Question

I want to inject a plain java object using Spring programmatically without using any xml configuration. Want to inject fields/methods annotated with tags Like @EJB, @PostConstruct etc. Is that possible? Thanks!

Answer 1

Creating an ApplicationContext without XML (using AnnotationConfigApplicationContext)

With AnnotationConfigApplicationContext, you don’t need any XML at all. You create the Application context programatically and either

a) manually register annotated classes

appContext.register( MyTypeA.class,
                     MyTypeB.class,
                     MyTypeC.class );

b) or scan the classpath for annotated classes

appContext.scan(
    "com.mycompany.myproject.mypackagea",
    "com.mycompany.myproject.mypackageb"
)

If you use one of the convenience constructors

AnnotationConfigApplicationContext(Class<?> … annotatedClasses)

or

AnnotationConfigApplicationContext(String … basePackages)

the context is created and refreshed automatically, otherwise you need to call the refresh() method manually after adding the classes or packages.

Autowiring existing non-Spring beans (using AutowireCapableBeanFactory)

For autowiring an existing bean I think the preferred idiom is to use

appContext.getAutowireCapableBeanFactory().autowireBean(existingBean)

Or, if you want more control, use

appContext.getAutowireCapableBeanFactory()
      .autowireBeanProperties(
          existingBean,
          autowireMode,
          // e.g. AutowireCapableBeanFactory.AUTOWIRE_BY_TYPE 
          dependencyCheck
      ) 

For further reference, see

• ApplicationContext.getAutowireCapeableBeanFactory()
• AutowireCapeableBeanFactory.autowireBean(Object existingBean)
• AutowireCapeableBeanFactory.autowireBeanProperties(Object
  existingBean, int autowireMode,
  boolean dependencyCheck)