The Spring Framework

org.springframework.beans.factory
Interface ListableBeanFactory

All Superinterfaces:
BeanFactory
All Known Subinterfaces:
ApplicationContext, ConfigurableApplicationContext, ConfigurableListableBeanFactory, ConfigurablePortletApplicationContext, ConfigurableWebApplicationContext, WebApplicationContext
All Known Implementing Classes:
AbstractApplicationContext, AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext, AbstractRefreshablePortletApplicationContext, AbstractRefreshableWebApplicationContext, AbstractXmlApplicationContext, ClassPathXmlApplicationContext, DefaultListableBeanFactory, FileSystemXmlApplicationContext, GenericApplicationContext, GenericWebApplicationContext, StaticApplicationContext, StaticListableBeanFactory, StaticPortletApplicationContext, StaticWebApplicationContext, XmlBeanFactory, XmlPortletApplicationContext, XmlWebApplicationContext

public interface ListableBeanFactory
extends BeanFactory

Extension of the BeanFactory interface to be implemented by bean factories that can enumerate all their bean instances, rather than attempting bean lookup by name one by one as requested by clients. BeanFactory implementations that preload all their bean definitions (such as XML-based factories) may implement this interface.

If this is a HierarchicalBeanFactory, the return values will not take any BeanFactory hierarchy into account, but will relate only to the beans defined in the current factory. Use the BeanFactoryUtils helper class to consider beans in ancestor factories too.

The methods in this interface will just respect bean definitions of this factory. They will ignore any singleton beans that have been registered by other means like ConfigurableBeanFactory's registerSingleton method, with the exception of getBeanNamesOfType and getBeansOfType which will check such manually registered singletons too. Of course, BeanFactory's getBean does allow transparent access to such special beans as well. However, in typical scenarios, all beans will be defined by external bean definitions anyway, so most applications don't need to worry about this differentation.

NOTE: With the exception of getBeanDefinitionCount and containsBeanDefinition, the methods in this interface are not designed for frequent invocation. Implementations may be slow.

Since:
16 April 2001
Author:
Rod Johnson, Juergen Hoeller
See Also:
HierarchicalBeanFactory, BeanFactoryUtils

Field Summary
 
Fields inherited from interface org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory
FACTORY_BEAN_PREFIX
 
Method Summary
 boolean containsBeanDefinition(String beanName)
          Check if this bean factory contains a bean definition with the given name.
 int getBeanDefinitionCount()
          Return the number of beans defined in the factory.
 String[] getBeanDefinitionNames()
          Return the names of all beans defined in this factory.
 String[] getBeanNamesForType(Class type)
          Return the names of beans matching the given type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.
 String[] getBeanNamesForType(Class type, boolean includePrototypes, boolean allowEagerInit)
          Return the names of beans matching the given type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.
 Map getBeansOfType(Class type)
          Return the bean instances that match the given object type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.
 Map getBeansOfType(Class type, boolean includePrototypes, boolean allowEagerInit)
          Return the bean instances that match the given object type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.
 
Methods inherited from interface org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory
containsBean, getAliases, getBean, getBean, getType, isPrototype, isSingleton, isTypeMatch
 

Method Detail

containsBeanDefinition

boolean containsBeanDefinition(String beanName)
Check if this bean factory contains a bean definition with the given name.

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in, and ignores any singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

Parameters:
beanName - the name of the bean to look for
Returns:
if this bean factory contains a bean definition with the given name
See Also:
BeanFactory.containsBean(java.lang.String)

getBeanDefinitionCount

int getBeanDefinitionCount()
Return the number of beans defined in the factory.

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in, and ignores any singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

Returns:
the number of beans defined in the factory

getBeanDefinitionNames

String[] getBeanDefinitionNames()
Return the names of all beans defined in this factory.

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in, and ignores any singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

Returns:
the names of all beans defined in this factory, or an empty array if none defined

getBeanNamesForType

String[] getBeanNamesForType(Class type)
Return the names of beans matching the given type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.

NOTE: This method introspects top-level beans only. It does not check nested beans which might match the specified type as well.

Does consider objects created by FactoryBeans, which means that FactoryBeans will get initialized. If the object created by the FactoryBean doesn't match, the raw FactoryBean itself will be matched against the type.

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in. Use BeanFactoryUtils' beanNamesForTypeIncludingAncestors to include beans in ancestor factories too.

Note: Does not ignore singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

This version of getBeanNamesForType matches all kinds of beans, be it singletons, prototypes, or FactoryBeans. In most implementations, the result will be the same as for getBeanNamesOfType(type, true, true).

Bean names returned by this method should always return bean names in the order of definition in the backend configuration, as far as possible.

Parameters:
type - the class or interface to match, or null for all bean names
Returns:
the names of beans (or objects created by FactoryBeans) matching the given object type (including subclasses), or an empty array if none
See Also:
FactoryBean.getObjectType(), BeanFactoryUtils.beanNamesForTypeIncludingAncestors(ListableBeanFactory, Class)

getBeanNamesForType

String[] getBeanNamesForType(Class type,
                             boolean includePrototypes,
                             boolean allowEagerInit)
Return the names of beans matching the given type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.

NOTE: This method introspects top-level beans only. It does not check nested beans which might match the specified type as well.

Does consider objects created by FactoryBeans if the "allowEagerInit" flag is set, which means that FactoryBeans will get initialized. If the object created by the FactoryBean doesn't match, the raw FactoryBean itself will be matched against the type. If "allowEagerInit" is not set, only raw FactoryBeans will be checked (which doesn't require initialization of each FactoryBean). $ *

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in. Use BeanFactoryUtils' beanNamesForTypeIncludingAncestors to include beans in ancestor factories too.

Note: Does not ignore singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

Bean names returned by this method should always return bean names in the order of definition in the backend configuration, as far as possible.

Parameters:
type - the class or interface to match, or null for all bean names
includePrototypes - whether to include prototype beans too or just singletons (also applies to FactoryBeans)
allowEagerInit - whether to initialize lazy-init singletons and objects created by FactoryBeans (or by factory methods with a "factory-bean" reference) for the type check. Note that FactoryBeans need to be eagerly initialized to determine their type: So be aware that passing in "true" for this flag will initialize FactoryBeans and "factory-bean" references.
Returns:
the names of beans (or objects created by FactoryBeans) matching the given object type (including subclasses), or an empty array if none
See Also:
FactoryBean.getObjectType(), BeanFactoryUtils.beanNamesForTypeIncludingAncestors(ListableBeanFactory, Class, boolean, boolean)

getBeansOfType

Map getBeansOfType(Class type)
                   throws BeansException
Return the bean instances that match the given object type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.

NOTE: This method introspects top-level beans only. It does not check nested beans which might match the specified type as well.

Does consider objects created by FactoryBeans, which means that FactoryBeans will get initialized. If the object created by the FactoryBean doesn't match, the raw FactoryBean itself will be matched against the type.

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in. Use BeanFactoryUtils' beansOfTypeIncludingAncestors to include beans in ancestor factories too.

Note: Does not ignore singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

This version of getBeansOfType matches all kinds of beans, be it singletons, prototypes, or FactoryBeans. In most implementations, the result will be the same as for getBeansOfType(type, true, true).

The Map returned by this method should always return bean names and corresponding bean instances in the order of definition in the backend configuration, as far as possible. This will usually mean that either JDK 1.4 or Commons Collections needs to be available.

Parameters:
type - the class or interface to match, or null for all concrete beans
Returns:
a Map with the matching beans, containing the bean names as keys and the corresponding bean instances as values
Throws:
BeansException - if a bean could not be created
Since:
1.1.2
See Also:
FactoryBean.getObjectType(), BeanFactoryUtils.beansOfTypeIncludingAncestors(ListableBeanFactory, Class)

getBeansOfType

Map getBeansOfType(Class type,
                   boolean includePrototypes,
                   boolean allowEagerInit)
                   throws BeansException
Return the bean instances that match the given object type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.

NOTE: This method introspects top-level beans only. It does not check nested beans which might match the specified type as well.

Does consider objects created by FactoryBeans if the "allowEagerInit" flag is set, which means that FactoryBeans will get initialized. If the object created by the FactoryBean doesn't match, the raw FactoryBean itself will be matched against the type. If "allowEagerInit" is not set, only raw FactoryBeans will be checked (which doesn't require initialization of each FactoryBean).

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in. Use BeanFactoryUtils' beansOfTypeIncludingAncestors to include beans in ancestor factories too.

Note: Does not ignore singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

The Map returned by this method should always return bean names and corresponding bean instances in the order of definition in the backend configuration, as far as possible. This will usually mean that either JDK 1.4 or Commons Collections needs to be available.

Parameters:
type - the class or interface to match, or null for all concrete beans
includePrototypes - whether to include prototype beans too or just singletons (also applies to FactoryBeans)
allowEagerInit - whether to initialize lazy-init singletons and objects created by FactoryBeans (or by factory methods with a "factory-bean" reference) for the type check. Note that FactoryBeans need to be eagerly initialized to determine their type: So be aware that passing in "true" for this flag will initialize FactoryBeans and "factory-bean" references.
Returns:
a Map with the matching beans, containing the bean names as keys and the corresponding bean instances as values
Throws:
BeansException - if a bean could not be created
See Also:
FactoryBean.getObjectType(), BeanFactoryUtils.beansOfTypeIncludingAncestors(ListableBeanFactory, Class, boolean, boolean)

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