DI for abstract classes failing

[ben]

I am having trouble wiring up a bean hierarchy. I have an abstract template class which looks like:

 public abstract class ClaimAction extends DefaultAction {

    private ClaimManager claimManager;

    public void setClaimManager(ClaimManager claimManager) {
        this.claimManager = claimManager;
    }

    public void execute() {
        //blah blah some code here
        claimManager.doSomething(); 
        showClaim();

    }

    private Claim loadClaim(long claimID) {
        return 
    }

    /**
     * Subclasses implement this 
     */
    protected abstract ActionForward showClaim();
}

And a concrete subclass:

public class ClaimSummaryAction extends ClaimAction {

    protected ActionForward showClaim() {
        //show it
    }
}

When I try to run the showClaim method on ClaimSummaryAction I get a nullpointer in the superclass as the claimManager is not set.

My config file looks like:

<bean id = "claimAction" class="com.***.claim.ClaimAction" abstract="true" >
    <property name="claimManager"><ref bean="claimManager" /></property>
</bean>

<bean id = "claimSummaryAction" parent="claimAction" class="com.***.claim.ClaimSummaryAction" />

<bean id = "claimDAO" class="com.***.claim.ClaimDAO">
    <property name="sessionFactory"><ref bean="mySessionFactory"/></property>
</bean>

I need both the abstract class and the subclass to be able to access the claimManager. I realise I must be doing something wrong here, any help much appreciated.

[Fernando Olcoz]

I think you just need to omit the class attribute from your abstract parent bean.

HTH,
Fernando