Question

It’s been out for a while so I am wondering if people are using the p XML namespace within their Spring configuration files. Is it a helpful shortcut? Is it a good idea that ended up in the trash can?

Where does the Java community largely stand?

Answer 1

I use it in every single Spring project I’ve ever touched. I’d guess my current team has a codebase with at least 50 different Spring files and every one uses the p namespace. It’s a lot less typing, and arguably more readable. For instance:

<bean id="fry" class="com.fox">
  <property name="leela" value="fracas" />
  <property name="hawking" ref="panucci" />
  <property name="bender">
    <ref local="uhura" />
  </property>
</bean>

Can much more easily be written as

<bean id="fry" class="com.fox"
  p:leela="fracas"
  p:hawking-ref="panucci"
  p:bender-ref="uhura" />

The only drawback is that you lose the ability to use the local semantic, though honestly I don’t use it that often.

The Eclipse’s Spring IDE supports the p-namespace and will autocomplete property names for beans. You can even modifier-click the property names to jump to their declarations and I believe the refactoring tools support changing property names too (even if they’re in p-namespace notation).

Teammates may take a while to get used to it, but after they learn it they’ll be thanking you for making the files that much more concise.