Spring framework annotation question

Question

In case of supporting both XML and annotation, when spring framework do the annotation scan and how to process it?

Could someone give detail scenario?

For XmlWebApplicationContext, it use loadBeanDefinations() via Xml file. But when it do the annotation scan and use which class to process it?

Could explain the detail for ?

Thanks.

Franklin

Answer 1

In an XML based Application Context, annotations are only registered if you explicitly configure that:

<!-- register default annotations (e.g. @Required) -->
<context:annotation-config />

<!-- scan for components in selected package -->
<context:component-scan base-package="org.example"/>

Reference:

• Annotation-based container configuration
• Classpath scanning and managed components

And if you want to check the inner workings, see:

• CommonAnnotationBeanPostProcessor JavaDoc, Source Code
• ComponentScanBeanDefinitionParser JavaDoc, Source Code

Answer 2

I guess u could dig in the sources starting with AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext.

http://static.springsource.org/spring/docs/3.0.x/javadoc-api/org/springframework/web/context/support/AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext.html