how to reference a bean of another xml file in spring

Question

I have a Spring bean defined in an xml file. I want to reference it from another xml file. How can I go about it?

Answer 1

You have a couple of options:

Import

Include in the ApplicationContext Construction

Make both files a part of your ApplicationContext when you create it => then no import is needed.

For example if you need it during testing:

@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
@ContextConfiguration({ "classpath:META-INF/conf/spring/this-xml-conf.xml",
                    "classpath:META-INF/conf/spring/that-other-xml-conf.xml" })
public class CleverMoneyMakingBusinessServiceIntegrationTest {...}

In case it is a web app, you'd do it in web.xml:

 
    contextConfigLocation
    WEB-INF/conf/spring/this-xml-conf.xml
    WEB-INF/conf/spring/that-other-xml-conf.xml


 
    org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener

If it is a stand alone app, library, etc.. you would load your ApplicationContext as:

new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext( 
    new String[] { "classpath:META-INF/conf/spring/this-xml-conf.xml",
                   "classpath:META-INF/conf/spring/that-other-xml-conf.xml" } );