<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<appendix xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" version="5.0"

xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"

xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"

xml:id="extensible-xml">

<title>Extensible XML authoring</title>

<section id="extensible-xml-introduction">

<title>Introduction</title>

<para>Since version 2.0, Spring has featured a mechanism for schema-based extensions

to the basic Spring XML format for defining and configuring beans. This section is

devoted to detailing how you would go about writing your own custom XML bean definition

parsers and integrating such parsers into the Spring IoC container.</para>

<para>To facilitate the authoring of configuration files using a schema-aware XML editor,

Spring's extensible XML configuration mechanism is based on XML Schema. If you are

not familiar with Spring's current XML configuration extensions that come with the

standard Spring distribution, please first read the appendix entitled

<xref linkend="xsd-config"/>.</para>

<para>Creating new XML configuration extensions can be done by following these (relatively)

simple steps:</para>

<para>

<orderedlist numeration="arabic">

<listitem>

<para><link linkend="extensible-xml-schema">Authoring</link> an XML schema to describe your custom element(s).</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para><link linkend="extensible-xml-namespacehandler">Coding</link> a custom <interfacename>NamespaceHandler</interfacename>

implementation (this is an easy step, don't worry).</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para><link linkend="extensible-xml-parser">Coding</link> one or more <interfacename>BeanDefinitionParser</interfacename>

implementations (this is where the real work is done).</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para><link linkend="extensible-xml-registration">Registering</link> the above artifacts with Spring (this too is an easy step).</para>

</listitem>

</orderedlist>

</para>

<para>What follows is a description of each of these steps. For the example, we will create

an XML extension (a custom XML element) that allows us to configure objects of the type

<classname>SimpleDateFormat</classname> (from the <literal>java.text</literal> package)

in an easy manner. When we are done, we will be able to define bean definitions of type

<classname>SimpleDateFormat</classname> like this:</para>

<programlisting language="xml"><![CDATA[<myns:dateformat id="dateFormat"

]]></programlisting>

<para><emphasis>(Don't worry about the fact that this example is very simple; much more

detailed examples follow afterwards. The intent in this first simple example is to walk

you through the basic steps involved.)</emphasis></para>

</section>

<section id="extensible-xml-schema">

<title>Authoring the schema</title>

<para>Creating an XML configuration extension for use with Spring's IoC container

starts with authoring an XML Schema to describe the extension. What follows

is the schema we'll use to configure <classname>SimpleDateFormat</classname>

objects.</para>

<programlisting language="xml"><lineannotation>&lt;!-- myns.xsd (inside package org/springframework/samples/xml) --&gt;</lineannotation><![CDATA[

<emphasis role="bold"><![CDATA[<xsd:extension base="beans:identifiedType">]]></emphasis><![CDATA[

</xsd:schema>]]></programlisting>

<para>(The emphasized line contains an extension base for all tags that

will be identifiable (meaning they have an <literal>id</literal> attribute

that will be used as the bean identifier in the container). We are able to use this

attribute because we imported the Spring-provided <literal>'beans'</literal>

namespace.)</para>

<para>The above schema will be used to configure <classname>SimpleDateFormat</classname>

objects, directly in an XML application context file using the

<literal>&lt;myns:dateformat/&gt;</literal> element.</para>

<programlisting language="xml"><![CDATA[<myns:dateformat id="dateFormat"

]]></programlisting>

<para>Note that after we've created the infrastructure classes, the above snippet of XML

will essentially be exactly the same as the following XML snippet. In other words,

we're just creating a bean in the container, identified by the name

<literal>'dateFormat'</literal> of type <classname>SimpleDateFormat</classname>, with a

couple of properties set.</para>

<programlisting language="xml"><![CDATA[<bean id="dateFormat" class="java.text.SimpleDateFormat">

</bean>]]></programlisting>

<note>

<para>The schema-based approach to creating configuration format allows for

tight integration with an IDE that has a schema-aware XML editor. Using a properly

authored schema, you can use autocompletion to have a user choose between several

configuration options defined in the enumeration.</para>

</note>

</section>

<section id="extensible-xml-namespacehandler">

<title>Coding a <interfacename>NamespaceHandler</interfacename></title>

<para>In addition to the schema, we need a <interfacename>NamespaceHandler</interfacename>

that will parse all elements of this specific namespace Spring encounters

while parsing configuration files. The <interfacename>NamespaceHandler</interfacename>

should in our case take care of the parsing of the <literal>myns:dateformat</literal>

element.</para>

<para>The <interfacename>NamespaceHandler</interfacename> interface is pretty simple in that

it features just three methods:</para>

<itemizedlist spacing="compact">

<listitem>

<para><methodname>init()</methodname> - allows for initialization of

the <interfacename>NamespaceHandler</interfacename> and will be called by Spring

before the handler is used</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para><methodname>BeanDefinition parse(Element, ParserContext)</methodname> -

called when Spring encounters a top-level element (not nested inside a bean definition

or a different namespace). This method can register bean definitions itself and/or

return a bean definition.</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para><methodname>BeanDefinitionHolder decorate(Node, BeanDefinitionHolder, ParserContext)</methodname> -

called when Spring encounters an attribute or nested element of a different namespace.

The decoration of one or more bean definitions is used for example with the

<link linkend="beans-factory-scopes">out-of-the-box scopes Spring 2.0 supports</link>.

We'll start by highlighting a simple example, without using decoration, after which

we will show decoration in a somewhat more advanced example.</para>

</listitem>

</itemizedlist>

<para>Although it is perfectly possible to code your own

<interfacename>NamespaceHandler</interfacename> for the entire namespace

(and hence provide code that parses each and every element in the namespace),

it is often the case that each top-level XML element in a Spring XML

configuration file results in a single bean definition (as in our

case, where a single <literal>&lt;myns:dateformat/&gt;</literal> element

results in a single <classname>SimpleDateFormat</classname> bean definition).

Spring features a number of convenience classes that support this scenario.

In this example, we'll make use the <classname>NamespaceHandlerSupport</classname> class:</para>

<programlisting language="java"><![CDATA[package org.springframework.samples.xml;

public void init() {]]><emphasis role="bold"><![CDATA[

]]></emphasis>}

}</programlisting>

<para>The observant reader will notice that there isn't actually a whole lot of

parsing logic in this class. Indeed... the <classname>NamespaceHandlerSupport</classname>

class has a built in notion of delegation. It supports the registration of any number

of <interfacename>BeanDefinitionParser</interfacename> instances, to which it will delegate

to when it needs to parse an element in its namespace. This clean separation of concerns

allows a <interfacename>NamespaceHandler</interfacename> to handle the orchestration

of the parsing of <emphasis>all</emphasis> of the custom elements in its namespace,

while delegating to <literal>BeanDefinitionParsers</literal> to do the grunt work of the

XML parsing; this means that each <interfacename>BeanDefinitionParser</interfacename> will

contain just the logic for parsing a single custom element, as we can see in the next step</para>

</section>

<section id="extensible-xml-parser">

<title>Coding a <interfacename>BeanDefinitionParser</interfacename></title>

<para>A <interfacename>BeanDefinitionParser</interfacename> will be used if the

<interfacename>NamespaceHandler</interfacename> encounters an XML element of the type

that has been mapped to the specific bean definition parser (which is <literal>'dateformat'</literal>

in this case). In other words, the <interfacename>BeanDefinitionParser</interfacename> is

responsible for parsing <emphasis>one</emphasis> distinct top-level XML element defined in the

schema. In the parser, we'll have access to the XML element (and thus its subelements too)

so that we can parse our custom XML content, as can be seen in the following example:</para>

<programlisting language="java"><![CDATA[package org.springframework.samples.xml;

public class SimpleDateFormatBeanDefinitionParser extends AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionParser { ]]><co id="extensible-xml-parser-simpledateformat-co-1"/><![CDATA[

return SimpleDateFormat.class; ]]><co id="extensible-xml-parser-simpledateformat-co-2"/><![CDATA[

]]><lineannotation>// this will never be null since the schema explicitly requires that a value be supplied</lineannotation><![CDATA[

]]><lineannotation>// this however is an optional property</lineannotation><![CDATA[

}]]></programlisting>

<calloutlist>

<callout arearefs="extensible-xml-parser-simpledateformat-co-1">

<para>We use the Spring-provided <classname>AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionParser</classname>

to handle a lot of the basic grunt work of creating a <emphasis>single</emphasis>

<interfacename>BeanDefinition</interfacename>.</para>

</callout>

<callout arearefs="extensible-xml-parser-simpledateformat-co-2">

<para>We supply the <classname>AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionParser</classname> superclass

with the type that our single <interfacename>BeanDefinition</interfacename> will represent.</para>

</callout>

</calloutlist>

<para>In this simple case, this is all that we need to do. The creation of our single

<interfacename>BeanDefinition</interfacename> is handled by the <classname>AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionParser</classname>

superclass, as is the extraction and setting of the bean definition's unique identifier.</para>

</section>

<section id="extensible-xml-registration">

<title>Registering the handler and the schema</title>

<para>The coding is finished! All that remains to be done is to somehow make the Spring XML

parsing infrastructure aware of our custom element; we do this by registering our custom

<interfacename>namespaceHandler</interfacename> and custom XSD file in two special purpose

properties files. These properties files are both placed in a

<filename class="directory">'META-INF'</filename> directory in your application, and can, for

example, be distributed alongside your binary classes in a JAR file. The Spring XML parsing

infrastructure will automatically pick up your new extension by consuming these special

properties files, the formats of which are detailed below.</para>

<section id="extensible-xml-registration-spring-handlers">

<title><filename>'META-INF/spring.handlers'</filename></title>

<para>The properties file called <filename>'spring.handlers'</filename> contains a mapping

of XML Schema URIs to namespace handler classes. So for our example, we need to write the

following:</para>

<programlisting><![CDATA[http\://www.mycompany.com/schema/myns=org.springframework.samples.xml.MyNamespaceHandler]]></programlisting>

<para><emphasis>(The <literal>':'</literal> character is a valid delimiter in the Java properties format,

and so the <literal>':'</literal> character in the URI needs to be escaped with a backslash.)</emphasis></para>

<para>The first part (the key) of the key-value pair is the URI associated with your custom namespace

extension, and needs to <emphasis>match exactly</emphasis> the value of the

<literal>'targetNamespace'</literal> attribute as specified in your custom XSD schema.</para>

</section>

<section id="extensible-xml-registration-spring-schemas">

<title><filename>'META-INF/spring.schemas'</filename></title>

<para>The properties file called <filename>'spring.schemas'</filename> contains a mapping

of XML Schema locations (referred to along with the schema declaration in XML files

that use the schema as part of the <literal>'xsi:schemaLocation'</literal> attribute)

to <emphasis>classpath</emphasis> resources. This file is needed to prevent Spring from

absolutely having to use a default <interfacename>EntityResolver</interfacename> that requires

Internet access to retrieve the schema file. If you specify the mapping in this properties file,

Spring will search for the schema on the classpath (in this case <literal>'myns.xsd'</literal>

in the <literal>'org.springframework.samples.xml'</literal> package):</para>

<programlisting><![CDATA[http\://www.mycompany.com/schema/myns/myns.xsd=org/springframework/samples/xml/myns.xsd]]></programlisting>

<para>The upshot of this is that you are encouraged to deploy your XSD file(s) right alongside

the <interfacename>NamespaceHandler</interfacename> and <interfacename>BeanDefinitionParser</interfacename>

classes on the classpath.</para>

</section>

</section>

<section id="extensible-xml-using">

<title>Using a custom extension in your Spring XML configuration</title>

<para>Using a custom extension that you yourself have implemented is no different from

using one of the 'custom' extensions that Spring provides straight out of the box. Find below

an example of using the custom <literal>&lt;dateformat/&gt;</literal> element developed in the

previous steps in a Spring XML configuration file.</para>

<programlisting language="xml"><![CDATA[<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

]]><lineannotation>&lt;!-- as a top-level bean --&gt;</lineannotation><![CDATA[

]]><lineannotation>&lt;!-- as an inner bean --&gt;</lineannotation><![CDATA[

</beans>]]></programlisting>

</section>

<section id="extensible-xml-meat">

<title>Meatier examples</title>

<para>Find below some much meatier examples of custom XML extensions.</para>

<section id="extensible-xml-custom-nested">

<title>Nesting custom tags within custom tags</title>

<para>This example illustrates how you might go about writing the various artifacts

required to satisfy a target of the following configuration:</para>

<programlisting language="xml"><![CDATA[<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

]]><lineannotation><![CDATA[<foo:component id="bionic-family" name="Bionic-1">

</foo:component>]]></lineannotation><![CDATA[

</beans>]]></programlisting>

<para>The above configuration actually nests custom extensions within each other. The class

that is actually configured by the above <literal>&lt;foo:component/&gt;</literal>

element is the <classname>Component</classname> class (shown directly below). Notice

how the <classname>Component</classname> class does <emphasis>not</emphasis> expose

a setter method for the <literal>'components'</literal> property; this makes it hard

(or rather impossible) to configure a bean definition for the <classname>Component</classname>

class using setter injection.</para>

<programlisting language="java"><![CDATA[package com.foo;

]]><lineannotation>// mmm, there is no setter method for the <literal>'components'</literal></lineannotation><![CDATA[

}]]></programlisting>

<para>The typical solution to this issue is to create a custom <interfacename>FactoryBean</interfacename>

that exposes a setter property for the <literal>'components'</literal> property.</para>

<programlisting language="java"><![CDATA[package com.foo;

}]]></programlisting>

<para>This is all very well, and does work nicely, but exposes a lot of Spring plumbing to the

end user. What we are going to do is write a custom extension that hides away all of this

Spring plumbing. If we stick to <link linkend="extensible-xml-introduction">the steps described

previously</link>, we'll start off by creating the XSD schema to define the structure of

our custom tag.</para>

<programlisting language="xml"><![CDATA[<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>

]]></programlisting>

<para>We'll then create a custom <interfacename>NamespaceHandler</interfacename>.</para>

<programlisting language="java"><![CDATA[package com.foo;

}]]></programlisting>

<para>Next up is the custom <interfacename>BeanDefinitionParser</interfacename>. Remember

that what we are creating is a <interfacename>BeanDefinition</interfacename> describing

a <classname>ComponentFactoryBean</classname>.</para>

<programlisting language="java"><![CDATA[package com.foo;

}]]></programlisting>

<para>Lastly, the various artifacts need to be registered with the Spring XML infrastructure.</para>

<programlisting><lineannotation># in <filename>'META-INF/spring.handlers'</filename></lineannotation><![CDATA[

http\://www.foo.com/schema/component=com.foo.ComponentNamespaceHandler]]></programlisting>

<programlisting><lineannotation># in <filename>'META-INF/spring.schemas'</filename></lineannotation><![CDATA[

http\://www.foo.com/schema/component/component.xsd=com/foo/component.xsd]]></programlisting>

</section>

<section id="extensible-xml-custom-just-attributes">

<title>Custom attributes on 'normal' elements</title>

<para>Writing your own custom parser and the associated artifacts isn't hard, but sometimes it

is not the right thing to do. Consider the scenario where you need to add metadata to already

existing bean definitions. In this case you certainly don't want to have to go off and write

your own entire custom extension; rather you just want to add an additional attribute

to the existing bean definition element.</para>

<para>By way of another example, let's say that the service class that you are defining a bean

definition for a service object that will (unknown to it) be accessing a clustered

<ulink url="http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=107">JCache</ulink>, and you want to ensure that

the named JCache instance is eagerly started within the surrounding cluster:</para>

<programlisting language="xml"><![CDATA[<bean id="checkingAccountService" class="com.foo.DefaultCheckingAccountService"

]]><lineannotation><emphasis role="bold">jcache:cache-name="checking.account"&gt;</emphasis></lineannotation><![CDATA[

]]><lineannotation>&lt;!-- other dependencies here... --&gt;</lineannotation><![CDATA[

</bean>]]></programlisting>

<para>What we are going to do here is create another <interfacename>BeanDefinition</interfacename>

when the <literal>'jcache:cache-name'</literal> attribute is parsed; this

<interfacename>BeanDefinition</interfacename> will then initialize the named JCache

for us. We will also modify the existing <interfacename>BeanDefinition</interfacename> for the

<literal>'checkingAccountService'</literal> so that it will have a dependency on this

new JCache-initializing <interfacename>BeanDefinition</interfacename>.</para>

<programlisting language="java"><![CDATA[package com.foo;

]]><lineannotation>// lots of JCache API calls to initialize the named cache...</lineannotation><![CDATA[

}]]></programlisting>

<para>Now onto the custom extension. Firstly, the authoring of the XSD schema describing the

custom attribute (quite easy in this case).</para>

<programlisting language="xml"><![CDATA[<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>

]]></programlisting>

<para>Next, the associated <interfacename>NamespaceHandler</interfacename>.</para>

<programlisting language="java"><![CDATA[package com.foo;

]]></programlisting>

<para>Next, the parser. Note that in this case, because we are going to be parsing an XML

attribute, we write a <interfacename>BeanDefinitionDecorator</interfacename> rather than a

<interfacename>BeanDefinitionParser</interfacename>.</para>

<programlisting language="java"><![CDATA[package com.foo;

]]></programlisting>

<para>Lastly, the various artifacts need to be registered with the Spring XML infrastructure.</para>

<programlisting><lineannotation># in <filename>'META-INF/spring.handlers'</filename></lineannotation><![CDATA[

http\://www.foo.com/schema/jcache=com.foo.JCacheNamespaceHandler]]></programlisting>

<programlisting><lineannotation># in <filename>'META-INF/spring.schemas'</filename></lineannotation><![CDATA[

http\://www.foo.com/schema/jcache/jcache.xsd=com/foo/jcache.xsd]]></programlisting>

</section>

</section>

<section id="extensible-xml-resources">

<title>Further Resources</title>

<para>Find below links to further resources concerning XML Schema and the extensible XML support

described in this chapter.</para>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem>

<para>The <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xmlschema-1-20041028/">XML Schema Part 1: Structures Second Edition</ulink></para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>The <ulink url="http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xmlschema-2-20041028/">XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes Second Edition</ulink></para>

</listitem>

</itemizedlist>

</section>

</appendix>