Suppose I have a Java Spring-based client application, which sends a request to a server and process the response. It uses Command pattern for the response processing.
Now I would like to discover and load these Commands in run-time. How would you implement it?
I am aware of “plugin” technologies, such as JPF and OSGI but they look as a huge overkill for me. I am thinking about using Spring's autowiring. Would you recommend it?
If you are looking for a very nice, light and very functional plugin framework, have a look at Java Simple Plugin Framework. I have made extensive use of this and it works great.
Using Spring’s autowiring, you have to consider the implications around it. eg. you can only autowire Spring Beans etc etc.