spring - constructor injection and overriding parent definition of nested bean
- by mdma
I've read the Spring 3 reference on inheriting bean definitions, but I'm confused about what is possible and not possible.
For example, a bean that takes a collaborator bean, configured with the value 12
<bean name="beanService12" class="SomeSevice">
<constructor-arg index="0">
<bean name="beanBaseNested" class="SomeCollaborator">
<constructor-arg index="0" value="12"/>
</bean>
</constructor-arg>
</bean>
I'd then like to be able to create similar beans, with slightly different configured collaborators. Can I do something like
<bean name="beanService13" parent="beanService12">
<constructor-arg index="0">
<bean>
<constructor-arg index="0" value="13"/>
</bean>
</constructor>
</bean>
I'm not sure this is possible and, if it were, it feels a bit clunky. Is there a nicer way to override small parts of a large nested bean definition? It seems the child bean has to know quite a lot about the parent, e.g. constructor index.
I'd prefer not to change the structure - the parent beans use collaborators to perform their function, but I can add properties and use property injection if that helps.
This is a repeated pattern, would creating a custom schema help?
Thanks for any advice!
