使用Spring的XML配置解析器

Question

I'm currently re-factoring a legacy application to use Spring but I currently have a pretty big sticking point:

We have an XML configuration file for the application which determines not only how an object is configured but also which objects should be used ie (if xmlNode.text = 'A' then use object A). I therefore need to be able to parse the XML config in order to know which beans would be injected.

Does anybody know of a way of doing this?

Kind Regards,

JLove

Answer 1

It's XML - use a DOM parser and walk the tree.

It feels like you're defeating the purpose of Spring. You could create factories that would act as virtual constructors and do the same thing. Maybe you should reconsider this design.

Answer 2

I would favor replacing the old XML configuration file completely with a Spring application context file. Leaving the old configuration in place sounds like a half-baked migration which will probably give you pain quite soon.

Spring supports bean creation using a static factory method. Maybe you could use this to handle the custom object creation you mention.

Answer 3

Use a SAXParser or DOMParser? Google for JAXP (Java API for XML Processing), especially the DocumentBuilderFactory and SAXParserFactory.

You can find a really helpful introduction here: JAXP