in Spring.config, can I define object of type string?

Question

Can I do something like this:

  <object id="mydb" type="string">
    <value>"blah"</value> <-- note that <value> tag does not really exist
  </object>

So that I could use it later like so:

  <object id="Someobject" type="Sometype">
    <property name="ConnectionString" ref="mydb"/>
  </object>

EDIT: this was SpringFramework.NET solution I was looking for. Looks like PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer exists there too. Thanks everybody.

Answer 1

Use Spring's built-in PropertyPlaceholdConfigurer:

<bean id="PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer" class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer">
   <property name="systemPropertiesModeName" value="SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_MODE_OVERRIDE"/>
   <property name="location" value="classpath*:/application.properties"/>
</bean>

 <bean id="Someobject" class="somepackage.Sometype">
   <property name="connectionString" value="${mydb}"/>
 </bean>

Setting SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_MODE_OVERRIDE allows overriding the property via the command line.

Answer 2

Use placeholders eg ${magic} and define the key/value in a properties file along with a PostProcessor. Google for spring post processor placeholder...

Answer 3

I don't see any advantage to your way at all. It's all still just configuration.

Sometimes people externalize database connection strings to a .properties file and get at them that way. I think that makes more sense than your proposal.