Interface ComponentDefinition
- All Superinterfaces:
BeanMetadataElement
- All Known Implementing Classes:
AbstractComponentDefinition
,AdvisorComponentDefinition
,AspectComponentDefinition
,BeanComponentDefinition
,CompositeComponentDefinition
,PointcutComponentDefinition
BeanDefinitions
and BeanReferences
as presented in some configuration context.
With the introduction of pluggable custom XML tags
,
it is now possible for a single logical configuration entity, in this case an XML tag, to
create multiple BeanDefinitions
and RuntimeBeanReferences
in order to provide more succinct configuration and greater convenience to end users. As such, it can
no longer be assumed that each configuration entity (e.g. XML tag) maps to one BeanDefinition
.
For tool vendors and other users who wish to present visualization or support for configuring Spring
applications it is important that there is some mechanism in place to tie the BeanDefinitions
in the BeanFactory
back to the configuration data in a way
that has concrete meaning to the end user. As such, NamespaceHandler
implementations are able to publish events in the form of a ComponentDefinition
for each
logical entity being configured. Third parties can then subscribe to these events
,
allowing for a user-centric view of the bean metadata.
Each ComponentDefinition
has a source object
which is configuration-specific.
In the case of XML-based configuration this is typically the Node
which contains the user
supplied configuration information. In addition to this, each BeanDefinition
enclosed in a
ComponentDefinition
has its own source object
which may point
to a different, more specific, set of configuration data. Beyond this, individual pieces of bean metadata such
as the PropertyValues
may also have a source object giving an
even greater level of detail. Source object extraction is handled through the
SourceExtractor
which can be customized as required.
Whilst direct access to important BeanReferences
is provided through
getBeanReferences()
, tools may wish to inspect all BeanDefinitions
to gather
the full set of BeanReferences
. Implementations are required to provide
all BeanReferences
that are required to validate the configuration of the
overall logical entity as well as those required to provide full user visualization of the configuration.
It is expected that certain BeanReferences
will not be important to
validation or to the user view of the configuration and as such these may be omitted. A tool may wish to
display any additional BeanReferences
sourced through the supplied
BeanDefinitions
but this is not considered to be a typical case.
Tools can determine the importance of contained BeanDefinitions
by checking the
role identifier
. The role is essentially a hint to the tool as to how
important the configuration provider believes a BeanDefinition
is to the end user. It is expected
that tools will not display all BeanDefinitions
for a given
ComponentDefinition
choosing instead to filter based on the role. Tools may choose to make
this filtering user configurable. Particular notice should be given to the
INFRASTRUCTURE role identifier
. BeanDefinitions
classified with this role are completely unimportant to the end user and are required only for
internal implementation reasons.
- Since:
- 2.0
- Author:
- Rob Harrop, Juergen Hoeller
- See Also:
-
Method Summary
Modifier and TypeMethodDescriptionReturn theBeanDefinitions
that were registered to form thisComponentDefinition
.Return the set ofBeanReferences
that are considered to be important to thisComponentDefinition
.Return a friendly description of the described component.Return theBeanDefinitions
that represent all relevant inner beans within this component.getName()
Get the user-visible name of thisComponentDefinition
.Methods inherited from interface org.springframework.beans.BeanMetadataElement
getSource
-
Method Details
-
getName
String getName()Get the user-visible name of thisComponentDefinition
.This should link back directly to the corresponding configuration data for this component in a given context.
-
getDescription
String getDescription()Return a friendly description of the described component.Implementations are encouraged to return the same value from
toString()
. -
getBeanDefinitions
BeanDefinition[] getBeanDefinitions()Return theBeanDefinitions
that were registered to form thisComponentDefinition
.It should be noted that a
ComponentDefinition
may well be related with otherBeanDefinitions
viareferences
, however these are not included as they may be not available immediately. ImportantBeanReferences
are available fromgetBeanReferences()
.- Returns:
- the array of BeanDefinitions, or an empty array if none
-
getInnerBeanDefinitions
BeanDefinition[] getInnerBeanDefinitions()Return theBeanDefinitions
that represent all relevant inner beans within this component.Other inner beans may exist within the associated
BeanDefinitions
, however these are not considered to be needed for validation or for user visualization.- Returns:
- the array of BeanDefinitions, or an empty array if none
-
getBeanReferences
BeanReference[] getBeanReferences()Return the set ofBeanReferences
that are considered to be important to thisComponentDefinition
.Other
BeanReferences
may exist within the associatedBeanDefinitions
, however these are not considered to be needed for validation or for user visualization.- Returns:
- the array of BeanReferences, or an empty array if none
-