Alternative to XML-style objects in Spring configurations?

Question

Spring's IoC framework is pretty nifty. Writing configuration objects in XML is not.

Are there any alternatives to loading complex objects and injecting them into your beans in Spring? Property files are too simple (they contain only key-value pairs). I'm interested in building lists, maps, etc. I was thinking something along the lines of a JSON object.

Answer 1

Starting with version 3.0, and further enhanced in 3.1, Spring now has complete support for Java-based configuration.

http://static.springsource.org/spring/docs/current/spring-framework-reference/htmlsingle/#beans-java

http://static.springsource.org/spring/docs/current/javadoc-api/org/springframework/context/annotation/Configuration.html