org.springframework.web.context
Class ContextLoader

public class ContextLoader

Performs the actual initialization work for the root application context. Called by ContextLoaderListener and ContextLoaderServlet.

Regards a "contextClass" parameter at the web.xml context-param level, falling back to the default context class (XmlWebApplicationContext) if not found. With the default ContextLoader, a context class needs to implement ConfigurableWebApplicationContext.

Passes a "contextConfigLocation" context-param to the context instance, parsing it into potentially multiple file paths which can be separated by any number of commas and spaces, like "applicationContext1.xml, applicationContext2.xml". If not explicitly specified, the context implementation is supposed to use a default location (with XmlWebApplicationContext: "/WEB-INF/applicationContext.xml").

Note: In case of multiple config locations, later bean definitions will override ones defined in earlier loaded files, at least when using one of Spring's default ApplicationContext implementations. This can be leveraged to deliberately override certain bean definitions via an extra XML file.

Author:

Juergen Hoeller, Colin Sampaleanu

Since: 17.02.2003

See Also: ContextLoaderListener, ContextLoaderServlet, ConfigurableWebApplicationContext, XmlWebApplicationContext

public final static String CONFIG_LOCATION_PARAM

Name of servlet context parameter that can specify the config location for the root context, falling back to DEFAULT_CONFIG_LOCATION.

public final static String CONTEXT_CLASS_PARAM

Config param for the root WebApplicationContext implementation class to use: "contextClass"

public final static Class DEFAULT_CONTEXT_CLASS

Default context class for ContextLoader.

See Also:

XmlWebApplicationContext

public void closeWebApplicationContext(ServletContext servletContext)
                                 throws org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextException

Close Spring's web application context for the given servlet context.

Parameters:

servletContext - current servlet context

public WebApplicationContext initWebApplicationContext(ServletContext servletContext)
                                                 throws org.springframework.beans.BeansException

Initialize Spring's web application context for the given servlet context, regarding the "contextClass" and "contextConfigLocation" context-params.

Parameters:

servletContext - current servlet context

Returns: the new WebApplicationContext

Throws:

BeansException - if the context couldn't be initialized

See Also:

CONTEXT_CLASS_PARAM, CONFIG_LOCATION_PARAM

Association Links

to Class java.lang.String

Config param for the root WebApplicationContext implementation class to use: "contextClass"

to Class java.lang.Class

Default context class for ContextLoader.

see org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext

to Class java.lang.String

Name of servlet context parameter that can specify the config location for the root context, falling back to DEFAULT_CONFIG_LOCATION.