Cannot get external file properties loaded in Context - spring

Question

I'm setting up a project using Spring 3.2.9.FINAL and I'm just unable to load some properties I've stored in an external file. That's how my application-context.xml looks:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:util="http://www.springframework.org/schema/util"
xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context" xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
xsi:schemaLocation="
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.2.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/util
http://www.springframework.org/schema/util/spring-util-3.2.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.2.xsd">
<context:property-placeholder
location="file:/home/myapp/settings.properties" />
<bean class="foo.Test">
<property name="property" value="${test.property}" />
</bean>
</beans>
That's the content of my settings.properties file:
test.property=Hello world
The foo.Test class is very simple and only contains a String property. In my main method I do this:
public class App {
public static void main(String[] args) {
DefaultListableBeanFactory dlbf = new DefaultListableBeanFactory();
XmlBeanDefinitionReader reader = new XmlBeanDefinitionReader(dlbf);
reader.loadBeanDefinitions(new ClassPathResource(
"/application-context.xml", Test.class));
System.out.println(dlbf.getBean(Test.class).getProperty());
}
}
That's what I get when executing it:
Jun 12, 2014 12:03:38 PM org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader loadBeanDefinitions
INFO: Loading XML bean definitions from class path resource [application-context.xml]
${test.property}
I tried several workarounds based in answers from SO, but nothing seems to work. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

You are loading beans into a BeanFactory whereas you should use an ApplicationContext.
public class App {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ApplicationContext ctx d= new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("application-context.xml");
System.out.println(ctx.getBean(Test.class).getProperty());
}
}
See the reference guide for an explanation of the differences.

Answer 2

Application context loads all beans from spring XML file and doesn't support selective lazy loading but using XML bean factory version (check precise class name ) one can selectively load beans. Please test.