I need help convincing Spring to bind to a map which has non-String keys. It may not be possible, in which case, some suggestions as to best implement a work-around would be helpful.

This is the type to which I'm trying to Map:

Code:
public class Preferences {
  // <getters/setters omitted for brevity>
  private Map<LookupTableEntry, MyMapEntry> entries;
&#125;

public class LookupTableEntry &#123;
  // <getters/setters omitted for brevity>
  private int id;
  private String name;
&#125;

public class MyMapEntry &#123;
  // <getters/setters omitted for brevity>
  private String code;
  private BigDouble cost;
&#125;
The relevant JSP looks like this:

Code:
<c&#58;forEach items="$&#123;prefs.entries&#125;" var="entry">
  <tr>
    <td>
      $&#123;entry.key.name&#125;
    </td>
    <td>
      <spring&#58;bind path="prefs.entries&#91;$&#123;entry.key&#125;&#93;.code">
        <input type="text" name="$&#123;status.expression&#125;" value="$&#123;status.value&#125;"/> 
      </spring&#58;bind>
      </td>
    <td>
      <spring&#58;bind path="prefs.entries&#91;$&#123;entry.key&#125;&#93;.cost">
        <input type="text" name="$&#123;status.expression&#125;" value="$&#123;status.value&#125;"/>
      </spring&#58;bind>
    </td>
  </tr>
</c&#58;forEach>
Thsi fails because it's not clear how to bind from a String to a LookupTableEntry. The exact error is: Invalid property 'entries[LookupTableEntry@1f2412a]' of bean class [Preferences]: Value of nested property 'entries[LookupTableEntry@1f2412a]' is null

If I change the type for entries to Map<String, MyMapEntry>, everything works as expected. The problem is that I cannot embed the names of the keys in the map because they may change, which is why I'm using a lookup table. And I'm loading my lookup table using Hibernate, which is why I have a class representing an entry in the table.

I'm trying to find a clean solution, and this really seems like something that should have a straightforward solution. I'm just not seeing it! Maybe there's another approach that doesn't require non-String keys?

I found this trolling through JIRA, though I don't think it's something that will help me out. http://opensource.atlassian.com/proj...browse/SPR-392

Thanks!
Christian