http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
element bean

Documentation

	Defines a single (usually named) bean.

	A bean definition may contain nested tags for constructor arguments,
	property values, lookup methods, and replaced methods. Mixing constructor
	injection and setter injection on the same bean is explicitly supported.
			

Properties

This component is not nillable.

Model

<bean
  abstract = xsd:boolean
  autowire = xsd:NMTOKEN : default
  autowire-candidate = defaultable-boolean : default
  class = xsd:string
  depends-on = xsd:string
  destroy-method = xsd:string
  factory-bean = xsd:string
  factory-method = xsd:string
  id = xsd:ID
  init-method = xsd:string
  lazy-init = defaultable-boolean : default
  name = xsd:string
  parent = xsd:string
  primary = xsd:boolean
  scope = xsd:string
  {any attribute from any other namespace than current namespace}>
(description?, (meta | constructor-arg | property | qualifier | lookup-method | replaced-method | (any element from any other namespace)*)* )
</bean>

abstract

Is this bean "abstract", that is, not meant to be instantiated itself but rather just serving as parent for concrete child bean definitions? The default is "false". Specify "true" to tell the bean factory to not try to instantiate that particular bean in any case. Note: This attribute will not be inherited by child bean definitions. Hence, it needs to be specified per abstract bean definition.

Type:

xsd:boolean

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

autowire

Controls whether bean properties are "autowired". This is an automagical process in which bean references don't need to be coded explicitly in the XML bean definition file, but rather the Spring container works out dependencies. There are 4 modes: 1. "no" The traditional Spring default. No automagical wiring. Bean references must be defined in the XML file via the <ref/> element (or "ref" attribute). We recommend this in most cases as it makes documentation more explicit. Note that this default mode also allows for annotation-driven autowiring, if activated. "no" refers to externally driven autowiring only, not affecting any autowiring demands that the bean class itself expresses. 2. "byName" Autowiring by property name. If a bean of class Cat exposes a "dog" property, Spring will try to set this to the value of the bean "dog" in the current container. If there is no matching bean by name, nothing special happens. 3. "byType" Autowiring if there is exactly one bean of the property type in the container. If there is more than one, a fatal error is raised, and you cannot use byType autowiring for that bean. If there is none, nothing special happens. 4. "constructor" Analogous to "byType" for constructor arguments. If there is not exactly one bean of the constructor argument type in the bean factory, a fatal error is raised. Note that explicit dependencies, i.e. "property" and "constructor-arg" elements, always override autowiring. Note: This attribute will not be inherited by child bean definitions. Hence, it needs to be specified per concrete bean definition.

Type:

based on
with :

Default:

default

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

autowire-candidate

Indicates whether or not this bean should be considered when looking for matching candidates to satisfy another bean's autowiring requirements. Note that this does not affect explicit references by name, which will get resolved even if the specified bean is not marked as an autowire candidate.

Type:

defaultable-boolean

Default:

default

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

class

The fully qualified name of the bean's class, except if it serves only as a parent definition for child bean definitions.

Type:

xsd:string

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

depends-on

The names of the beans that this bean depends on being initialized. The bean factory will guarantee that these beans get initialized before this bean. Note that dependencies are normally expressed through bean properties or constructor arguments. This property should just be necessary for other kinds of dependencies like statics (*ugh*) or database preparation on startup. Note: This attribute will not be inherited by child bean definitions. Hence, it needs to be specified per concrete bean definition.

Type:

xsd:string

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

destroy-method

The name of the custom destroy method to invoke on bean factory shutdown. The method must have no arguments, but may throw any exception. Note: Only invoked on beans whose lifecycle is under the full control of the factory - which is always the case for singletons, but not guaranteed for any other scope.

Type:

xsd:string

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

factory-bean

Alternative to class attribute for factory-method usage. If this is specified, no class attribute should be used. This must be set to the name of a bean in the current or ancestor factories that contains the relevant factory method. This allows the factory itself to be configured using Dependency Injection, and an instance (rather than static) method to be used.

Type:

xsd:string

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

factory-method

The name of a factory method to use to create this object. Use constructor-arg elements to specify arguments to the factory method, if it takes arguments. Autowiring does not apply to factory methods. If the "class" attribute is present, the factory method will be a static method on the class specified by the "class" attribute on this bean definition. Often this will be the same class as that of the constructed object - for example, when the factory method is used as an alternative to a constructor. However, it may be on a different class. In that case, the created object will *not* be of the class specified in the "class" attribute. This is analogous to FactoryBean behavior. If the "factory-bean" attribute is present, the "class" attribute is not used, and the factory method will be an instance method on the object returned from a getBean call with the specified bean name. The factory bean may be defined as a singleton or a prototype. The factory method can have any number of arguments. Autowiring is not supported. Use indexed constructor-arg elements in conjunction with the factory-method attribute. Setter Injection can be used in conjunction with a factory method. Method Injection cannot, as the factory method returns an instance, which will be used when the container creates the bean.

Type:

xsd:string

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

id

The unique identifier for a bean.

Type:

xsd:ID

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

init-method

The name of the custom initialization method to invoke after setting bean properties. The method must have no arguments, but may throw any exception.

Type:

xsd:string

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

lazy-init

Indicates whether or not this bean is to be lazily initialized. If false, it will be instantiated on startup by bean factories that perform eager initialization of singletons. The default is "false". Note: This attribute will not be inherited by child bean definitions. Hence, it needs to be specified per concrete bean definition.

Type:

defaultable-boolean

Default:

default

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

name

Can be used to create one or more aliases illegal in an (XML) id. Multiple aliases can be separated by any number of spaces, commas, or semi-colons (or indeed any mixture of the three).

Type:

xsd:string

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

parent

The name of the parent bean definition. Will use the bean class of the parent if none is specified, but can also override it. In the latter case, the child bean class must be compatible with the parent, i.e. accept the parent's property values and constructor argument values, if any. A child bean definition will inherit constructor argument values, property values and method overrides from the parent, with the option to add new values. If init method, destroy method, factory bean and/or factory method are specified, they will override the corresponding parent settings. The remaining settings will always be taken from the child definition: depends on, autowire mode, scope, lazy init.

Type:

xsd:string

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

primary

Specifies that this bean should be given preference when multiple candidates are qualified to autowire a single-valued dependency. If exactly one 'primary' bean exists among the candidates, it will be the autowired value.

Type:

xsd:boolean

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

scope

The scope of this bean: typically "singleton" (one shared instance, which will be returned by all calls to getBean with the given id), or "prototype" (independent instance resulting from each call to getBean). By default, a bean will be a singleton, unless the bean has a parent bean definition in which case it will inherit the parent's scope. Singletons are most commonly used, and are ideal for multi-threaded service objects. Further scopes, such as "request" or "session", might be supported by extended bean factories (e.g. in a web environment). Inner bean definitions inherit the singleton status of their containing bean definition, unless explicitly specified: The inner bean will be a singleton if the containing bean is a singleton, and a prototype if the containing bean has any other scope.

Type:

xsd:string

Use:

optional

Form:

unqualified

Source

<xsd:element name="bean">
  <xsd:complexType>
    <xsd:complexContent>
      <xsd:extension base="identifiedType">
        <xsd:group ref="beanElements"/>
        <xsd:attributeGroup ref="beanAttributes"/>
      </xsd:extension>
    </xsd:complexContent>
  </xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>