I've looked through various documents and questions about it, but I haven't been able to find a clear answer.
I don't know how an interface that extends JpaRepository can be registered as a bean, and why it doesn't need the #Repository annotation.
In Spring, an interface cannot register a bean with that type without an implementation.
So I tried experimenting like JpaRepository myself, but it didn't work.
// JpaRepository
#NoRepositoryBean
public interface WackRepository {
}
// SimpleJpaRepository
#Repository
public class WackRepositoryImpl implements WackRepository {
}
public interface HelloRepository extends WackRepository {
}
#RestController
#RequiredArgsConstructor
public class HelloController {
private final HelloRepository helloRepository;
}
Parameter 0 of constructor in com.example.demo.HelloController required a bean of type 'com.example.demo.HelloRepository' that could not be found
HelloController, of course, has no implementation, so it is not registered as a bean and throws an exception.
Spring Data detects extensions of the Repository Interface.
In Spring Boot the interfaces extending Repository are found automatically without Spring Boot or if the interfaces are not below the SpringBootApplication in the package hierarchy you have to configure the packages:
#EnableJpaRepositories("com.acme.repositories")
Source: https://docs.spring.io/spring-data/jpa/docs/current/reference/html/#repositories.create-instances
For example, have a class like as follows.
First XService service in class A is not null but second XService service in AmountValidator is null.I get NullPointerException I try to create bean new it works and then I get same exception when call AmountValidateService outsideRestService in XService.
How can I use XService everywhere that I use #Autowired annotation.
My main class:
#Service
class A extends AbstractA implements IA {
#Autowired
XService service; //first autowired definition. code go to check() method. service not null now.
public doSometing(){
validator.check();
service.methodA();
super.AbstractMethod();
}
}
Validator class used in class A :
class Validator<T> implements IValidator<T> {
public void check(){
rule.check(); // rule have a implements IValidator eg: amountValidator, dateValidator class
}
}
AmountValidator added to rule in class Validator.
#Component
class AmountValidator implements IValidator<T>{
#Autowired
XService service; // code comes here service is null. same service class mentioned above class A.
#Override
public void check(){
service.validateAmount(); // nullPointerException.
}
}
My main Service
#Component
class XService {
#Autowired
AmountValidateService outsideRestService;
public validateAmount(){
outsideRestService.validate(); // nullPointer when create XService with the `New` keyword
}
}
You have an error cause you are trying to create components/beans/services yourself. As i mentioned in comment when you create components yourself it - #Autowired doesn't work - thats you've got NPE
All classes annotated with #Component, #Service are considered special classes which are instantiated by Spring automatically via DI, instantiating them with new defeats the purpose of DI.
These special classes are named Spring Beans.
Every time the application starts, the framework instances all Spring Beans, and all #Autowired fields are injected by Spring automatically. But the Spring Beans must be defined somewhere in the class path. Else you will receive a NoSuchBeanDefinitionException
As an attempt to answer the question, since I don't have a stack trace nor all the Spring Bean definitions:
When you instantiate XService using new XService() your new instance will not actually initialize the field AmountValidateService outsideRestService, effectively leaving it as null.
You may set the field yourself but as I mentioned earlier, it defeats the purpose of DI
Your question is not complex, it is incomplete.
I have seen many examples of Spring boot wherein we declare an interface which extends crudrepository and declare the CRUUD methods. Post which in Service CLass we autowire the interface and invoke the crud methods from Service class.
Since we are not implementing this interface(which extends CrudRepo in example PersonRepo ) anywhere ,how come spring instantaties it ?
Ex :
interface PersonRepo extends CRUDRepository {
// method declaration
}
#Service
class PersonService{
#Autowire
PersonRepo perrepo;
void insert(){
perrepo.methodname();
}
}
Spring introduces dynamic proxy.
In fact it scans package and get all interfaces which extend Crud Repository interface. For each of them a Dynamic Proxy instance is created. On each call the proxy checks which method is called and uses appropriate annotation. The proxies are used as beans so can be autowired.
I'm developing an application using Spring. I need to use the #Service annotation. I have ServiceI and ServiceImpl such that ServiceImpl implements ServiceI. I'm confused here as to where should I keep the #Service annotation.
Should I annotate the interface or the implementation with #Service? What are the differences between these two approaches?
I never put #Component (or #Service, ...) at an interface, because this make the interface useless. Let me explain why.
claim 1: If you have an interface then you want to use that interface for the injection point type.
claim 2: The purpose of an interface is that it define a contract that can been implemented by several implementations. On the other side you have your injection point (#Autowired). Having just one interface and only one class that implement it, is (IMHO) useless, and violates YAGNI.
fact: When you put:
#Component (or #Service, ...) at an interface,
have multiple classes that implements it,
at least two classes become Spring Beans, and
have an injection point that use the interface for type based injection,
then you will get and NoUniqueBeanDefinitionException
(or you have a very special configurations setup, with Environment, Profiles or Qualifiers ...)
Conclusion: If you use #Component (or #Service, ...) at an interface then you must violate at least one of the two clains. Therefore I think it is not useful (except some rare scenarios) to put #Component at interface level.
Spring-Data-JPA Repository interfaces are something complete different
Basically annotations like #Service, #Repository, #Component, etc. they all serve the same purpose:
auto-detection when using annotation-based configuration and classpath
scanning.
From my experience I am always using #Service annotation on the interfaces or abstract classes and annotations like #Component and #Repository for their implementation. #Component annotation I am using on those classes which serves basic purposes, simple Spring beans, nothing more. #Repository annotation I am using in the DAO layer, for e.g. if I have to communicate to the database, have some transactions, etc.
So I would suggest to annotate your interface with the #Service and other layers depending on the functionality.
I used #Component, #Service, #Controller and #Repository annotations only on the implementation classes and not on the interface. But #Autowired annotation with Interfaces still worked for me. If there's only one implementation of your interface Spring component scan automatically finds it with just #Autowired annotation. In case you have multiple implementations, you will need to use the #Qualifier annotation along with #Autowired to inject the correct implementation at the injection point.
1. #Service on Interfaces
#Service
public interface AuthenticationService {
boolean authenticate(String username, String password);
}
Normally, that's fine, but there's a drawback. By putting Spring's #Service on interfaces, we create an extra dependency and couple our interfaces with an outside library.
Next, to test the autodetection of our new service beans, let's create an implementation of our AuthenticationService:
public class InMemoryAuthenticationService implements AuthenticationService {
#Override
public boolean authenticate(String username, String password) {
//...
}
}
We should pay attention that our new implementation, InMemoryAuthenticationService, doesn't have the #Service annotation on it. We left #Service only on the interface, AuthenticationService.
So, let's run our Spring context with the help of a basic Spring Boot setup:
#SpringBootApplication
public class AuthApplication {
#Autowired
private AuthenticationService authService;
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(AuthApplication.class, args);
}
}
When we run our app, we may get the infamous NoSuchBeanDefinitionException, and the Spring context fails to start.
Therefore, placing #Service on interfaces isn't enough for the auto-detection of Spring components.
2. #Service on Abstract Classes
Using the #Service annotation on abstract classes isn't common.
We'll start by defining an abstract class from scratch and putting the #Service annotation on it:
#Service
public abstract class AbstractAuthenticationService {
public boolean authenticate(String username, String password) {
return false;
}
}
Next, we extend AbstractAuthenticationService to create a concrete implementation without annotating it:
public class LdapAuthenticationService extends AbstractAuthenticationService {
#Override
public boolean authenticate(String username, String password) {
//...
}
}
Accordingly, we also update our AuthApplication, to inject the new service class:
#SpringBootApplication
public class AuthApplication {
#Autowired
private AbstractAuthenticationService authService;
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(AuthApplication.class, args);
}
}
After we run our AuthApplication, the Spring context doesn't start. It ends up with the same NoSuchBeanDefinitionException exception again.
So, using #Service annotation on abstract classes doesn't have any effect in Spring.
3. #Service on Concrete Classes
Contrary to what we've seen above, it's quite a common practice to annotate the implementation classes instead of abstract classes or interfaces.
In this way, our goal is mostly to tell Spring this class is going to be a #Component and mark it with a special stereotype, which is #Service in our case.
Therefore, Spring will autodetect those classes from the classpath and automatically define them as managed beans.
So, let's put #Service on our concrete service classes this time around. We'll have one class that implements our interface and a second that extends the abstract class that we defined previously:
#Service
public class InMemoryAuthenticationService implements AuthenticationService {
#Override
public boolean authenticate(String username, String password) {
//...
}
}
#Service
public class LdapAuthenticationService extends AbstractAuthenticationService {
#Override
public boolean authenticate(String username, String password) {
//...
}
}
We should take notice here that our AbstractAuthenticationService doesn't implement the AuthenticationService here. Hence, we can test them independently.
Finally, we add both of our service classes into the AuthApplication and give it a try:
#SpringBootApplication
public class AuthApplication {
#Autowired
private AuthenticationService inMemoryAuthService;
#Autowired
private AbstractAuthenticationService ldapAuthService;
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(AuthApplication.class, args);
}
}
Our final test gives us a successful result, and the Spring context boots up with no exceptions. Both of the services are automatically registered as beans.
You might have a look at this page for the other explanations.
Pros of putting annotation on #Service is that it gives a hint that it is a service. I don't know if any implementing class will by default inherit this annoation.
Con side is that you are coupling your interface with a specific framework i.e. Spring, by using spring specific annotation.
As interfaces are supposed to be decoupled from implementation, I would not suggest using any framework specific Annotations or object part of your interface.
I would put #Service on your class but put the name of the interface as a parameter to the annotation e.g.
interface ServiceOne {}
#Service("ServiceOne")
class ServiceOneImpl implements ServiceOne{}
By doing that you get all the benefits and can still inject the interface but get the class
#Autowired
private ServiceOne serviceOne;
So your interface is not tied to spring framework and you can change the class at any time and not have to update all your injection points.
So if I wanted to change the implementation class I could just annotate the new class and remove from the first but that's all that is required to be changed. If you inject the class you could have a lot of work when ever you want to change the impl class.
One benefit of spring is to easily switch Service (or other) implementation.
For this, you need to annotate on the interface and declare variable like this :
#Autowired
private MyInterface myVariable;
and not :
#Autowired
private MyClassImplementationWhichImplementsMyInterface myVariable;
Like the first case, you can activate which implementation to inject from the moment it is unique (only one class implements the interface).
In the second case, you need to refactor all your code (the new class implementation has another name).
As a consequence, the annotation needs to be on the interface as much as possible. Furthermore, JDK proxies are well suited for this : they are created and instantiated at application startup because runtime type is known by advance, contrary to CGlib proxies.
interface MyService {}
#Service
class MyServiceImpl implements MyService{}
#Autowired
private MyService myService;
My testing result on spring-boot 2.7.4 is:
Adding #Service ONLY to interface doesn't create spring bean named MyService. It will error on Autowired.
#Service will need to be added to implementation class to create bean com.*.service.impl.MyServiceImpl $$EnhancerBySpringCGLIB$$9140ae19 Spring will wire it to private MyService myService;
There are 5 annotations which could be used for making spring beans. List in below of answers.
Do you really need an interface? If you are going to have one implementation for each service interface, just avoid it, use only class. Of course, if you don't have RMI or when interface proxy is required.
#Repository - use for injecting your dao layer classes.
#Service - use for injecting your service layer classes. In service layer also you might need to use #Transactional annotation for db transaction management.
#Controller - use for your frontend layer controllers, such as JSF managed beans injecting as spring beans.
#RestController - use for spring rest controllers, this would help you to avoid every time to put #ResponseBody and #RequestBody annotations in your rest methods.
#Component - use it in any other case when you need to Inject spring bean which is not controller, service, or dao class
To put it simply:
#Service is a Stereotype annotation for the service layer.
#Repository is a Stereotype annotation for the persistence layer.
#Component is a generic stereotype annotation used to tell Spring to create an instance of the object in the Application Context. It's possible to
define any name for the instance, the default is the class name as camel case.
After going thru autowiring concept
i have got some questions. These are:-
If i need to autowire below class byType or byName , is it mandatory to have setStudent() method in class College?
public class College {
private Student student1;
private String registration1;
}
<bean id="student1" class="Student"/> - in case of byname it will look into id attribute and in case of bytype it will look for class attribute in above
Stetement. Right? If incase it finds two bean dean tags for the same type it will throw fatal error in case of bytype. Correct?
autodetect Scenario chooses constructor or byType through introspection of the bean class. If a default constructor is found, the byType mode
will be applied.
My question here if default constructor is not found and constructor with argument is found then autowire by constructor
will be applied. Correct?
Do we need to specify #Autowired somewhere in College to apply the autowiring. As i can see this in this example
but nothing is specified here
1), 4) There are two separate ways of autowiring in Spring: XML-based and annotaion-based.
XML-based autowiring is activated from XML config, as described here. In the end, it will call setter method, so setStudent() method is required here.
Annonation-based autowiring, on the other hand, is performed via reflection magic. It attempts to fill everything you mark with #Autowired annotation. In fact, it can set private field with no accessors, as in
public class Foo {
#Autowired private Thingy thing; // No getThing or setThing methods
private void doStuff() {
// thing is usable here
}
}
For #Autowired annotaion to work, you will need to define corresponding bean post-processor; it is done by adding the following line to xml config:
<context:annotation-config/>
Note, that these two autowiring methods are independant, and it is possible(but not recommended) to use them simultaneously. In that case, xml autowiring will override annotations.
2) In general, autowiring will fail, if it cannot find one and only one candidate for injection. So, in your case, it will fail with exception upon container creation. There are some fallback quirks, but in general it works reliably.
3) Yes, documentaion says so.
About byName and byType autowiring. While byName autowiring simply tries to match bean name (can be specified with id attribute), byType is a bit more complex than class attribute lookup. It searches beans by type, and it will match interfaces. Example:
public interface SomeService {
void doStuff();
}
public class SomeServiceImpl implements SomeService {
#Override public void doStuff() {
// Implementation
};
}
public class ServiceUser {
#Autowired
private SomeService someService; // SomeServiceImpl instance goes here
}
P.S. You are referencing two different versions of Spring in your question, 2.5 and 3.0. Autowiring behavior is same in both.
In Addition if you are using #Autwired annotation you need to mark the classes as candidates for autowiring. It should be done by using one of these annotations:
#Repository
#Service
#Component
#Controller
and of cause you can configure it in different scopes:
#Scope("prototype")
#Repository
public class MovieFinderImpl implements MovieFinder {
// ...
}
Hope it makes it more clear.