Reading a List from properties file and load with spring annotation @Value

Question

I want to have a list of values in a .properties file, ie:

my.list.of.strings=ABC,CDE,EFG

And to load it in my class directly, ie:

@Value("${my.list.of.strings}")
private List<String> myList;

As I understand, an alternative of doing this is to have it in the spring config file, and load it as a bean reference (correct me if I'm wrong), ie

<bean name="list">
 <list>
  <value>ABC</value>
  <value>CDE</value>
  <value>EFG</value>
 </list>
</bean>

But is there any way of doing this? using a .properties file? ps: I would like to do this with out any custom code if possible.

Answer 1

Using Spring EL:

@Value("#{'${my.list.of.strings}'.split(',')}") 
private List<String> myList;

Assuming your properties file is loaded correctly with the following:

my.list.of.strings=ABC,CDE,EFG