Question

I have annotated my classes with @Repository, @Resource, @Component, @Service annotations but these classes must run in 2 environments. The first environment is Spring 2.x based while the other has no spring at all. I’m sure the code will fail without the spring jars & I want to know ideas from you on how I can retain the annotations but still work in both environments

Answer 1

Since you cannot delete an accepted post, I suggest you read/vote Hans’ post, which is a much better explanation than my original one: Dependency on Spring's annotations

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When using the stereotype annotations (@Service etc), the trade-off for gaining the compile-time bean validation is that you become coupled to the spring-context library in your code. I see 3 immediate options:

1) Remove the annotations, and configure your beans in XML.

2) Copy the spring-context.jar (or the equivalent library holding your stereotype annotations) into your non-Spring project to resolve the dependencies, but leave Spring unconfigured so it is not used in your code.

3) Remove the annotations from your concrete classes, and extend them with “Spring” versions. This approach may or may not be a little invasive to your design, but worth considering:

public class MyDAO {
    protected SessionFactory sessionFactory;

    public void setSessionFactory(SessionFactory sessionFactory) {
        this.sessionFactory = sessionFactory;
    }

    // .. Your DAO code resides here ..
}

And the Spring sub-class:

@Repository
public class MySpringDAO extends MyDAO {

    @AutoWired
    protected SessionFactory sessionFactory;
}

This way, your non-Spring project can use “MyDAO”, and exclude the “MySpringDAO” class from the build.