public interface

ListableBeanFactory

implements BeanFactory
org.springframework.beans.factory.ListableBeanFactory
Known Indirect Subclasses

Class Overview

Extension of the BeanFactory interface to be implemented by bean factories that can enumerate all their bean instances, rather than attempting bean lookup by name one by one as requested by clients. BeanFactory implementations that preload all their bean definitions (such as XML-based factories) may implement this interface.

If this is a HierarchicalBeanFactory, the return values will not take any BeanFactory hierarchy into account, but will relate only to the beans defined in the current factory. Use the BeanFactoryUtils helper class to consider beans in ancestor factories too.

The methods in this interface will just respect bean definitions of this factory. They will ignore any singleton beans that have been registered by other means like ConfigurableBeanFactory's registerSingleton method, with the exception of getBeanNamesOfType and getBeansOfType which will check such manually registered singletons too. Of course, BeanFactory's getBean does allow transparent access to such special beans as well. However, in typical scenarios, all beans will be defined by external bean definitions anyway, so most applications don't need to worry about this differentation.

NOTE: With the exception of getBeanDefinitionCount and containsBeanDefinition, the methods in this interface are not designed for frequent invocation. Implementations may be slow.

Summary

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Inherited Constants
From interface org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory
Public Methods
abstract boolean containsBeanDefinition(String beanName)
Check if this bean factory contains a bean definition with the given name.
abstract <A extends Annotation> A findAnnotationOnBean(String beanName, Class<A> annotationType)
Find a Annotation of annotationType on the specified bean, traversing its interfaces and super classes if no annotation can be found on the given class itself.
abstract int getBeanDefinitionCount()
Return the number of beans defined in the factory.
abstract String[] getBeanDefinitionNames()
Return the names of all beans defined in this factory.
abstract String[] getBeanNamesForType(Class<?> type, boolean includeNonSingletons, boolean allowEagerInit)
Return the names of beans matching the given type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.
abstract String[] getBeanNamesForType(Class<?> type)
Return the names of beans matching the given type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.
abstract <T> Map<String, T> getBeansOfType(Class<T> type)
Return the bean instances that match the given object type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.
abstract <T> Map<String, T> getBeansOfType(Class<T> type, boolean includeNonSingletons, boolean allowEagerInit)
Return the bean instances that match the given object type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.
abstract Map<StringObject> getBeansWithAnnotation(Class<? extends Annotation> annotationType)
Find all beans whose Class has the supplied Annotation type.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From interface org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory

Public Methods

public abstract boolean containsBeanDefinition (String beanName)

Also: SpringBeans

Check if this bean factory contains a bean definition with the given name.

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in, and ignores any singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

Parameters
beanName the name of the bean to look for
Returns
  • if this bean factory contains a bean definition with the given name

public abstract A findAnnotationOnBean (String beanName, Class<A> annotationType)

Also: SpringBeans

Find a Annotation of annotationType on the specified bean, traversing its interfaces and super classes if no annotation can be found on the given class itself.

Parameters
beanName the name of the bean to look for annotations on
annotationType the annotation class to look for
Returns
  • the annotation of the given type found, or null

public abstract int getBeanDefinitionCount ()

Also: SpringBeans

Return the number of beans defined in the factory.

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in, and ignores any singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

Returns
  • the number of beans defined in the factory

public abstract String[] getBeanDefinitionNames ()

Also: SpringBeans

Return the names of all beans defined in this factory.

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in, and ignores any singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

Returns
  • the names of all beans defined in this factory, or an empty array if none defined

public abstract String[] getBeanNamesForType (Class<?> type, boolean includeNonSingletons, boolean allowEagerInit)

Also: SpringBeans

Return the names of beans matching the given type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.

NOTE: This method introspects top-level beans only. It does not check nested beans which might match the specified type as well.

Does consider objects created by FactoryBeans if the "allowEagerInit" flag is set, which means that FactoryBeans will get initialized. If the object created by the FactoryBean doesn't match, the raw FactoryBean itself will be matched against the type. If "allowEagerInit" is not set, only raw FactoryBeans will be checked (which doesn't require initialization of each FactoryBean).

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in. Use BeanFactoryUtils' beanNamesForTypeIncludingAncestors to include beans in ancestor factories too.

Note: Does not ignore singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

Bean names returned by this method should always return bean names in the order of definition in the backend configuration, as far as possible.

Parameters
type the class or interface to match, or null for all bean names
includeNonSingletons whether to include prototype or scoped beans too or just singletons (also applies to FactoryBeans)
allowEagerInit whether to initialize lazy-init singletons and objects created by FactoryBeans (or by factory methods with a "factory-bean" reference) for the type check. Note that FactoryBeans need to be eagerly initialized to determine their type: So be aware that passing in "true" for this flag will initialize FactoryBeans and "factory-bean" references.
Returns
  • the names of beans (or objects created by FactoryBeans) matching the given object type (including subclasses), or an empty array if none

public abstract String[] getBeanNamesForType (Class<?> type)

Also: SpringBeans

Return the names of beans matching the given type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.

NOTE: This method introspects top-level beans only. It does not check nested beans which might match the specified type as well.

Does consider objects created by FactoryBeans, which means that FactoryBeans will get initialized. If the object created by the FactoryBean doesn't match, the raw FactoryBean itself will be matched against the type.

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in. Use BeanFactoryUtils' beanNamesForTypeIncludingAncestors to include beans in ancestor factories too.

Note: Does not ignore singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

This version of getBeanNamesForType matches all kinds of beans, be it singletons, prototypes, or FactoryBeans. In most implementations, the result will be the same as for getBeanNamesOfType(type, true, true).

Bean names returned by this method should always return bean names in the order of definition in the backend configuration, as far as possible.

Parameters
type the class or interface to match, or null for all bean names
Returns
  • the names of beans (or objects created by FactoryBeans) matching the given object type (including subclasses), or an empty array if none

public abstract Map<String, T> getBeansOfType (Class<T> type)

Also: SpringBeans

Return the bean instances that match the given object type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.

NOTE: This method introspects top-level beans only. It does not check nested beans which might match the specified type as well.

Does consider objects created by FactoryBeans, which means that FactoryBeans will get initialized. If the object created by the FactoryBean doesn't match, the raw FactoryBean itself will be matched against the type.

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in. Use BeanFactoryUtils' beansOfTypeIncludingAncestors to include beans in ancestor factories too.

Note: Does not ignore singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

This version of getBeansOfType matches all kinds of beans, be it singletons, prototypes, or FactoryBeans. In most implementations, the result will be the same as for getBeansOfType(type, true, true).

The Map returned by this method should always return bean names and corresponding bean instances in the order of definition in the backend configuration, as far as possible.

Parameters
type the class or interface to match, or null for all concrete beans
Returns
  • a Map with the matching beans, containing the bean names as keys and the corresponding bean instances as values
Throws
BeansException if a bean could not be created

public abstract Map<String, T> getBeansOfType (Class<T> type, boolean includeNonSingletons, boolean allowEagerInit)

Also: SpringBeans

Return the bean instances that match the given object type (including subclasses), judging from either bean definitions or the value of getObjectType in the case of FactoryBeans.

NOTE: This method introspects top-level beans only. It does not check nested beans which might match the specified type as well.

Does consider objects created by FactoryBeans if the "allowEagerInit" flag is set, which means that FactoryBeans will get initialized. If the object created by the FactoryBean doesn't match, the raw FactoryBean itself will be matched against the type. If "allowEagerInit" is not set, only raw FactoryBeans will be checked (which doesn't require initialization of each FactoryBean).

Does not consider any hierarchy this factory may participate in. Use BeanFactoryUtils' beansOfTypeIncludingAncestors to include beans in ancestor factories too.

Note: Does not ignore singleton beans that have been registered by other means than bean definitions.

The Map returned by this method should always return bean names and corresponding bean instances in the order of definition in the backend configuration, as far as possible.

Parameters
type the class or interface to match, or null for all concrete beans
includeNonSingletons whether to include prototype or scoped beans too or just singletons (also applies to FactoryBeans)
allowEagerInit whether to initialize lazy-init singletons and objects created by FactoryBeans (or by factory methods with a "factory-bean" reference) for the type check. Note that FactoryBeans need to be eagerly initialized to determine their type: So be aware that passing in "true" for this flag will initialize FactoryBeans and "factory-bean" references.
Returns
  • a Map with the matching beans, containing the bean names as keys and the corresponding bean instances as values
Throws
BeansException if a bean could not be created

public abstract Map<StringObject> getBeansWithAnnotation (Class<? extends Annotation> annotationType)

Also: SpringBeans

Find all beans whose Class has the supplied Annotation type.

Parameters
annotationType the type of annotation to look for
Returns
  • a Map with the matching beans, containing the bean names as keys and the corresponding bean instances as values
Throws
BeansException if a bean could not be created