker;
@Resource(name= "spellChecker")
public void setSpellChecker( SpellChecker spellChecker ){
this.spellChecker = spellChecker;
}
public SpellChecker getSpellChecker(){
return spellChecker;
}
public void spellCheck(){
spellChecker.checkSpelling();
}
}

If no 'name' is specified explicitly, the default name is derived from the field name or setter method. In case of a field, it takes the field name; in case of a setter method, it takes the bean property name.

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Spring – Annotation-based Configuration