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Unable to get annotations from Java classes when trying to autowire multiple implementations

In a Java 11/Spring REST API project I have an interface with multiple implementations. I want to choose the implementation in the configuration (in this case, application.yml file):
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;
import static java.lang.annotation.ElementType.TYPE;
import static java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME;
#Retention(RUNTIME)
#Target(TYPE)
public #interface PickableImplementation {
// This id will match an entry in the config file
public String id() default "";
}
So I have the two possible "pickable" implementations:
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;
import com.mycompany.api.util.PickableImplementation;
#Component
#Service
#PickableImplementation(id = "s3")
public class BatchProcessServiceS3 implements BatchProcessService {
// Some implementation biz logic
}
// In another file, with the same imports:
#Component
#Service
#PickableImplementation(id = "azure")
public class BatchProcessServiceAzure implements BatchProcessService {
// Another implementation biz logic
}
In the consumer class which in this case is a Controller, I try to pick the desired implementation:
import com.mycompany.api.util.PickableImplementation;
import java.util.List;
#RestController
#RequestMapping("/batch")
public class BatchController {
#Autowired private Environment env;
private BatchProcessService batchProcessService;
private final List<BatchProcessService> batchProcessImplementations;
public BatchController(List<BatchProcessService> batchProcessImplementations,
Environment environment){
this.env = environment;
var activeSvcImplementationId = env.getRequiredProperty("buckets-config.active");
this.batchProcessImplementations = batchProcessImplementations;
for (var batchProcessService : this.batchProcessImplementations) {
if(batchProcessService.getClass().isAnnotationPresent(PickableImplementation.class)) {
// Verify the id, compare with the one from config file, etc.
}
}
}
}
Expected behavior: inside the loop, I expected to get the annotations of each implementation, traverse the list, verify if it matches with the one with the application.yml and if it does, pick it to populate the service layer (private BatchProcessService batchProcessService).
Actual behavior: not only the isAnnotationPresent() method returns false, but also if I try getAnnotations() I get an empty array, like there are no annotations in the class. And besides my custom one, there are at least two additional annotations (Component, Service and others related to logging and the like).
As another puzzling detail, if I run getAnnotations() on the qualified name of the class in the middle of a debugging session, the annotations are present. But in that very moment, running that method on the elements on the list return 0 annotations.
I've run out of ideas, has anyone tried this same combination of autowiring several implementations and at the same time, relying in custom annotations?
Additional references:
Custom Annotations in Java:
https://www.baeldung.com/java-custom-annotation
Autowired:
https://www.baeldung.com/spring-autowire
Useful answer on autowiring multiple implementations:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/51778396/6315428

How can I create multiple Spring beans in a #Bean-annotated method or anything similar?

In a Spring application that uses HTTP remoting, I have a service façade module configured as follows (I made the code generic to improve clarity):
#Configuration
public class MyFacadeConfig {
private HttpInvokerServiceExporter facade(Class<?> cls) {
HttpInvokerServiceExporter bean = new HttpInvokerServiceExporter();
// The service referred to by this exporter is already instantiated as another Spring bean with all its dependencies.
bean.setService(appContext.getBean(cls));
bean.setServiceInterface(cls);
return bean;
}
#Bean("/first.service")
public HttpInvokerServiceExporter firstServiceFacade() {
return facade(FirstService.class);
}
#Bean("/second.service")
public HttpInvokerServiceExporter secondServiceFacade() {
return facade(SecondService.class);
}
// ... and so on for the 37 other services
}
where FirstService and SecondService are interfaces with existing implementations whose detail is not needed here.
I have another module that defines 39 proxies (instances of HttpInvokerProxyFactoryBean) corresponding to each of my services exposed through my façade.
So far, everything works properly.
But I would like to make the code more generic, elegant, and robust while mitigating the risk of error (e.g., a bad mapping between a service and its proxy in the future). The way I would like to do this is as follows:
First, I move the façade/proxy metadata into an enumeration:
public enum ConfigBeansFacade {
FIRST("/first", FirstService.class),
SECOND("/second", SecondService.class)
// ... and so on for the 37 other services
;
private String beanName;
private Class<?> serviceInterface;
// Constructor and getters
public String getCompleteBeanName() {
return beanName + ".service";
}
}
Then the configuration of the façade would be simplified in a style similar to the following:
#Configuration
public class MyFacadeConfig {
#Autowired
private ConfigurableBeanFactory beanFactory;
#Autowired
public void configExporters() {
for (ConfigBeansFacade bean : ConfigBeansFacade.values()) {
HttpInvokerServiceExporter exp = new HttpInvokerServiceExporter();
exp.setService(beanFactory.getBean(bean.getServiceInterface()));
exp.setServiceInterface(bean.getServiceInterface());
beanFactory.registerSingleton(bean.getCompleteBeanName(), exp);
}
}
}
I tried every single recipe I found in online forums, including StackOverflow, but there are two constraints not met elsewhere:
When defining the exporters, the underlying services are other Spring beans that are instantiated, initialized, and registered with their own configuration and dependencies through the standard Spring mechanics. There is no direct class instantiation other than the exporters themselves.
I thought about grouping the exporters into a single collection as suggested by some people. The only problem is that Spring MVC uses the HttpInvokerServiceExporter Spring bean names as endpoint URIs when registering the exporters into its own configuration. I must therefore register each exporter as a “first-class citizen” bean with its own bean name into the application context.
Given these constraints, the problem I have arises in (1) when I try to retrieve the underlying services to be encapsulated into exporters: they are not necessarily ready yet, which results into UnsatisfiedDependencyExceptions.
I tried solutions with a #PostContruct-annotated method, with a BeanPostProcessor, with an #Autowired method (as shown above), nothing is working as required.
Does anyone know about a way or a technique to initialize and register multiple beans inside a single method under my constraints described above? Such a method doesn't need to be annotated with #Bean, #Autowired, or any other specific annotation, it's just an example of what I tried.
In the client module, mercifully, the HttpInvokerProxyFactoryBean instances need only the interfaces and the bean names, so constraint (1) above should not apply.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide...

I'm not 100% I've understood what you're trying to do but I wonder if you could try autowiring a List of beans that implement an interface?
e.g.
public interface MyService {
String getKey();
void doStuff();
}
Then implement as many of these as you require
e.g.
#Component
public class FirstService implements MyService {
public String getKey() {
return "/first";
}
public void doStuff() {
...
}
}
then have a factory bean with the autowired list
#Component
public class MyServiceFactory {
private final List<MyService> services;
#Autowired
public MyServiceFactory(List<MyService> services) {
this.services = services;
}
}
To add more implementations of MyService, simply add them as #Component and Spring magically picks them up and adds them to the list.
Sometimes I find it useful to access my implementations via a Map
#Component
public class MyServiceFactory {
private final Map<String, MyService> services;
#Autowired
public MyServiceFactory(List<MyService> services) {
this.services = services
.stream()
.collect(toMap(MyService::getKey, Function.identity()));
}
public MyService getServiceByKey(String key) {
return services.get(key);
}
}
I find this keeps each implementation nice and self contained (and easy to test). Spring automatically picks up all the components that implement my interface without the factory having a huge number of imports. And I can test the factory easily by mocking the list of implementations.

How to make a singleton by generic type with class argument in Spring?

Let's suppose I have a Wrapper with generic type:
#Component
#Scope(value = ConfigurableBeanFactory.SCOPE_SINGLETON)
public class Wrapper<T> {
private final Class<T> wrappedClass;
public Wrapper(Class<T> wrappedClass) {
this.wrappedClass = wrappedClass;
}
}
And I want to use this Wrapper with many classes (for example > 100). Is it possible to make Spring create singleton of wrapper for each generic type and pass generic class as parameter to constructor? For example, Spring must always inject the same instance of Wrapper<Foo>. If it is possible, please give example with java code configuration, but not with xml.

If I understood correctly you want to add beans of wrapper dynamically based on some criteria that some beans (like Foo / Bar) adhere to and some don't.
This is a kind of advanced stuff in spring, but in a nutshell you will have to implement a Bean Factory Post Processor that will be called automatically by spring during the startup.
This is a point where you could analyze the beans by iterating over all the "accessible" beans (like Foo / Bar and others) and for beans that should be wrapped you will create a bean definition of the wrapper, despite the fact that the wrapper itself is not a bean.
I've created a simple example to illustrate this. In my sample project I've put everything under package "wrappers":
#Wrappable
public class Foo {
}
#Wrappable
public class Bar {
}
public class ShouldNotBeWrapped {
}
Note that I've put an annotation #Wrappable - a custom annotation that will serve as a "differentiator" of what should be wrapped and what not. The processing of the annotation will be done in Bean Factory Post Processor.
The annotation is nothing special really, it should be acessible in runtime (spring is a runtime framework and be put on classes):
#Target(ElementType.TYPE)
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public #interface Wrappable {
}
The java config will add Foo, Bar, ShouldNotBeWrapped as beans and also Bean Factory Post Processor that I'll describe below:
#Configuration
public class WrappersJavaConfig {
#Bean
public Foo foo () {
return new Foo();
}
#Bean
public Bar bar () {
return new Bar();
}
#Bean
public ShouldNotBeWrapped shouldNotBeWrapped () {
return new ShouldNotBeWrapped();
}
#Bean
public WrappersEnrichmentBFPP wrappersEnrichmentBFPP () {
return new WrappersEnrichmentBFPP();
}
}
The Wrapper class itself for the sake of example has toString but it doesn't differ much from your wrapper presented in the question:
public class Wrapper<T> {
private T wrapped;
public Wrapper(T wrapped) {
this.wrapped = wrapped;
}
#Override
public String toString() {
return "Wrapper for" + wrapped;
}
}
And the Main class will list all the loaded beans and get their classes + call toString so that we could see that the wrappers are defined correctly:
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
AnnotationConfigApplicationContext ctx = new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext(WrappersJavaConfig.class);
String[] names = ctx.getBeanDefinitionNames();
for(String name : names) {
Object bean = ctx.getBean(name);
if(bean.getClass().getPackage().getName().startsWith("wrappers")) {
System.out.println(ctx.getBean(name).getClass() + " ==> " + ctx.getBean(name));
}
}
}
}
Sidenote, the "if" condition in the main method is because I don't want to print the beans that spring loads by itself (infra stuff, etc) - only my beans which all reside in package "wrappers" as I've mentioned above.
Now the BeanFactoryPostProcessor - is a regular bean in a sense that it gets registered in the java config and it looks like this (your implementation might be different but the idea is the same):
public class WrappersEnrichmentBFPP implements BeanFactoryPostProcessor {
#Override
public void postProcessBeanFactory(ConfigurableListableBeanFactory beanFactory) throws BeansException {
String[] bddNames = beanFactory.getBeanDefinitionNames();
for(String bddName : bddNames) {
Object bean = beanFactory.getBean(bddName);
if(bean.getClass().isAnnotationPresent(Wrappable.class)) {
BeanDefinition wrappedBdd = BeanDefinitionBuilder.genericBeanDefinition(Wrapper.class)
.addConstructorArgReference(bddName)
.getBeanDefinition();
((BeanDefinitionRegistry)beanFactory).registerBeanDefinition("wrapperFor" + bddName, wrappedBdd);
}
}
}
}
So I'm getting all the beans one by one in for-each loop, then I'm asking whether the bean has an annotation "wrappable" on it in the if condition. If it has - it must be wrapped.
In this case I create an "artificial" bean definition for Wrapper and add a constuctor that will reference my bean that should be wrapped.
Then I register the bean definition by adding it to the application context.
Run the code above and you'll see the output similar to mine:
class wrappers.WrappersJavaConfig$$EnhancerBySpringCGLIB$$f88f147d ==> wrappers.WrappersJavaConfig$$EnhancerBySpringCGLIB$$f88f147d#1283bb96
class wrappers.Foo ==> wrappers.Foo#74f0ea28
class wrappers.Bar ==> wrappers.Bar#f6efaab
class wrappers.ShouldNotBeWrapped ==> wrappers.ShouldNotBeWrapped#3c19aaa5
class wrappers.WrappersEnrichmentBFPP ==> wrappers.WrappersEnrichmentBFPP#3349e9bb
class wrappers.Wrapper ==> Wrapper forwrappers.Foo#74f0ea28
class wrappers.Wrapper ==> Wrapper forwrappers.Bar#f6efaab
As you see, two last lines are lines that correspond to the wrapper beans created for the same instances of Foo and Bar but nothing was created for the ShouldNotBeWrapped bean
The APIs used are somewhat obscure and look outdated, but again its pretty advanced stuff and works at the level of spring container infra itself. Having said that, there are a lot of tutorials about BeanFactoryPostProcessor-s.
Since Using BFPPs is not a usual task, and although I've provided the solution, I don't see any real usage of it, wrappers can't be used "instead" of Foo or Bar classes, do not have their APIs, etc. Maybe you could explain why do you need wrappers over some beans. Usually people use Aspects/BeanPostProcessors (not BFPP but BPP) to wrap the class into dynamic proxy (cglib / java.lang.Proxy) and add an additional behavior, stuff like #Transactional, cache handling and so forth is implemented in spring with BeanPostProcessors, so consider checking this direction as well.

It is possible and in fact a feature in spring.
Spring can inject your dependency with the correct generic type.The following example is from spring documentation.
Suppose you have an interface
public interface Store<T>{...}
and two beans. One implements Store,one implemenets Store.
#Configuration
public class MyConfiguration {
#Bean
public StringStore stringStore() {
return new StringStore();
}
#Bean
public IntegerStore integerStore() {
return new IntegerStore();
}
}
You can declare the type with the correct type parameter and spring will inject the right bean for you.
#Autowired
private Store<String> s1; // <String> qualifier, injects the stringStore bean
#Autowired
private Store<Integer> s2; // <Integer> qualifier, injects the integerStore bean

Why can not get annotation from beanClass?

#Transactional
#Component
#EntranceLog
public class TransferServiceImpl implements TransferService {
xxxx
}
I hava a class with Transactional annotation and Component annotation. EntranceLog is my customize annotation to print log by aop.
public class LogProxyCreator extends AbstractAutoProxyCreator implements ApplicationContextAware {
private static final LogInterceptor LOG = new LogInterceptor();
private static Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(LogProxyCreator.class);
#Override
protected Object[] getAdvicesAndAdvisorsForBean(Class<?> beanClass, String s, TargetSource targetSource) throws BeansException {
Annotation anno = null;
for (Annotation annotationTemp : beanClass.getAnnotations()) {
Log temp = annotationTemp.annotationType().getAnnotation(EntranceLog.class);
if (temp != null) {
anno = temp;
break;
}
}
if (anno == null) {
return null;
}
Object[] additional = new Object[]{LOG};
log.error(beanClass.getName() + " has register the fc log.");
return additional;
}
#Override
public void setApplicationContext(ApplicationContext applicationContext) throws BeansException {
LOG.setContext(applicationContext);
}
}
When my app is starting, the bean transferServiceImpl start, but beanClass.getAnnotations() can not get any annotation. Why?
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
#Target({ElementType.TYPE})
#Log(logName = "entrance")
public #interface EntranceLog {
#AliasFor(
annotation = Log.class,
attribute = "subLogName"
)
String logName() default "";
#AliasFor(
annotation = Log.class,
attribute = "openInfoLog"
)
boolean openInfoLog() default false;
}
This is my annotation.

In Spring #Transactionalis already an AOP processed annotation, so adding your own will require some additional work. Let me explain how Spring AOP and #Transactional works.
Spring has two ways of doing AOP, if the class implements an interface it can use a standard JDK Proxy, if the class does not implement an interface it will create a new subclass by using CGLib to emit bytecode at runtime. Unless you are very careful you will almost always get a CGLib proxy with Spring AOP.
When Spring encounters a #Transactional (class or method level) it creates a new subclass using CGLib, you can think of this class as a decorator, which forwards all calls to your implementation class. Before and after (around Advice) it check the #Transactional annotation properties, and check Thread Local storage to see if a transaction already exist, if there is no transaction it creates one, and remembers it so it can commit it afterwards. If you set a breakoint inside a Transactional method and look at the callstack you will see the call to your implementation came from the decorater class, and that there is no source code for it.
In your case the bean that is added to the Application Context, is not your TransferServiceImplbean, but the CGLib proxy created by Spring when it found the #Transactional annotation on your class, it will be named something like TransferServiceImpl$$FastClassBySpringCGLIB$$<hexstring> - This class does not have the #EntranceLog annotation, which is why your own aspect is not working.
I have never encountered this problem myself, as I try to avoid AOP in general, or at always on classes that are already being CGLib proxied by Spring. Unless you want to dig deep into the Spring source, or find someone on the Spring dev team to help you with this, I suggest that you create another layer of indirection, so you don't need to handle two aspects in the same class.

For anyone who may be unwilling or unable to alter their code structure in order to avoid this issue, the following can probably help:
As Klaus mentioned, Spring creates a decorator class when it encounters a class tagged with #Transactional. However, because this new class is just that--a decorator--you should be able to call getSuperclass() on beanClass to give you the actual class Spring is decorating, like so:
beanClass.getSuperclass().getAnnotations()
If you're using your own Annotation, ensure it also persists through runtime by annotating the Annotation class with:
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)

Java Spring DI not working with Java Configuration

I'm new to Java Spring and trying to use Java configuration and inject a dependency into a class constructor. I want to use constructor injection because the class methods require the dependency. It isn't working for me.
Use case: Create a JSON string from a Java object and validate it before returning.
Class: FakeJsonBuilder
Dependency: JsonValidator
Main class: Per Spring documentation the #SpringBootApplication annotation is a convenience annotation that adds #Configuration, #EnableAutoConfiguration and #ComponentScan so I should be good to go as far as dependency injection is concerned.
#SpringBootApplication
public class MySpringApplication {
public static void main(String[] args){
// Register the class we use for Java based configuration
AnnotationConfigApplicationContext context =
new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext();
context.register(ApplicationConfiguration.class);
context.refresh();
SpringApplication.run(MySpringApplication .class, args);
}
}
Java configuration class:
#Configuration
public class ApplicationConfiguration {
#Bean
public JsonValidator jsonValidator(){
return new JsonValidatorImpl();
}
#Bean
public JsonBuilder(){
return new FakeJsonBuilder();
}
}
FakeJsonBuilder class:
public class FakeJsonBuilder implements JsonBuilder{
private static Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(FakeJsonBuilder.class);
private static JsonValidator jsonValidator;
// I need an empty constructor for the ApplicationConfiguration setup to work.
public MlrModelJsonBuilder(){};
#Autowired
public FakeJsonBuilder (JsonValidator jsonValidator){
this.jsonValidator = jsonValidator;
boolean validatorInjected = (jsonValidator != null);
logger.info("Validator injected: " + validatorInjected);
}
.......... More methods
The jsonValidator dependency is not being injected, i.e. the log message is Validator injected: false

Quoting Martin: Fowler http://martinfowler.com/articles/injection.html
"My long running default with objects is as much as possible, to create valid objects at construction time. This advice goes back to Kent Beck's Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns: Constructor Method and Constructor Parameter Method. Constructors with parameters give you a clear statement of what it means to create a valid object in an obvious place. If there's more than one way to do it, create multiple constructors that show the different combinations."
I come from a .NET background and use Ninject to inject my dependencies into the class constructor for the reasons Fowler gives. I quoted Fowler because of his credibility but you will find many sources providing the same argument, i.e. if the class methods require the dependency then it should be injected into the constructor. So here's how I figured how to do it with Java Spring (I revert to my C# syntax - forgive the transgression):
The configuration class
#Configuration
public class ApplicationConfiguration {
#Bean
public IJsonValidator jsonValidator(){
return new JsonValidator();
}
#Bean
public IJsonBuilder jsonBuilder(){
return new JsonBuilder(jsonValidator());
}
}
The class into which we inject the dependency
public class JsonBuilder implements IJsonBuilder {
private static IJsonValidator _jsonValidator;
// #Autowired // not needed per Sotirios. tested and verified
public JsonBuilder(IJsonValidator jsonValidator) {
_jsonValidator = jsonValidator;
}
public String getFoobar() {
// Returns false. jsonValidator was injected
boolean foo = (_jsonValidator == null);
return "Validator was injected: " + foo;
}
... more methods