org.springframework.beans.factory.config

Class PropertyPathFactoryBean

java.lang.Object

org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean

All Implemented Interfaces:

Aware, BeanFactoryAware, BeanNameAware, FactoryBean<Object>

public class PropertyPathFactoryBean
extends Object
implements FactoryBean<Object>, BeanNameAware, BeanFactoryAware

FactoryBean that evaluates a property path on a given target object.

The target object can be specified directly or via a bean name.

Usage examples:

<!-- target bean to be referenced by name -->
 <bean id="tb" class="org.springframework.beans.TestBean" singleton="false">
   <property name="age" value="10"/>
   <property name="spouse">
     <bean class="org.springframework.beans.TestBean">
       <property name="age" value="11"/>
     </bean>
   </property>
 </bean>

 <!-- will result in 12, which is the value of property 'age' of the inner bean -->
 <bean id="propertyPath1" class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean">
   <property name="targetObject">
     <bean class="org.springframework.beans.TestBean">
       <property name="age" value="12"/>
     </bean>
   </property>
   <property name="propertyPath" value="age"/>
 </bean>

 <!-- will result in 11, which is the value of property 'spouse.age' of bean 'tb' -->
 <bean id="propertyPath2" class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean">
   <property name="targetBeanName" value="tb"/>
   <property name="propertyPath" value="spouse.age"/>
 </bean>

 <!-- will result in 10, which is the value of property 'age' of bean 'tb' -->
 <bean id="tb.age" class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean"/>

If you are using Spring 2.0 and XML Schema support in your configuration file(s), you can also use the following style of configuration for property path access. (See also the appendix entitled 'XML Schema-based configuration' in the Spring reference manual for more examples.)

 <!-- will result in 10, which is the value of property 'age' of bean 'tb' -->
 <util:property-path id="name" path="testBean.age"/>

Thanks to Matthias Ernst for the suggestion and initial prototype!

Since:

1.1.2

Author:

Juergen Hoeller

See Also:

setTargetObject(java.lang.Object), setTargetBeanName(java.lang.String), setPropertyPath(java.lang.String)

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
PropertyPathFactoryBean()

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
Object	getObject() Return an instance (possibly shared or independent) of the object managed by this factory.
Class<?>	getObjectType() Return the type of object that this FactoryBean creates, or null if not known in advance.
boolean	isSingleton() While this FactoryBean will often be used for singleton targets, the invoked getters for the property path might return a new object for each call, so we have to assume that we're not returning the same object for each getObject() call.
void	setBeanFactory(BeanFactory beanFactory) Callback that supplies the owning factory to a bean instance.
void	setBeanName(String beanName) The bean name of this PropertyPathFactoryBean will be interpreted as "beanName.property" pattern, if neither "targetObject" nor "targetBeanName" nor "propertyPath" have been specified.
void	setPropertyPath(String propertyPath) Specify the property path to apply to the target.
void	setResultType(Class resultType) Specify the type of the result from evaluating the property path.
void	setTargetBeanName(String targetBeanName) Specify the name of a target bean to apply the property path to.
void	setTargetObject(Object targetObject) Specify a target object to apply the property path to.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

PropertyPathFactoryBean

public PropertyPathFactoryBean()

Method Detail

setTargetObject

public void setTargetObject(Object targetObject)

Specify a target object to apply the property path to. Alternatively, specify a target bean name.

Parameters:

targetObject - a target object, for example a bean reference or an inner bean

See Also:

setTargetBeanName(java.lang.String)

setTargetBeanName

public void setTargetBeanName(String targetBeanName)

Specify the name of a target bean to apply the property path to. Alternatively, specify a target object directly.

Parameters:

targetBeanName - the bean name to be looked up in the containing bean factory (e.g. "testBean")

See Also:

setTargetObject(java.lang.Object)

setPropertyPath

public void setPropertyPath(String propertyPath)

Specify the property path to apply to the target.

Parameters:

propertyPath - the property path, potentially nested (e.g. "age" or "spouse.age")

setResultType

public void setResultType(Class resultType)

Specify the type of the result from evaluating the property path.

Note: This is not necessary for directly specified target objects or singleton target beans, where the type can be determined through introspection. Just specify this in case of a prototype target, provided that you need matching by type (for example, for autowiring).

Parameters:

resultType - the result type, for example "java.lang.Integer"

setBeanName

public void setBeanName(String beanName)

The bean name of this PropertyPathFactoryBean will be interpreted as "beanName.property" pattern, if neither "targetObject" nor "targetBeanName" nor "propertyPath" have been specified. This allows for concise bean definitions with just an id/name.

Specified by:

setBeanName in interface BeanNameAware

Parameters:

beanName - the name of the bean in the factory. Note that this name is the actual bean name used in the factory, which may differ from the originally specified name: in particular for inner bean names, the actual bean name might have been made unique through appending "#..." suffixes. Use the BeanFactoryUtils.originalBeanName(String) method to extract the original bean name (without suffix), if desired.

setBeanFactory

public void setBeanFactory(BeanFactory beanFactory)

Description copied from interface: BeanFactoryAware

Callback that supplies the owning factory to a bean instance.

Invoked after the population of normal bean properties but before an initialization callback such as InitializingBean.afterPropertiesSet() or a custom init-method.

Specified by:

setBeanFactory in interface BeanFactoryAware

Parameters:

beanFactory - owning BeanFactory (never null). The bean can immediately call methods on the factory.

See Also:

BeanInitializationException

getObject

public Object getObject()
                 throws BeansException

Description copied from interface: FactoryBean

Return an instance (possibly shared or independent) of the object managed by this factory.

As with a BeanFactory, this allows support for both the Singleton and Prototype design pattern.

If this FactoryBean is not fully initialized yet at the time of the call (for example because it is involved in a circular reference), throw a corresponding FactoryBeanNotInitializedException.

As of Spring 2.0, FactoryBeans are allowed to return null objects. The factory will consider this as normal value to be used; it will not throw a FactoryBeanNotInitializedException in this case anymore. FactoryBean implementations are encouraged to throw FactoryBeanNotInitializedException themselves now, as appropriate.

Specified by:

getObject in interface FactoryBean<Object>

Returns:

an instance of the bean (can be null)

Throws:

BeansException

See Also:

FactoryBeanNotInitializedException

getObjectType

public Class<?> getObjectType()

Description copied from interface: FactoryBean

Return the type of object that this FactoryBean creates, or null if not known in advance.

This allows one to check for specific types of beans without instantiating objects, for example on autowiring.

In the case of implementations that are creating a singleton object, this method should try to avoid singleton creation as far as possible; it should rather estimate the type in advance. For prototypes, returning a meaningful type here is advisable too.

This method can be called before this FactoryBean has been fully initialized. It must not rely on state created during initialization; of course, it can still use such state if available.

NOTE: Autowiring will simply ignore FactoryBeans that return null here. Therefore it is highly recommended to implement this method properly, using the current state of the FactoryBean.

Specified by:

getObjectType in interface FactoryBean<Object>

Returns:

the type of object that this FactoryBean creates, or null if not known at the time of the call

See Also:

ListableBeanFactory.getBeansOfType(java.lang.Class<T>)

isSingleton

public boolean isSingleton()

While this FactoryBean will often be used for singleton targets, the invoked getters for the property path might return a new object for each call, so we have to assume that we're not returning the same object for each getObject() call.

Specified by:

isSingleton in interface FactoryBean<Object>

Returns:

whether the exposed object is a singleton

See Also:

FactoryBean.getObject(), SmartFactoryBean.isPrototype()