Also: SpringBeans
package

org.springframework.beans

This package contains interfaces and classes for manipulating Java beans. It is used by most other Spring packages.

A BeanWrapper object may be used to set and get bean properties, singly or in bulk.

The classes in this package are discussed in Chapter 11 of Expert One-On-One J2EE Design and Development by Rod Johnson (Wrox, 2002).

Interfaces

BeanMetadataElement Interface to be implemented by bean metadata elements that carry a configuration source object. 
BeanWrapper The central interface of Spring's low-level JavaBeans infrastructure. 
ConfigurablePropertyAccessor Interface that encapsulates configuration methods for a PropertyAccessor. 
Mergeable Interface representing an object whose value set can be merged with that of a parent object. 
PropertyAccessor Common interface for classes that can access named properties (such as bean properties of an object or fields in an object) Serves as base interface for BeanWrapper
PropertyEditorRegistrar Interface for strategies that register custom java.beans.PropertyEditor property editors with a property editor registry
PropertyEditorRegistry Encapsulates methods for registering JavaBeans PropertyEditor PropertyEditors. 
PropertyValues Holder containing one or more PropertyValue objects, typically comprising one update for a specific target bean. 
TypeConverter Interface that defines type conversion methods. 

Classes

AbstractPropertyAccessor Abstract implementation of the PropertyAccessor interface. 
BeanMetadataAttribute Holder for a key-value style attribute that is part of a bean definition. 
BeanMetadataAttributeAccessor Extension of AttributeAccessorSupport, holding attributes as BeanMetadataAttribute objects in order to keep track of the definition source. 
BeanUtils Static convenience methods for JavaBeans: for instantiating beans, checking bean property types, copying bean properties, etc. 
BeanWrapperImpl Default BeanWrapper implementation that should be sufficient for all typical use cases. 
CachedIntrospectionResults Internal class that caches JavaBeans java.beans.PropertyDescriptor information for a Java class. 
DirectFieldAccessor PropertyAccessor implementation that directly accesses instance fields. 
MutablePropertyValues Default implementation of the PropertyValues interface. 
PropertyAccessorFactory Simple factory facade for obtaining PropertyAccessor instances, in particular for BeanWrapper instances. 
PropertyAccessorUtils Utility methods for classes that perform bean property access according to the PropertyAccessor interface. 
PropertyEditorRegistrySupport Base implementation of the PropertyEditorRegistry interface. 
PropertyValue Object to hold information and value for an individual bean property. 
PropertyValuesEditor java.beans.PropertyEditor Editor for a PropertyValues object. 
SimpleTypeConverter Simple implementation of the TypeConverter interface that does not operate on any specific target object. 

Exceptions

BeanInstantiationException Exception thrown when instantiation of a bean failed. 
BeansException Abstract superclass for all exceptions thrown in the beans package and subpackages. 
ConversionNotSupportedException Exception thrown when no suitable editor or converter can be found for a bean property. 
FatalBeanException Thrown on an unrecoverable problem encountered in the beans packages or sub-packages, e.g. 
InvalidPropertyException Exception thrown when referring to an invalid bean property. 
MethodInvocationException Thrown when a bean property getter or setter method throws an exception, analogous to an InvocationTargetException. 
NotReadablePropertyException Exception thrown on an attempt to get the value of a property that isn't readable, because there's no getter method. 
NotWritablePropertyException Exception thrown on an attempt to set the value of a property that is not writable (typically because there is no setter method). 
NullValueInNestedPathException Exception thrown when navigation of a valid nested property path encounters a NullPointerException. 
PropertyAccessException Superclass for exceptions related to a property access, such as type mismatch or invocation target exception. 
PropertyBatchUpdateException Combined exception, composed of individual PropertyAccessException instances. 
TypeMismatchException Exception thrown on a type mismatch when trying to set a bean property.