Help with PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer

[wsmoak]

I don't seem to have access to properties through PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer. I'm working with spring-1.2.4.jar and from the example in chapter 8 of Better, Faster, Lighter Java. (With some modifications as, for example, XmlBeanFactory wouldn't take an InputStream.)

(While I've looked at a fair number of examples and articles, this is the first time I've tried to write anything using Spring. So please be gentle.)

I have:

 daoContext.xml:
        <bean id="propertyConfigurer"
        class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer">
        <property name="location">
            <value>classpath&#58;u2.properties</value>
        </property>
    </bean>

    <bean id="uniSession"
        class="net.wsmoak.dao.spring.UniSessionBean">
        <property name="userName"><value>$&#123;USER_NAME&#125;</value></property>
    </bean>

u2.properties&#58;
USER_NAME=wsmoak

Then this code prints ${USER_NAME} rather than wsmoak:

        ClassPathResource resource = new ClassPathResource( "daoContext.xml" );
        XmlBeanFactory beanFactory = new XmlBeanFactory( resource );
        UniSessionBean uSession = (UniSessionBean) beanFactory.getBean("uniSession");
        System.out.println( uSession.getUserName() );

So it is "working" in that it's creating the UniSessionBean instance and calling setUserName, but it's not using the property value.

The u2.properties file is sitting in target/classes right beside daoContext.xml, so if it can see one, it should be able to see the other.

What am I missing? Thanks in advance for your help.

--
Wendy

[ErikFK]

Hi,

So please be gentle.

OK - :-).

Concerning your problem: a XmlBeanFactory is not powerful enough for your purpose. You need (for example) a ClassPathXmlApplicationContext - see below.

ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("daoContext.xml");
UniSessionBean uSession = (UniSessionBean) context.getBean("uniSession");
System.out.println(uSession.getUserName());

And now it is magic...

Erik

[wsmoak]

And now it is magic...

Magic, indeed. That just took a 150 line class down to... two lines.

Well, not quite. There is some failover logic in the original class that I'll have to figure out how to accomplish, but all in good time. :)

Thanks for your help!