@Resource returns null when getBean does not

Question

I have a piece of code that uses Spring dependency injection with ApplicationContext

public abstract class BigDataParent {

    private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(BigDataOperation.class);

    protected static ApplicationContext context =
            new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("file.xml");

    ...
}

And the child:

public class BigBadChild extends BigDataParent  {

    private Something query;

    @Override
    public void doSomething() {
        query = (Something) context.getBean("beanName");

        ....
    }
}

I want to change the injection to use annotations instead of context, so I have just changed the child class to

public class BigBadChild extends BigDataParent  {

    @Resource(name = "beanName")
    private Something query;

    @Override
    public void doSomething() {
        // Removed query = (Something) context.getBean("beanName");

        ....
    }
}

I have also changed my xml configuration file and have added

<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.0.xsd">

<context:annotation-config />

But now I'm getting that query is null. I bet that I am missing something basic, but what is it? Thank you.

EDIT:

Something is an interface that has several implementations, I'm choosing the implementation in the xml file file.xml . When I'm doing so using context.getBean() , it works and I have the right implementation, but when using @Reousrce ( javax.annotation.Resource ) I'm getting null.

What is the difference in flow when using context.getBean() and @Resource? Is there something different to how and when the values are initialized that might cause this?

EDIT #2: My list of dependencies:

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.httpcomponents</groupId>
        <artifactId>httpcore</artifactId>
        <version>4.3.1</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.httpcomponents</groupId>
        <artifactId>httpclient</artifactId>
        <version>4.3.1</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>commons-configuration</groupId>
        <artifactId>commons-configuration</artifactId>
        <version>1.6</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
        <version>4.0.2.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
        <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
        <version>3.2</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>commons-dbcp</groupId>
        <artifactId>commons-dbcp</artifactId>
        <version>1.4</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
        <artifactId>jackson-mapper-asl</artifactId>
        <version>1.9.13</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
        <artifactId>hibernate-entitymanager</artifactId>
        <version>4.3.4.Final</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
        <artifactId>hibernate-c3p0</artifactId>
        <version>4.3.1.Final</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
        <artifactId>hibernate-envers</artifactId>
        <version>4.3.4.Final</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.h2database</groupId>
        <artifactId>h2</artifactId>
        <version>1.3.175</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>log4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
        <version>1.2.17</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.7.5</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
        <artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
        <version>1.7.6</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>junit</groupId>
        <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
        <version>4.11</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.dbunit</groupId>
        <artifactId>dbunit</artifactId>
        <version>2.4.9</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.mockito</groupId>
        <artifactId>mockito-all</artifactId>
        <version>1.9.5</version>
        <scope>test</scope>
    </dependency>

</dependencies>

Answer 1

By specifying

<context:annotation-config />

Spring registers a number of BeanPostProcessor beans to perform bean injection. One of these is CommonAnnotationBeanPostProcessor which handles @Resource annotated members.

This BeanPostProcessor is only registered if javax.annotation.Resource is on the classpath when the program runs.

You must be running the application without providing it to the classpath.

---

Note that you must be providing it at compilation time, otherwise any references to it would fail. This is not the same as providing it at run time.