This version is still in development and is not considered stable yet. For the latest stable version, please use Spring Data Neo4j 7.3.5!

Creating Repository Instances

This section covers how to create instances and bean definitions for the defined repository interfaces.

Java Configuration

Use the store-specific @EnableNeo4jRepositories annotation on a Java configuration class to define a configuration for repository activation. For an introduction to Java-based configuration of the Spring container, see JavaConfig in the Spring reference documentation.

A sample configuration to enable Spring Data repositories resembles the following:

Sample annotation-based repository configuration

@Configuration
@EnableJpaRepositories("com.acme.repositories")
class ApplicationConfiguration {

  @Bean
  EntityManagerFactory entityManagerFactory() {
    // …
  }
}

The preceding example uses the JPA-specific annotation, which you would change according to the store module you actually use. The same applies to the definition of the EntityManagerFactory bean. See the sections covering the store-specific configuration.

XML Configuration

Each Spring Data module includes a repositories element that lets you define a base package that Spring scans for you, as shown in the following example:

Enabling Spring Data repositories via XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans:beans xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/jpa"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
    https://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/jpa
    https://www.springframework.org/schema/data/jpa/spring-jpa.xsd">

  <jpa:repositories base-package="com.acme.repositories" />

</beans:beans>

In the preceding example, Spring is instructed to scan com.acme.repositories and all its sub-packages for interfaces extending Repository or one of its sub-interfaces. For each interface found, the infrastructure registers the persistence technology-specific FactoryBean to create the appropriate proxies that handle invocations of the query methods. Each bean is registered under a bean name that is derived from the interface name, so an interface of UserRepository would be registered under userRepository. Bean names for nested repository interfaces are prefixed with their enclosing type name. The base package attribute allows wildcards so that you can define a pattern of scanned packages.

Using Filters

By default, the infrastructure picks up every interface that extends the persistence technology-specific Repository sub-interface located under the configured base package and creates a bean instance for it. However, you might want more fine-grained control over which interfaces have bean instances created for them. To do so, use filter elements inside the repository declaration. The semantics are exactly equivalent to the elements in Spring’s component filters. For details, see the Spring reference documentation for these elements.

For example, to exclude certain interfaces from instantiation as repository beans, you could use the following configuration:

Using filters

Java
XML

@Configuration
@EnableNeo4jRepositories(basePackages = "com.acme.repositories",
    includeFilters = { @Filter(type = FilterType.REGEX, pattern = ".*SomeRepository") },
    excludeFilters = { @Filter(type = FilterType.REGEX, pattern = ".*SomeOtherRepository") })
class ApplicationConfiguration {

  @Bean
  EntityManagerFactory entityManagerFactory() {
    // …
  }
}

<repositories base-package="com.acme.repositories">
  <context:include-filter type="regex" expression=".*SomeRepository" />
  <context:exclude-filter type="regex" expression=".*SomeOtherRepository" />
</repositories>

The preceding example includes all interfaces ending with SomeRepository and excludes those ending with SomeOtherRepository from being instantiated.

Standalone Usage

You can also use the repository infrastructure outside of a Spring container — for example, in CDI environments.You still need some Spring libraries in your classpath, but, generally, you can set up repositories programmatically as well.The Spring Data modules that provide repository support ship with a persistence technology-specific RepositoryFactory that you can use, as follows:

Standalone usage of the repository factory

RepositoryFactorySupport factory = … // Instantiate factory here
UserRepository repository = factory.getRepository(UserRepository.class);