ApplicationContext in Spring and Implementations

The ApplicationContext includes all functionality of the BeanFactory, it is generally recommended over the BeanFactory. BeanFactory can still be used for light weight applications like mobile devices or applet based applications.

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ApplicationContext Implementations

The most commonly used ApplicationContext implementations are:

• • FileSystemXmlApplicationContext

    This container loads the definitions of the beans from an XML file. Here you need to provide the full path of the XML bean configuration file to the constructor.

FileSystemXmlApplicationContext context = new FileSystemXmlApplicationContext("F:/my workspace/springAppDemo/src/spring.xml");

Using wildcard for file system:

FileSystemXmlApplicationContext context = new FileSystemXmlApplicationContext("F:/*my workspace*/**/src/*-spring.xml");

• • ClassPathXmlApplicationContext

    This container loads the definitions of the beans from an XML file. Here you do not need to provide the full path of the XML file but you need to set CLASSPATH properly because this container will look bean configuration XML file in CLASSPATH.

ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("classpath:com/dineshonjava/sdnext/springConfig/spring.xml");  

Using wildcard for claspath:

ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("classpath*:com/dineshonjava/**/springConfig/spring.xml");

ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("classpath*:com/*/**/springConfig/*-spring.xml");

• • WebXmlApplicationContext

    This container loads the XML file with definitions of all beans from within a web application.

ApplicationContext appContext = WebApplicationContextUtils.getWebApplicationContext(servletContext);

Let us see Example.
Triangle.java

package com.sdnext.dineshonjava.applicationcontext.tutorial;

public class Triangle 
{
 private String type;
 
 /**
  * @param type the type to set
  */
 public void setType(String type)
 {
  this.type = type;
 }

 public void draw()
 {
  System.out.println(type+" Triangle Drawn");
 }
}

spring.xml

<beans xmlns:aop="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop" xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p" xmlns:security="http://www.springframework.org/schema/security" xmlns:tx="http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" xsi:schemalocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-2.5.xsd
     http://www.springframework.org/schema/security http://www.springframework.org/schema/security/spring-security-2.0.4.xsd 
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-2.5.xsd 
  http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-2.5.xsd">
  
  <bean class="com.sdnext.applicationcontext.tutorial.Triangle" id="triangle">
    <property name="type" value="Equilateral"></property>
  </bean>
</beans>

DrawingApp.java

package com.sdnext.dineshonjava.applicationcontext.tutorial;

import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;

/**
 * @author Dinesh Rajput
 *
 */
public class DrawingApp 
{

 /**
  * @param args
  */
 public static void main(String[] args) 
 {
  //Triangle triangle = new Triangle();
  //BeanFactory factory =new XmlBeanFactory(new FileSystemResource("spring.xml"));
 ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("spring.xml");
  Triangle triangle = (Triangle) context.getBean("triangle");
  triangle.draw();
 }
}

Now run the example:

In Next Chapter we will discuss about Injecting of Constructor and Object in Application.
                                          
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