Is there an equivelant to spring's ContextLoader for a non-webapp

Question

I would like a class analogous to spring's ContextLoader/ContextLoaderListener/ContextLoadServlet. These classes are invoked when the application server initializes and puts your configured context into memory.

What is the analogy of this for an application that does not have a container wrappering it?

This would preclude multiple instantiations, provide a unified retrieval location, and not suffer Double Checked Locking lameness either.

Answer 1

The classic one is ClassPathXmlApplicationContext:

import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.scripting.Messenger;

public final class Boot {

    public static void main(final String[] args) throws Exception {
        ApplicationContext ctx = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("scripting/beans.xml");
        Messenger messenger = (Messenger) ctx.getBean("messenger");
        System.out.println(messenger);
    }
}

See more here

Answer 2

An alternative solution can be found here:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/707355/simple-spring-use-of-classpathapplicationcontext-for-standalone-apps-how-to-reu/707729#707729

for using SingletonBeanFactoryLocator.