SpringMVC Custom Converter Not Found, But Declared in AppContext XML - spring

Question

In my applicationContext.xml I declare the following 2 custom converters,
<bean id="conversionService" class="org.springframework.context.support.ConversionServiceFactoryBean">
<property name="converters">
<set>
<bean class="util.BooleanToYesNoDataTypeConverter"/>
<bean class="util.YesNoDataTypeToBooleanConverter"/>
</set>
</property>
</bean>
The converters take care of converting between a Boolean and a custom type called 'YesNoDataType',
public class BooleanToYesNoDataTypeConverter implements Converter<Boolean,YesNoDataType> {
#Override
public YesNoDataType convert(Boolean source) {
if (Boolean.TRUE.equals(source))
return YesNoDataType.Y_YES;
else
return YesNoDataType.N_NO;
}
}
public class YesNoDataTypeToBooleanConverter implements Converter<YesNoDataType,Boolean> {
#Override
public Boolean convert(YesNoDataType source) {
if (YesNoDataType.Y_YES.equals(source))
return Boolean.TRUE;
else
return Boolean.FALSE;
}
}
In theory the Converters are now registered and can be used, right? I'm following the example in this post: Spring MVC type conversion : PropertyEditor or Converter?
However, in my Controller, when I come to the following initBinder override, I check my current active converters. Guess what, my 2 converters aren't available. Why is that? Take a look below.
#Override
#InitBinder
public void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
// Check current ConversionService
ConversionService conversionService = binder.getConversionService();
// The below FAILS with a "Converter not found" error
Boolean b = conversionService.convert(YesNoDataType.Y_YES, Boolean.class);
// These 2 return FALSE, meaning we CAN'T convert YesNoDataType/Boolean
System.out.println("Can convert YesNo -> Boolean? " + conversionService.canConvert(Boolean.class, YesNoDataType.class));
System.out.println("Can convert Boolean -> YesNo? " + conversionService.canConvert(YesNoDataType.class, Boolean.class));
}
By the way, let me ask a broader question about Spring/SpringMVC. The Spring folks eliminated/closed a forum that existed until 2014, http://forum.spring.io/ . The only way to get SpringMVC support now is by posting here, on StackOverflow, but any SpringMVC threads here get 5-6 views and no answers. A few years ago the community was active. What's happened to SpringMVC, is it no longer well-supported? Where is the community for it? Just wondering.

Answer 1

Just as an FYI, the only thing that seems to work in my Controller is to cast the ConversionService to a GenericConversionService and then manually invoke addConverter(...) methods to add converters.
Now my conversion works. But this isn't the right way to do it -- all my XML registrations, incl. the #Component annotation on the Converter classes, should have worked. So the question is still open.
#Override
#InitBinder
public void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
// Obtain a GenericConversionService via casting
GenericConversionService conversionService = (GenericConversionService)binder.getConversionService();
// Manually add converters on it
conversionService.addConverter(YesNoDataType.class, Boolean.class, new YesNoDataTypeToBooleanConverter());
conversionService.addConverter(Boolean.class, YesNoDataType.class, new BooleanToYesNoDataTypeConverter());
// Now it works -- these return TRUE
System.out.println("Can convert YesNo -> Boolean? " + conversionService.canConvert(Boolean.class, YesNoDataType.class));
System.out.println("Can convert Boolean -> YesNo? " + conversionService.canConvert(YesNoDataType.class, Boolean.class));