Spring: Is there a simple non-web tutorial?

Question

I'm attempting to create a Spring application (NOT web application) to perform some simple tasks. Eventually they will hook up with some other Spring apps around the network, but for now I'm keeping it simple. I have a CheckForNewItems class (extending Timer) which is configured to run every 10 seconds.

I can confirm it runs by calling it programmatically:

public class Tester {

  public static ApplicationContext context;

  private void loadContext() {
    String filename = "beans.xml";
    context = new FileSystemXmlApplicationContext(filename);
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    Tester test = new Tester();
    test.loadContext();
    CheckNewItemsTask task = (CheckNewItemsTask)context.getBean("checkNewItemsTask");
  }
}

Running this works as expected, task.run() gets called every 10 seconds. Now I need to work out how to deploy this to either a JBoss or Tomcat server, in such a way that it automatically starts running the task.

Most of the tutorials I've found only describe how to get Spring MVC and servlets running, not a standalone application. Does anyone know better?

Cheers, Rob.

Answer 1

You need a servlet that is set to autostart on deployment. The servlet can then call into your "Tester" class to trigger your "standalone" initialization process.

If you don't have a servlet (or potentially some other server related process) reference your code, then your initialization process will never be run.

Answer 2

You don't need JBoss or Tomcat to do that. If the app is headless and you have no intention of adding a UI, consider jsvc for unix or procrun on windows. If you need the ability to monitor and control an app and do not need a proper UI for doing that, you might want to look at JMX. This will work on a daemon without the rest of the jee stack.

Answer 3

http://static.springsource.org/spring/docs/2.5.6/reference/beans.html#beans-factory-shutdown