Spring
also provides to use collections framework, values can be injected into
collections type (List, Set, Map, and Properties). Spring supports majorly four
types of collections.
All
collections which spring uses have same definition as defined in java.
- List <list>: A list of values can be injected while having the duplicates.
- Set <set>: A list of values can be injected while having the no duplicate elements.
- Map <map>: In this collection a key-value pair elements are injected, which can be of any types.
- Property <props>: A name-values pair collection are injected in this property tag, this tag has condition that both name and value must be of String type.
In
this tutorial we will see that how list collection holds the reference of
beans. List collection can be used to hold the values as well.
Let’s
get into this detail with following block of code.
Let’s
create a project say “SpringTutorial” now add the required jar support to
spring, to add the jar you can follow the Spring Tutorial 02 -My First 'Hello World' Program in Spring blog.
Now
create a package with the name of “org.javaIsEasy.springCollectionExample“.
Now
create a java file with the name of “Rectangle.java” in this package.
Rectangle.java
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package
org.javaIsEasy.springCollectionExample;
public
class Rectangle {
private int length;
private int width;
public int getLength() {
return length;
}
public void setLength(int length) {
this.length = length;
}
public int getWidth() {
return width;
}
public void setWidth(int width) {
this.width = width;
}
}
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Create
another java file in the same package with the name of “Area.java”.
In
the Area file we will be creating object of the Rectangle class, we will give
the reference of the Rectangle class in this Area class. So let’s see how it
goes.
Area.java
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package
org.javaIsEasy.springCollectionExample;
import
java.util.List;
public
class Area {
private List<Rectangle>
rectangle;
public List<Rectangle>
getRectangle() {
return rectangle;
}
public void
setRectangle(List<Rectangle> rectangle) {
this.rectangle =
rectangle;
}
}
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Now
create another java file with the name of “CallAreaApplication.java” in the
same package.
This
class has the main method; configuration file will be loaded in this class and
let’s see how bean is called here.
CallAreaApplication.java
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package
org.javaIsEasy.springCollectionExample;
import
java.util.ArrayList;
import
org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import
org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
public
class CallAreaApplication {
public
static void main(String[] args) {
ApplicationContext context = new
ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("org/javaIsEasy/springCollectionExample/Beans.xml");
Area
area=(Area)context.getBean("AreaBean");
ArrayList<Rectangle>
rectangleDataList=(ArrayList<Rectangle>) area.getRectangle();
System.out.println("Small
Area ------> Length : "+rectangleDataList.get(0).getLength()+" And
Width : "+rectangleDataList.get(0).getWidth());
System.out.println("Medium
Area ------> Length : "+rectangleDataList.get(1).getLength()+" And
Width : "+rectangleDataList.get(1).getWidth());
System.out.println("Big
Area ------> Length : "+rectangleDataList.get(2).getLength()+" And
Width : "+rectangleDataList.get(2).getWidth());
}
}
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Now
we have to create bean configuration file with the name of “Beans.xml” in the
same package.
Here
the Beans.xml file is used to define spring bean configuration. The following
code shows how to create inner beans.
Beans.xml
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<?xml
version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans
xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd">
<bean id="AreaBean"
class="org.javaIsEasy.springCollectionExample.Area">
<property
name="rectangle">
<list>
<ref
bean="smallArea"/>
<ref
bean="mediumArea"/>
<ref
bean="bigArea"/>
</list>
</property>
</bean>
<bean id="smallArea"
class="org.javaIsEasy.springCollectionExample.Rectangle">
<property name="length"
value="3"/>
<property name="width"
value="2"/>
</bean>
<bean id="mediumArea"
class="org.javaIsEasy.springCollectionExample.Rectangle">
<property name="length"
value="6"/>
<property name="width"
value="4"/>
</bean>
<bean id="bigArea"
class="org.javaIsEasy.springCollectionExample.Rectangle">
<property name="length"
value="8"/>
<property name="width"
value="6"/>
</bean>
</beans>
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Structure
of the project :
Spring_Tutorial_11_01
Let’s
run this program to get the result:
Output:
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smallArea
length–>3, width–>2
mediumArea
length–>6, width–>4
bigArea
length–>8, width–>6
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