Spring ApplicationEvents can also be integrated as either a source or target for Spring Integration message channels. To receive the events and send to a channel, simply define an instance of Spring Integration's ApplicationEventSource (as with all source implementations, this can then be configured within a "channel-adapter" element and automatically detected by the message bus). The ApplicationEventSource also implements Spring's ApplicationListener interface. By default it will pass all received events as Spring Integration Messages. To limit based on the type of event, configure the list of event types that you want to receive with the 'eventTypes' property.

To send Spring ApplicationEvents, register an instance of the ApplicationEventTarget class as the 'target' of a Channel Adapter (such configuration will be described in detail in Section 4.2.2, “Configuring Message Endpoints”). This target also implements Spring's ApplicationEventPublisherAware interface and thus acts as a bridge between Spring Integration Messages and ApplicationEvents.