Implement a simple factory pattern with Spring 3 annotations

Question

I was wondering how I could implement the simple factory pattern with Spring 3 annotations. I saw in the documentation that you can create beans that call the factory class and run a factory method. I was wondering if this was possible using annotations only.

I have a controller that currently calls

MyService myService = myServiceFactory.getMyService(test);
result = myService.checkStatus();

MyService is an interface with one method called checkStatus().

My factory class looks like this:

@Component
public class MyServiceFactory {

    public static MyService getMyService(String service) {
        MyService myService;

        service = service.toLowerCase();

        if (service.equals("one")) {
            myService = new MyServiceOne();
        } else if (service.equals("two")) {
            myService = new MyServiceTwo();
        } else if (service.equals("three")) {
            myService = new MyServiceThree();
        } else {
            myService = new MyServiceDefault();
        }

        return myService;
    }
}

MyServiceOne class looks like this :

@Autowired
private LocationService locationService;

public boolean checkStatus() {
      //do stuff
}

When I run this code the locationService variable is alwasy null. I beleive this is because I am creating the objects myself inside the factory and autowiring is not taking place. Is there a way to add annotations to make this work correctly?

Thanks

Answer 1

The following worked for me:

The interface consist of you logic methods plus additional identity method:

public interface MyService {
    String getType();
    void checkStatus();
}

Some implementations:

@Component
public class MyServiceOne implements MyService {
    @Override
    public String getType() {
        return "one";
    }

    @Override
    public void checkStatus() {
      // Your code
    }
}

@Component
public class MyServiceTwo implements MyService {
    @Override
    public String getType() {
        return "two";
    }

    @Override
    public void checkStatus() {
      // Your code
    }
}

@Component
public class MyServiceThree implements MyService {
    @Override
    public String getType() {
        return "three";
    }

    @Override
    public void checkStatus() {
      // Your code
    }
}

And the factory itself as following:

@Service
public class MyServiceFactory {

    @Autowired
    private List<MyService> services;

    private static final Map<String, MyService> myServiceCache = new HashMap<>();

    @PostConstruct
    public void initMyServiceCache() {
        for(MyService service : services) {
            myServiceCache.put(service.getType(), service);
        }
    }

    public static MyService getService(String type) {
        MyService service = myServiceCache.get(type);
        if(service == null) throw new RuntimeException("Unknown service type: " + type);
        return service;
    }
}

I've found such implementation easier, cleaner and much more extensible. Adding new MyService is as easy as creating another spring bean implementing same interface without making any changes in other places.