Spring Framework 6.1.4 · org.springframework.beans.factory.FactoryBean

Interface to be implemented by objects used within a BeanFactory which are themselves factories for individual objects. If a bean implements this interface, it is used as a factory for an object to expose, not directly as a bean instance that will be exposed itself.

NB: A bean that implements this interface cannot be used as a normal bean. A FactoryBean is defined in a bean style, but the object exposed for bean references (getObject()) is always the object that it creates.

FactoryBeans can support singletons and prototypes, and can either create objects lazily on demand or eagerly on startup. The SmartFactoryBean interface allows for exposing more fine-grained behavioral metadata.

This interface is heavily used within the framework itself, for example for the AOP org.springframework.aop.framework.ProxyFactoryBean or the org.springframework.jndi.JndiObjectFactoryBean. It can be used for custom components as well; however, this is only common for infrastructure code.

FactoryBean is a programmatic contract. Implementations are not supposed to rely on annotation-driven injection or other reflective facilities. getObjectType() getObject() invocations may arrive early in the bootstrap process, even ahead of any post-processor setup. If you need access to other beans, implement BeanFactoryAware and obtain them programmatically.

The container is only responsible for managing the lifecycle of the FactoryBean instance, not the lifecycle of the objects created by the FactoryBean. Therefore, a destroy method on an exposed bean object (such as java.io.Closeable#close()) will not be called automatically. Instead, a FactoryBean should implement DisposableBean and delegate any such close call to the underlying object.

Finally, FactoryBean objects participate in the containing BeanFactory's synchronization of bean creation. There is usually no need for internal synchronization other than for purposes of lazy initialization within the FactoryBean itself (or the like).

Modifier and Type	Field and Description
public static final String	OBJECT_TYPE_ATTRIBUTE The name of an attribute that can be `set` on a `org.springframework.beans.factory.config.BeanDefinition` so that factory beans can signal their object type when it can't be deduced from the factory bean class.

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
public T	Returns: an instance of the bean (can be `null`) getObject() Return an instance (possibly shared or independent) of the object managed by this factory.
public Class<?>	Returns: the type of object that this FactoryBean creates, or `null` if not known at the time of the call getObjectType() Return the type of object that this FactoryBean creates, or `null` if not known in advance.
public default boolean	Returns: whether the exposed object is a singleton isSingleton() Is the object managed by this factory a singleton?

OBJECT_TYPE_ATTRIBUTE	back to summary
public static final String OBJECT_TYPE_ATTRIBUTE The name of an attribute that can be `set` on a `org.springframework.beans.factory.config.BeanDefinition` so that factory beans can signal their object type when it can't be deduced from the factory bean class. Since 5.2

Method Detail

getObject back to summary

getObject	back to summary
public T getObject() throws Exception Return an instance (possibly shared or independent) of the object managed by this factory. As with a `BeanFactory`, this allows support for both the Singleton and Prototype design pattern. If this FactoryBean is not fully initialized yet at the time of the call (for example because it is involved in a circular reference), throw a corresponding `FactoryBeanNotInitializedException`. As of Spring 2.0, FactoryBeans are allowed to return `null` objects. The factory will consider this as normal value to be used; it will not throw a FactoryBeanNotInitializedException in this case anymore. FactoryBean implementations are encouraged to throw FactoryBeanNotInitializedException themselves now, as appropriate. Returns:T an instance of the bean (can be `null`) Annotations @Nullable Exceptions Exception: in case of creation errors See Also `FactoryBeanNotInitializedException`

public T getObject() throws Exception

Return an instance (possibly shared or independent) of the object managed by this factory.

As with a BeanFactory, this allows support for both the Singleton and Prototype design pattern.

If this FactoryBean is not fully initialized yet at the time of the call (for example because it is involved in a circular reference), throw a corresponding FactoryBeanNotInitializedException.

As of Spring 2.0, FactoryBeans are allowed to return null objects. The factory will consider this as normal value to be used; it will not throw a FactoryBeanNotInitializedException in this case anymore. FactoryBean implementations are encouraged to throw FactoryBeanNotInitializedException themselves now, as appropriate.

Returns:T

an instance of the bean (can be null)

Annotations

@Nullable

Exceptions

Exception:: in case of creation errors

See Also

FactoryBeanNotInitializedException

getObjectType back to summary

getObjectType	back to summary
public Class<?> getObjectType() Return the type of object that this FactoryBean creates, or `null` if not known in advance. This allows one to check for specific types of beans without instantiating objects, for example on autowiring. In the case of implementations that are creating a singleton object, this method should try to avoid singleton creation as far as possible; it should rather estimate the type in advance. For prototypes, returning a meaningful type here is advisable too. This method can be called before this FactoryBean has been fully initialized. It must not rely on state created during initialization; of course, it can still use such state if available. Note Autowiring will simply ignore FactoryBeans that return `null` here. Therefore, it is highly recommended to implement this method properly, using the current state of the FactoryBean. Returns:Class<?> the type of object that this FactoryBean creates, or `null` if not known at the time of the call Annotations @Nullable See Also `ListableBeanFactory#getBeansOfType`

public Class<?> getObjectType()

Return the type of object that this FactoryBean creates, or null if not known in advance.

This allows one to check for specific types of beans without instantiating objects, for example on autowiring.

In the case of implementations that are creating a singleton object, this method should try to avoid singleton creation as far as possible; it should rather estimate the type in advance. For prototypes, returning a meaningful type here is advisable too.

This method can be called before this FactoryBean has been fully initialized. It must not rely on state created during initialization; of course, it can still use such state if available.

Note

Autowiring will simply ignore FactoryBeans that return null here. Therefore, it is highly recommended to implement this method properly, using the current state of the FactoryBean.

Returns:Class<?>

the type of object that this FactoryBean creates, or null if not known at the time of the call

Annotations

@Nullable

See Also

ListableBeanFactory#getBeansOfType

isSingleton back to summary

isSingleton	back to summary
public default boolean isSingleton() Is the object managed by this factory a singleton? That is, will `getObject()` always return the same object (a reference that can be cached)? Note If a FactoryBean indicates to hold a singleton object, the object returned from `getObject()` might get cached by the owning BeanFactory. Hence, do not return `true` unless the FactoryBean always exposes the same reference. The singleton status of the FactoryBean itself will generally be provided by the owning BeanFactory; usually, it has to be defined as singleton there. Note This method returning `false` does not necessarily indicate that returned objects are independent instances. An implementation of the extended `SmartFactoryBean` interface may explicitly indicate independent instances through its `SmartFactoryBean#isPrototype()` method. Plain `FactoryBean` implementations which do not implement this extended interface are simply assumed to always return independent instances if the `isSingleton()` implementation returns `false`. The default implementation returns `true`, since a `FactoryBean` typically manages a singleton instance. Returns:boolean whether the exposed object is a singleton See Also `getObject()`, `SmartFactoryBean#isPrototype()`

public default boolean isSingleton()

Is the object managed by this factory a singleton? That is, will getObject() always return the same object (a reference that can be cached)?

Note

If a FactoryBean indicates to hold a singleton object, the object returned from getObject() might get cached by the owning BeanFactory. Hence, do not return true unless the FactoryBean always exposes the same reference.

The singleton status of the FactoryBean itself will generally be provided by the owning BeanFactory; usually, it has to be defined as singleton there.

Note

This method returning false does not necessarily indicate that returned objects are independent instances. An implementation of the extended SmartFactoryBean interface may explicitly indicate independent instances through its SmartFactoryBean#isPrototype() method. Plain FactoryBean implementations which do not implement this extended interface are simply assumed to always return independent instances if the isSingleton() implementation returns false.

The default implementation returns true, since a FactoryBean typically manages a singleton instance.

Returns:boolean: whether the exposed object is a singleton
See Also: getObject(), SmartFactoryBean#isPrototype()

public Interface FactoryBean<T>

Field Summary

Method Summary

Field Detail

Method Detail