How can I use Spring XML configuration to set a bean property with list of all beans of a certain type?

Question

I have the following XML configuration:

<bean id="bean1" class="Simple"/>
<bean id="bean2" class="Simple"/>

<bean id="tasks" class="java.util.ArrayList">
    <constructor-arg>
        <list>
            <ref bean="bean1" />
            <ref bean="bean2" />                
        </list>
    </constructor-arg>
</bean>

<bean id="list" class="Comp">
    <property name="tasks" ref="tasks"/>
</bean>

The "tasks" contains all beans of type Simple. The problem with this is that I might forget to add a Simple bean I've configured to the list.

I could do this programatically using

Map map = context.getBeansOfType(Simple.class);

and setting the list bean with the beans retrieved.

Is there any way of doing this using just XML configuration?

Answer 1

Your context file should like this:

<bean id="bean1" class="Simple"/>
<bean id="bean2" class="Simple"/>

<bean id="list" class="Comp" autowire="byType"/>

Note the autowire="byType" addition, and the autowiring documentation.