org.springframework.context
Interface ApplicationContext

All Superinterfaces:

ApplicationEventPublisher, BeanFactory, HierarchicalBeanFactory, ListableBeanFactory, MessageSource, ResourceLoader, ResourcePatternResolver

All Known Subinterfaces:

ConfigurableApplicationContext, ConfigurablePortletApplicationContext, ConfigurableWebApplicationContext, WebApplicationContext

All Known Implementing Classes:

AbstractApplicationContext, AbstractRefreshableApplicationContext, AbstractRefreshableConfigApplicationContext, AbstractRefreshablePortletApplicationContext, AbstractRefreshableWebApplicationContext, AbstractXmlApplicationContext, AnnotationConfigApplicationContext, AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext, ClassPathXmlApplicationContext, FileSystemXmlApplicationContext, GenericApplicationContext, GenericWebApplicationContext, GenericXmlApplicationContext, ResourceAdapterApplicationContext, StaticApplicationContext, StaticPortletApplicationContext, StaticWebApplicationContext, XmlPortletApplicationContext, XmlWebApplicationContext

public interface ApplicationContext
extends ListableBeanFactory, HierarchicalBeanFactory, MessageSource, ApplicationEventPublisher, ResourcePatternResolver

Central interface to provide configuration for an application. This is read-only while the application is running, but may be reloaded if the implementation supports this.

An ApplicationContext provides:

• Bean factory methods for accessing application components. Inherited from ListableBeanFactory.
• The ability to load file resources in a generic fashion. Inherited from the ResourceLoader interface.
• The ability to publish events to registered listeners. Inherited from the ApplicationEventPublisher interface.
• The ability to resolve messages, supporting internationalization. Inherited from the MessageSource interface.
• Inheritance from a parent context. Definitions in a descendant context will always take priority. This means, for example, that a single parent context can be used by an entire web application, while each servlet has its own child context that is independent of that of any other servlet.

In addition to standard BeanFactory lifecycle capabilities, ApplicationContext implementations detect and invoke ApplicationContextAware beans as well as ResourceLoaderAware, ApplicationEventPublisherAware and MessageSourceAware beans.

Author:

Rod Johnson, Juergen Hoeller

See Also:

ConfigurableApplicationContext, BeanFactory, ResourceLoader

Field Summary

Fields inherited from interface org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory

FACTORY_BEAN_PREFIX

Fields inherited from interface org.springframework.core.io.support.ResourcePatternResolver

CLASSPATH_ALL_URL_PREFIX

Fields inherited from interface org.springframework.core.io.ResourceLoader

CLASSPATH_URL_PREFIX

Method Summary

AutowireCapableBeanFactory	getAutowireCapableBeanFactory() Expose AutowireCapableBeanFactory functionality for this context.
String	getDisplayName() Return a friendly name for this context.
String	getId() Return the unique id of this application context.
ApplicationContext	getParent() Return the parent context, or null if there is no parent and this is the root of the context hierarchy.
long	getStartupDate() Return the timestamp when this context was first loaded.

Methods inherited from interface org.springframework.beans.factory.ListableBeanFactory

containsBeanDefinition, findAnnotationOnBean, getBeanDefinitionCount, getBeanDefinitionNames, getBeanNamesForType, getBeanNamesForType, getBeansOfType, getBeansOfType, getBeansWithAnnotation

Methods inherited from interface org.springframework.beans.factory.HierarchicalBeanFactory

containsLocalBean, getParentBeanFactory

Methods inherited from interface org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory

containsBean, getAliases, getBean, getBean, getBean, getBean, getType, isPrototype, isSingleton, isTypeMatch

Methods inherited from interface org.springframework.context.MessageSource

getMessage, getMessage, getMessage

Methods inherited from interface org.springframework.context.ApplicationEventPublisher

publishEvent

Methods inherited from interface org.springframework.core.io.support.ResourcePatternResolver

getResources

Methods inherited from interface org.springframework.core.io.ResourceLoader

getClassLoader, getResource

Method Detail

getId

String getId()

Return the unique id of this application context.

Returns:

the unique id of the context, or null if none

getDisplayName

String getDisplayName()

Return a friendly name for this context.

Returns:

a display name for this context (never null)

getStartupDate

long getStartupDate()

Return the timestamp when this context was first loaded.

Returns:

the timestamp (ms) when this context was first loaded

getParent

ApplicationContext getParent()

Return the parent context, or null if there is no parent and this is the root of the context hierarchy.

Returns:

the parent context, or null if there is no parent

getAutowireCapableBeanFactory

AutowireCapableBeanFactory getAutowireCapableBeanFactory()
                                                         throws IllegalStateException

Expose AutowireCapableBeanFactory functionality for this context.

This is not typically used by application code, except for the purpose of initializing bean instances that live outside the application context, applying the Spring bean lifecycle (fully or partly) to them.

Alternatively, the internal BeanFactory exposed by the ConfigurableApplicationContext interface offers access to the AutowireCapableBeanFactory interface too. The present method mainly serves as convenient, specific facility on the ApplicationContext interface itself.

Returns:

the AutowireCapableBeanFactory for this context

Throws:

IllegalStateException - if the context does not support the AutowireCapableBeanFactory interface or does not hold an autowire-capable bean factory yet (usually if refresh() has never been called)

See Also:

ConfigurableApplicationContext.refresh(), ConfigurableApplicationContext.getBeanFactory()