How to connect HttpServlet with Spring Application Context in web.xml?

Question

I'm trying to connect my FooServlet which extends HttpServlet with the ApplicationContext which is in the same Project. The Application Context is already used by a Wicket Servlet

It works with

servletContext = this.getServletContext();
wac = WebApplicationContextUtils.getRequiredWebApplicationContext(servletContext);
(IMyBean)wac().getBean("myServiceBean")

Now I try to aviod to use explicitly Spring Classes in my Code (WebApplicationContextUtils) as it's not the IoC way.

The Wicket Servlet is connected with the Application context in the web.xml

<servlet>
  <servlet-name>ExampleApplication</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>org.apache.wicket.protocol.http.WicketServlet</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>applicationFactoryClassName</param-name>
      <param-value>org.apache.wicket.spring.SpringWebApplicationFactory</param-value>
    </init-param>
  <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

I found the class Spring HttpServletBean but I don't know if it serves for my Case

Answer 1

I think you should use Spring utilities like RequestContextUtils.getWebApplicationContext(request, application); to hookup the Spring Context within your Servlet. Agreed this is no DI/IoC, but the servlet is no bean as well !

Answer 2

I found a way to inject Beans in my HttpServlet (Note: I don't need a Presentation View, otherwise there are more advanced Spring Classes)

Add a ContextLoaderListener to web.xml so that Spring's root WebApplicationContext is loaded

   <listener>
      <listener-class>
        org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener
      </listener-class>
   </listener>

Configure Servlet using Springs HttpRequestHandlerServlet Class

<servlet>
 <servlet-name>FooServlet</servlet-name>
 <display-name>Foo Servlet</display-name>
 <servlet-class>
      org.springframework.web.context.support.HttpRequestHandlerServlet
    </servlet-class>
</servlet>

Let your Servlet implement the org.springframework.web.HttpRequestHandler Interface

Define your Servlet as a Bean in ApplicationContext (beanID must be same as ). Now it's possible to inject all necassary Beans in the Spring DependencyInjection way without dependency lookup.

Answer 3

Martin Dürrmeiers answer confirmed at springsource http://forum.springsource.org/showthread.php?t=75289