org.springframework.beans.factory.support
Interface BeanDefinitionReader

All Known Implementing Classes:

AbstractBeanDefinitionReader, PropertiesBeanDefinitionReader, XmlBeanDefinitionReader

public interface BeanDefinitionReader

Simple interface for bean definition readers. Specifies load methods with Resource parameters.

Concrete bean definition readers can of course add additional load and register methods for bean definitions, specific to their bean definition format.

Note that a bean definition reader does not have to implement this interface. It only serves as suggestion for bean definition readers that want to follow standard naming conventions.

Since:

1.1

Author:

Juergen Hoeller

See Also:

Resource

Method Summary

ClassLoader	getBeanClassLoader() Return the class loader to use for bean classes.
BeanNameGenerator	getBeanNameGenerator() Return the BeanNameGenerator to use for anonymous beans (without explicit bean name specified).
BeanDefinitionRegistry	getRegistry() Return the bean factory to register the bean definitions with.
ResourceLoader	getResourceLoader() Return the resource loader to use for resource locations.
int	loadBeanDefinitions(Resource... resources) Load bean definitions from the specified resources.
int	loadBeanDefinitions(Resource resource) Load bean definitions from the specified resource.
int	loadBeanDefinitions(String... locations) Load bean definitions from the specified resource locations.
int	loadBeanDefinitions(String location) Load bean definitions from the specified resource location.

Method Detail

getRegistry

BeanDefinitionRegistry getRegistry()

Return the bean factory to register the bean definitions with.

The factory is exposed through the BeanDefinitionRegistry interface, encapsulating the methods that are relevant for bean definition handling.

getResourceLoader

ResourceLoader getResourceLoader()

Return the resource loader to use for resource locations. Can be checked for the ResourcePatternResolver interface and cast accordingly, for loading multiple resources for a given resource pattern.

Null suggests that absolute resource loading is not available for this bean definition reader.

This is mainly meant to be used for importing further resources from within a bean definition resource, for example via the "import" tag in XML bean definitions. It is recommended, however, to apply such imports relative to the defining resource; only explicit full resource locations will trigger absolute resource loading.

There is also a loadBeanDefinitions(String) method available, for loading bean definitions from a resource location (or location pattern). This is a convenience to avoid explicit ResourceLoader handling.

See Also:

loadBeanDefinitions(String), ResourcePatternResolver

getBeanClassLoader

ClassLoader getBeanClassLoader()

Return the class loader to use for bean classes.

null suggests to not load bean classes eagerly but rather to just register bean definitions with class names, with the corresponding Classes to be resolved later (or never).

getBeanNameGenerator

BeanNameGenerator getBeanNameGenerator()

Return the BeanNameGenerator to use for anonymous beans (without explicit bean name specified).

loadBeanDefinitions

int loadBeanDefinitions(Resource resource)
                        throws BeanDefinitionStoreException

Load bean definitions from the specified resource.

Parameters:

resource - the resource descriptor

Returns:

the number of bean definitions found

Throws:

BeanDefinitionStoreException - in case of loading or parsing errors

loadBeanDefinitions

int loadBeanDefinitions(Resource... resources)
                        throws BeanDefinitionStoreException

Load bean definitions from the specified resources.

Parameters:

resources - the resource descriptors

Returns:

the number of bean definitions found

Throws:

BeanDefinitionStoreException - in case of loading or parsing errors

loadBeanDefinitions

int loadBeanDefinitions(String location)
                        throws BeanDefinitionStoreException

Load bean definitions from the specified resource location.

The location can also be a location pattern, provided that the ResourceLoader of this bean definition reader is a ResourcePatternResolver.

Parameters:

location - the resource location, to be loaded with the ResourceLoader (or ResourcePatternResolver) of this bean definition reader

Returns:

the number of bean definitions found

Throws:

BeanDefinitionStoreException - in case of loading or parsing errors

See Also:

getResourceLoader(), loadBeanDefinitions(org.springframework.core.io.Resource), loadBeanDefinitions(org.springframework.core.io.Resource[])

loadBeanDefinitions

int loadBeanDefinitions(String... locations)
                        throws BeanDefinitionStoreException

Load bean definitions from the specified resource locations.

Parameters:

locations - the resource locations, to be loaded with the ResourceLoader (or ResourcePatternResolver) of this bean definition reader

Returns:

the number of bean definitions found

Throws:

BeanDefinitionStoreException - in case of loading or parsing errors