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Spring boot custom resolver for class variable

I'm trying to achieve something like this:
#Controller
public SomeController {
#CustomConfig("var.a")
private String varA;
#CustomConfig("var.b")
private String varB;
#RequestMapping(value = "/", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public String get() {
return varA;
}
}
CustomConfig would be an #Interface class that accepts one value parameter. The reason why we are not using #Value is because this will not come from config file but from API (such as https://getconfig.com/get?key=var.a). So we are going to make HTTP request to inject it.
So far I've only manage to make something work if the varA and varB is inside get() method as parameter, by using below in a class that extends WebMvcConfigurerAdapter:
#Override
public void addArgumentResolvers(List<HandlerMethodArgumentResolver> argumentResolvers) {
CustomConfigResolver resolver = new CustomConfigResolver();
argumentResolvers.add(resolver);
}
And inside CustomComfigResolver.resolveArgument() we would do the HTTP query, but that's not really what we wanted, we need it to be injected as class variable.
Does anyone have experience in resolving it at class variable level?
Thank you

This could work if you use #Value instead of your own custom annotation. This uses the built in environment:
#Order(Ordered.HIGHEST_PRECEDENCE)
#Configuration
public class TcpIpPropertySourceConfig implements InitializingBean {
#Autowired
private ConfigurableEnvironment env;
#Autowired
private RestTemplate rest;
public void afterPropertiesSet() {
// Call your api using Resttemplate
RemoteProperties props = //Rest Call here;
// Add your source to the environment.
MutablePropertySources sources = env.getPropertySources();
sources.addFirst(new PropertiesPropertySource("customSourceName", props)
}
}
What you are trying to achieve is difficult when you start to consider "unhappy" scenarios. Server down / not reachable. You need to account for all of that in the method above.
I would highly recommend to instead use Spring Cloud Config. Great guide on that is here: https://www.baeldung.com/spring-cloud-configuration
This provides:
- Reloading of your #Value() properties, so no custom annotation needed.
- A more stable server and great Spring integration out of the box.
Best of all, it is easy to apply Retries and Backoffs if the configuration server goes down (see https://stackoverflow.com/a/44203216/2082699). This will make sure your app doesn't just crash when the server is not available.

Use Spring #RefreshScope, #Conditional annotations to replace bean injection at runtime after a ConfigurationProperties has changed

I'm running a PoC around replacing bean injection at runtime after a ConfigurationProperties has changed. This is based on spring boot dynamic configuration properties support as well summarised here by Dave Syer from Pivotal.
In my application I have a simple interface implemented by two different concrete classes:
#Component
#RefreshScope
#ConditionalOnExpression(value = "'${config.dynamic.context.country}' == 'it'")
public class HelloIT implements HelloService {
#Override
public String sayHello() {
return "Ciao dall'italia";
}
}
and
#Component
#RefreshScope
#ConditionalOnExpression(value = "'${config.dynamic.context.country}' == 'us'")
public class HelloUS implements HelloService {
#Override
public String sayHello() {
return "Hi from US";
}
}
application.yaml served by spring cloud config server is:
config:
name: Default App
dynamic:
context:
country: us
and the related ConfigurationProperties class:
#Configuration
#ConfigurationProperties (prefix = "config.dynamic")
public class ContextHolder {
private Map<String, String> context;
Map<String, String> getContext() {
return context;
}
public void setContext(Map<String, String> context) {
this.context = context;
}
My client app entrypoint is:
#SpringBootApplication
#RestController
#RefreshScope
public class App1Application {
#Autowired
private HelloService helloService;
#RequestMapping("/hello")
public String hello() {
return helloService.sayHello();
}
First time I browse http://locahost:8080/hello endpoint it returns "Hi from US"
After that I change country: us in country: it in application.yaml in spring config server, and then hit the actuator/refresh endpoint ( on the client app).
Second time I browse http://locahost:8080/hello it stills returns "Hi from US" instead of "ciao dall'italia" as I would expect.
Is this use case supported in spring boot 2 when using #RefreshScope? In particular I'm referring to the fact of using it along with #Conditional annotations.

This implementation worked for me:
#Component
#RefreshScope
public class HelloDelegate implements HelloService {
#Delegate // lombok delegate (for the sake of brevity)
private final HelloService delegate;
public HelloDelegate(
// just inject value from Spring configuration
#Value("${country}") String country
) {
HelloService impl = null;
switch (country) {
case "it":
this.delegate = new HelloIT();
break;
default:
this.delegate = new HelloUS();
break;
}
}
}
It works the following way:
When first invocation of service method happens Spring creates bean HelloDelegate with configuration effective at that moment; bean is put into refresh scope cache
Because of #RefreshScope whenever configuration is changed (country property particularly in this case) HelloDelegate bean gets cleared from refresh scope cache
When next invocation happens, Spring has to create bean again because it does not exist in cache, so step 1 is repeated with new country property
As far as I watched the behavior of this implementation, Spring will try to avoid recreating RefreshScope bean if it's configuration was untouched.
I was looking for more generic solution of doing such "runtime" implementation replacement when found this question. This implementation has one significant disadvantage: if delegated beans have complex non-homogeneous configuration (e.g. each bean has it's own properties) code becomes lousy and therefore unsafe.
I use this approach to provide additional testability for artifacts. So that QA would be able to switch between stub and real integration without significant efforts. I would strongly recommend to avoid using such approach for business functionality.

When and how to instantiate a Spring Bean in my Rest Api

First of all, I'm a relative noob to Spring Boot, so keep that in mind.
I've got a REST api in which I'm trying to minimize database calls for the same object and I've determined that using a Spring Bean scoped to the Request is what I want. Assuming that is correct, here is what I'm trying to do:
1) Controller takes in a validated PhotoImportCommandDto command
PhotoCommandController
#RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.POST)
public ResponseEntity<?> importPhoto(#Valid #RequestBody PhotoImportCommandDto command){
...
}
2) PhotoImportCommandDto is validated. Note the custom #UserExistsConstraint which validates that the user exists in the database by calling a service method.
PhotoImportCommandDto
#Component
public class PhotoImportCommandDto extends BaseCommand {
#NotNull(message = "userId must not be null!")
#UserExistsConstraint
private Long userId;
...
}
What I would like to do is somehow set a Spring Bean of the user that is validated in the #UserExistsConstraint and reference it in various methods that might be called throughout a Http request, but I'm not really sure how to do that. Since I've never really created my own Spring Beans, I don't know how to proceed. I've read various guides like this, but am still lost in how to implement it in my code.
Any help/examples would be much appreciated.

You can use the #Bean annotation.
#Configuration
public class MyConfiguration {
#Bean({"validUser"})
public User validUser() {
User user;
//instantiate user either from DB or anywhere else
return user;
}
then you can obtain the validUser.
#Component
public class PhotoImportCommandDto extends BaseCommand {
#Autowired
#Qualifier("validUser")
private User validUser;
...
}

I don't really know how to make annotations in Java. Anyway, in Spring, checking where the User exists in the DataBase or not is one line of code:
userRepository.findOne(user) == null
That is accomplished by the Spring Data JPA project:
Create a JPA Entity User.
Set the spring.datasource.url and login/password in the
resources/application.properties.
Create this interface:
import org.springframework.data.repository.CrudRepository;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Repository;
#Repository
public interface UserRepository extends CrudRepository<User, Long> {
}
Note, Spring implements it behind the scences.
Inject this interface into your RestController (or any other Spring bean):
private UserRepository userRepository ;
**constructor**(UserRepository ur){
userRepository = ur;
}
Note, a Spring Bean is any class annotated #Component (this includes stereotype annotations like Controller, Repository - just look up the contents of an annotation, it may use #Component internally) or returned from a method which is annotated #Bean (can only be on the Component or Configuration class). A Component is injected by searching the classpath, Bean is injected more naturally.
Also note, injecting is specifying #Autowired annotation on field or constructor, on a factory method, or on a setter. The documentation recommends that you inject required dependencies into constructor and non-required into the setter.
Also note, if you're injecting into a constructor and it is clean by the arguments, you may omit #Autowired annotation, Spring will figure it out.
Call its method findOne.
So, you can do one of the following:
Inject the userRepository into the #RestController constructor (as shown above). I would do that.
Inject the userRepository into the #Service (internally #Component) class that will do this sorts of thing for you. Maybe you can play with it to create an annotation.
p.s. Use #PostMapping instead of #RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.POST)
p.p.s. If ever in doubt, go to the official documentation page and just press CTRL-F: http://docs.spring.io/spring/docs/current/spring-framework-reference/htmlsingle/ Note the current word, that will always take you to the latest version.
p.p.p.s Each Spring project has its own .io webpage as well as quick Get Started Guides where you can quickly see the sample project with explanations expecting you to know nothing.
Hope that helps! :)
Don't forget to mark the answer as accepted if you wish

Using Jose's input, I took a bit of a different route.
Here's what I did:
I created a ValidatedUser class:
#RequestScope
#Component
public class ValidatedUser {
private UserEntity user;
public UserEntity getUser() {
return user;
}
public void setUser(UserEntity user) {
this.user = user;
}
}
and I also created a wrapper class HttpRequestScopeConfig to capture all variables to use over the course of an Http Request to the api.
#Component
public class HttpRequestScopeConfig {
#Autowired
private ValidatedUser validatedUser;
...
public UserEntity getValidatedUser() {
return validatedUser.getUser();
}
public void setValidatedUser(UserEntity validatedUser) {
this.validatedUser.setUser(validatedUser);
}
...
}
In my UserExistsConstraintValidator (which is the impl of #UserExistsConstraint, I set the validatedUser in the httpRequestScopeConfig:
public class UserExistsConstraintValidator implements ConstraintValidator<UserExistsConstraint, Long> {
//private Log log = LogFactory.getLog(EmailExistsConstraintValidator.class);
#Autowired
private UserCommandService svc;
#Autowired
private HttpRequestScopeConfig httpRequestScope;
#Override
public void initialize(UserExistsConstraint userId) {
}
#Override
public boolean isValid(Long userIdField, ConstraintValidatorContext context) {
try {
UserEntity user = svc.findUserOfAnyStatus((Long) userIdField);
if (user != null) {
httpRequestScope.setValidatedUser(user);
return true;
}
} catch (Exception e) {
//log.error(e);
}
return false;
}
}
Now, I can access these variables throughout the rest of my service layers by autowiring HttpRequestScopeConfig where necessary.

Spring DI with dynamic constructor arguments

Most of my classes wired up look something like:
#Component
public class MyClassImpl implements MyClass {
private MyService service;
#Autowired
public MyClass(MyService service) {
this.service = service;
}
}
So that makes sense to me, but if I want to do something like this:
#Component
public class MyClassImpl implements MyClass {
private MyService service;
private String id; // this is what I need
#Autowired
public MyClass(MyService service, String id) {
this.service = service;
this.id = id;
}
}
But the problem is String id is not known until runtime. Is there any way to do this? From what I can tell, Spring checks all the dependencies by default at runtime so if I try the second example, it complains about the constructor arguments.
I've seen some examples where you can use a factory to create the actual value later down the line. Or I can create getters and setters in order to set the id when I need it, but that would also mean I'd need to add those getters and setters to the interface MyClass as well. Is there a cleaner way to do this?

You can create a #Bean method for id with logic needed to calculate it.
#Configuration
public class Config {
#Bean
public String idForService() {
return calculateId();
}
}
And then your service constructor will be look like this
#Autowired
public MyClass(MyService service, #Qualifier("idForService") String id) {
this.service = service;
this.id = id;
}
But as others have already mentioned it looks like a bad practice so you'd better consider to redesign your service class.

I am afraid what you are trying to do is not in the spirit of what Spring was created for. Please do have a look at: Runtime dependency injection with Spring
Having said that, there might be a workaround to your problem.
If you have some class that calculates that ID for you, just inject that class in a constructor and bind the result of its calculation to the field id in your class.

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