@Bean annotation on a static method

Question

Can anyone explain me why a @Bean on a static method is returning 2 different instances ?

I can understand that @Bean on a method non static li

Answer 1

@Bean annotated methods get proxied in order to provide the correct bean instance. Static methods do not get proxied. Hence in your case bbb() invocation each time gives a new instance of B.

PropertySourcesPlaceholderConfigurer class is a special kind of bean since it implements BeanFactoryPostProcessor. In the container lifecycle, a BeanFactoryPostProcessor object must be instantiated earlier than an object of @Configuration-annotated class. Also you don't need to call this static method.

See Bootstrapping section in the java doc : [http://docs.spring.io/spring/docs/4.2.x/javadoc-api/org/springframework/context/annotation/Bean.html][1]

Special consideration must be taken for @Bean methods that return Spring BeanFactoryPostProcessor (BFPP) types. Because BFPP objects must be instantiated very early in the container lifecycle, they can interfere with processing of annotations such as @Autowired, @Value, and @PostConstruct within @Configuration classes. To avoid these lifecycle issues, mark BFPP-returning @Bean methods as static