Enables Spring's scheduled task execution capability, similar to functionality found in Spring's <task:*> XML namespace. To be used on @Configuration classes as follows:

@Configuration
@EnableScheduling
public class AppConfig {

    // various @Bean definitions
}

This enables detection of @Scheduled annotations on any Spring-managed bean in the container. For example, given a class MyTask:

package com.myco.tasks;

public class MyTask {

    @Scheduled(fixedRate=1000)
    public void work() {
        // task execution logic
    }
}

the following configuration would ensure that MyTask.work() is called once every 1000 ms:

@Configuration
@EnableScheduling
public class AppConfig {

    @Bean
    public MyTask task() {
        return new MyTask();
    }
}

Alternatively, if MyTask were annotated with @Component, the following configuration would ensure that its @Scheduled method is invoked at the desired interval:

@Configuration
@EnableScheduling
@ComponentScan(basePackages="com.myco.tasks")
public class AppConfig {
}

Methods annotated with @Scheduled may even be declared directly within @Configuration classes:

@Configuration
@EnableScheduling
public class AppConfig {

    @Scheduled(fixedRate=1000)
    public void work() {
        // task execution logic
    }
}

By default, Spring will search for an associated scheduler definition: either a unique org.springframework.scheduling.TaskScheduler bean in the context, or a TaskScheduler bean named "taskScheduler" otherwise; the same lookup will also be performed for a java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService bean. If neither of the two is resolvable, a local single-threaded default scheduler will be created and used within the registrar.

When more control is desired, a @Configuration class may implement SchedulingConfigurer. This allows access to the underlying ScheduledTaskRegistrar instance. For example, the following example demonstrates how to customize the Executor used to execute scheduled tasks:

@Configuration
@EnableScheduling
public class AppConfig implements SchedulingConfigurer {

    @Override
    public void configureTasks(ScheduledTaskRegistrar taskRegistrar) {
        taskRegistrar.setScheduler(taskExecutor());
    }

    @Bean(destroyMethod="shutdown")
    public Executor taskExecutor() {
        return Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(100);
    }
}

Note in the example above the use of @Bean(destroyMethod="shutdown"). This ensures that the task executor is properly shut down when the Spring application context itself is closed.

Implementing SchedulingConfigurer also allows for fine-grained control over task registration via the ScheduledTaskRegistrar. For example, the following configures the execution of a particular bean method per a custom Trigger implementation:

@Configuration
@EnableScheduling
public class AppConfig implements SchedulingConfigurer {

    @Override
    public void configureTasks(ScheduledTaskRegistrar taskRegistrar) {
        taskRegistrar.setScheduler(taskScheduler());
        taskRegistrar.addTriggerTask(
            () -> myTask().work(),
            new CustomTrigger()
        );
    }

    @Bean(destroyMethod="shutdown")
    public Executor taskScheduler() {
        return Executors.newScheduledThreadPool(42);
    }

    @Bean
    public MyTask myTask() {
        return new MyTask();
    }
}

For reference, the example above can be compared to the following Spring XML configuration:

<beans>

    <task:annotation-driven scheduler="taskScheduler"/>

    <task:scheduler id="taskScheduler" pool-size="42"/>

    <task:scheduled-tasks scheduler="taskScheduler">
        <task:scheduled ref="myTask" method="work" fixed-rate="1000"/>
    </task:scheduled-tasks>

    <bean id="myTask" class="com.foo.MyTask"/>

</beans>

The examples are equivalent save that in XML a fixed-rate period is used instead of a custom Trigger implementation; this is because the task: namespace scheduled cannot easily expose such support. This is but one demonstration how the code-based approach allows for maximum configurability through direct access to the actual component.

Note: @EnableScheduling applies to its local application context only, allowing for selective scheduling of beans at different levels. Please redeclare @EnableScheduling in each individual context, e.g. the common root web application context and any separate DispatcherServlet application contexts, if you need to apply its behavior at multiple levels.