[java] Init method in Spring Controller (annotation version)

There are several ways to intercept the initialization process in Spring. If you have to initialize all beans and autowire/inject them there are at least two ways that I know of that will ensure this. I have only testet the second one but I belive both work the same.

If you are using @Bean you can reference by initMethod, like this.

@Configuration
public class BeanConfiguration {

  @Bean(initMethod="init")
  public BeanA beanA() {
    return new BeanA();
  }
}

public class BeanA {

  // method to be initialized after context is ready
  public void init() {
  }

} 

If you are using @Component you can annotate with @EventListener like this.

@Component
public class BeanB {

  @EventListener
  public void onApplicationEvent(ContextRefreshedEvent event) {
  }
}

In my case I have a legacy system where I am now taking use of IoC/DI where Spring Boot is the choosen framework. The old system brings many circular dependencies to the table and I therefore must use setter-dependency a lot. That gave me some headaches since I could not trust @PostConstruct since autowiring/injection by setter was not yet done. The order is constructor, @PostConstruct then autowired setters. I solved it with @EventListener annotation which wil run last and at the "same" time for all beans. The example shows implementation of InitializingBean aswell.

I have two classes (@Component) with dependency to each other. The classes looks the same for the purpose of this example displaying only one of them.

@Component
public class BeanA implements InitializingBean {
  private BeanB beanB;

  public BeanA() {
    log.debug("Created...");
  }

  @PostConstruct
  private void postConstruct() {
    log.debug("@PostConstruct");
  }

  @Autowired
  public void setBeanB(BeanB beanB) {
    log.debug("@Autowired beanB");
    this.beanB = beanB;
  }

  @Override
  public void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception {
    log.debug("afterPropertiesSet()");
  }

  @EventListener
  public void onApplicationEvent(ContextRefreshedEvent event) {
    log.debug("@EventListener");
  } 
}

This is the log output showing the order of the calls when the container starts.

2018-11-30 18:29:30.504 DEBUG 3624 --- [           main] com.example.demo.BeanA                   : Created...
2018-11-30 18:29:30.509 DEBUG 3624 --- [           main] com.example.demo.BeanB                   : Created...
2018-11-30 18:29:30.517 DEBUG 3624 --- [           main] com.example.demo.BeanB                   : @Autowired beanA
2018-11-30 18:29:30.518 DEBUG 3624 --- [           main] com.example.demo.BeanB                   : @PostConstruct
2018-11-30 18:29:30.518 DEBUG 3624 --- [           main] com.example.demo.BeanB                   : afterPropertiesSet()
2018-11-30 18:29:30.518 DEBUG 3624 --- [           main] com.example.demo.BeanA                   : @Autowired beanB
2018-11-30 18:29:30.518 DEBUG 3624 --- [           main] com.example.demo.BeanA                   : @PostConstruct
2018-11-30 18:29:30.518 DEBUG 3624 --- [           main] com.example.demo.BeanA                   : afterPropertiesSet()
2018-11-30 18:29:30.607 DEBUG 3624 --- [           main] com.example.demo.BeanA                   : @EventListener
2018-11-30 18:29:30.607 DEBUG 3624 --- [           main] com.example.demo.BeanB                   : @EventListener

As you can see @EventListener is run last after everything is ready and configured.