Dependencies injection with Spring annotations (@Repository, @Service, @Autowired)

One of the big downfall with frameworks relying on XML configurations file is that they are not synchronized with your code. For example, if you are doing a refactoring of your code like renaming a package or a class, you need to update your XML files too. If you're not, you will end up with a configuration exception at runtime.

Spring 2.5 introduces injection dependencies by annotation with stereotypes annotation like @Repository, @Service, etc... and the @Autowired annotation.

Here's how you define your beans the old school way :

applicationContext.xml :

<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd">

<bean id="beanDAO_1" class="com.yourcompany.dao.BeanDAO_1_Impl"/>
...
<bean id="beanDAO_N" class="com.yourcompany.dao.BeanDAO_N_Impl"/>

<bean id="beanServices_1" class="com.yourcompany.services.BeanServices_1_Impl">
   <property name="beanDAO_1" ref="beanDAO_1"/>
</bean>
...
<bean id="beanServices_N" class="com.yourcompany.services.BeanServices_N_Impl">
   <property name="beanDAO_N" ref="beanDAO_N"/>
</bean>

</beans>

BeanDAO_1_Impl.class :

package com.yourcompany.dao.impl;

public class BeanDAO_1_Impl implements BeanDAO_1 {
   ...
}

BeanServices_1.class :

package com.yourcompany.services.impl;

public class BeanServices_1_Impl implements BeanServices_1 {
   private BeanDAO_1 beanDAO_1;
   ...
   public setBeanDAO_1(BeanDAO_1 beanDAO_1) {
      this.beanDAO_1 = beanDAO_1;
   }
}

Here's how you define your beans with spring annotations :

applicationContext.xml :

<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
  http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd
  http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
  http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-2.5.xsd"/>

<context:component-scan base-package="com.yourcompany.dao.impl"/>
<context:component-scan base-package="com.yourcompany.services.impl"/>
</beans>

BeanDAO_1_Impl.class :

package com.yourcompany.dao.impl;

@Repository("beanDAO_1")
public class BeanDAO_1_Impl implements BeanDAO_1 {
   ...
}

BeanServices_1.class :

package com.yourcompany.services.impl;

@Service("beanServices_1")
public class BeanServices_1_Impl implements BeanServices_1 {
   @Autowired
   private BeanDAO_1 beanDAO_1;
   //No need of a setter anymore. Spring can inject the beanDAO_1
   //even if it's a private properties
}

And that's how it's done... No more big XML configuration files.

Consult the spring documentation for a detailed explanation of the differences between the annotation sterotypes (@Repository, @Services, @Component ...)