How to fill HashMap from java property file with Spring @Value

Question

Is it possible to use Spring @Value, to map values from properties file to the HashMap.

Currently I have something like this, and mapping one value is not a problem. But I need to map custom values in HashMap expirations. Is something like this possible?

@Service
@PropertySource(value = "classpath:my_service.properties")
public class SomeServiceImpl implements SomeService {


    @Value("#{conf['service.cache']}")
    private final boolean useCache = false;

    @Value("#{conf['service.expiration.[<custom name>]']}")
    private final HashMap<String, String> expirations = new HashMap<String, String>();

Property file: 'my_service.properties'

service.cache=true
service.expiration.name1=100
service.expiration.name2=20

Is it posible to map like this key:value set

• name1 = 100

• name2 = 20

Answer 1

You can use the SPEL json-like syntax to write a simple map or a map of list in property file.

simple.map={'KEY1': 'value1', 'KEY2': 'value3', 'KEY3': 'value5'}

map.of.list={\
  'KEY1': {'value1','value2'}, \
  'KEY2': {'value3','value4'}, \
  'KEY3': {'value5'} \
 }

I used \ for multiline property to enhance readability

Then, in Java, you can access and parse it automatically with @Value like this.

@Value("#{${simple.map}}")
Map<String, String> simpleMap;

@Value("#{${map.of.list}}")
Map<String, List<String>> mapOfList;

Here with ${simple.map}, @Value gets the following String from the property file:

"{'KEY1': 'value1', 'KEY2': 'value3', 'KEY3': 'value5'}"

Then, it is evaluated as if it was inlined

@Value("#{{'KEY1': 'value1', 'KEY2': 'value3', 'KEY3': 'value5'}}")

You can learn more in the official documentation

Answer 2

Is it possible to use Spring @Value, to map values from properties file to the HashMap?

Yes, it is. With a little help of code and Spel.

Firstly, consider this singleton Spring-bean (you should scan it):

@Component("PropertySplitter")
public class PropertySplitter {

    /**
     * Example: one.example.property = KEY1:VALUE1,KEY2:VALUE2
     */
    public Map<String, String> map(String property) {
        return this.map(property, ",");
    }

    /**
     * Example: one.example.property = KEY1:VALUE1.1,VALUE1.2;KEY2:VALUE2.1,VALUE2.2
     */
    public Map<String, List<String>> mapOfList(String property) {
        Map<String, String> map = this.map(property, ";");

        Map<String, List<String>> mapOfList = new HashMap<>();
        for (Entry<String, String> entry : map.entrySet()) {
            mapOfList.put(entry.getKey(), this.list(entry.getValue()));
        }

        return mapOfList;
    }

    /**
     * Example: one.example.property = VALUE1,VALUE2,VALUE3,VALUE4
     */
    public List<String> list(String property) {
        return this.list(property, ",");
    }

    /**
     * Example: one.example.property = VALUE1.1,VALUE1.2;VALUE2.1,VALUE2.2
     */
    public List<List<String>> groupedList(String property) {
        List<String> unGroupedList = this.list(property, ";");

        List<List<String>> groupedList = new ArrayList<>();
        for (String group : unGroupedList) {
            groupedList.add(this.list(group));
        }

        return groupedList;

    }

    private List<String> list(String property, String splitter) {
        return Splitter.on(splitter).omitEmptyStrings().trimResults().splitToList(property);
    }

    private Map<String, String> map(String property, String splitter) {
        return Splitter.on(splitter).omitEmptyStrings().trimResults().withKeyValueSeparator(":").split(property);
    }

}

Note: PropertySplitter class uses Splitter utility from Guava. Please refer to its documentation for further details.

Then, in some bean of yours:

@Component
public class MyBean {

    @Value("#{PropertySplitter.map('${service.expiration}')}")
    Map<String, String> propertyAsMap;

}

And finally, the property:

service.expiration = name1:100,name2:20

It's not exactly what you've asked, because this PropertySplitter works with one single property that is transformed into a Map, but I think you could either switch to this way of specifying properties, or modify the PropertySplitter code so that it matches the more hierarchical way you desire.