Spring Cache @Cacheable - not working while calling from another method of the same bean

Question

I believe this is how it works. From what I remember reading, there is a proxy class generated that intercepts all requests and responds with the cached value, but 'internal' calls within the same class will not get the cached value.

From https://code.google.com/p/ehcache-spring-annotations/wiki/UsingCacheable

Only external method calls coming in through the proxy are intercepted. This means that self-invocation, in effect, a method within the target object calling another method of the target object, will not lead to an actual cache interception at runtime even if the invoked method is marked with @Cacheable.

Since Spring 4.3 the problem could be solved using self-autowiring over @Resource annotation:

@Component
@CacheConfig(cacheNames = "SphereClientFactoryCache")
public class CacheableSphereClientFactoryImpl implements SphereClientFactory {

    /**
     * 1. Self-autowired reference to proxified bean of this class.
     */
    @Resource
    private SphereClientFactory self;

    @Override
    @Cacheable(sync = true)
    public SphereClient createSphereClient(@Nonnull TenantConfig tenantConfig) {
        // 2. call cached method using self-bean
        return self.createSphereClient(tenantConfig.getSphereClientConfig());
    }

    @Override
    @Cacheable(sync = true)
    public SphereClient createSphereClient(@Nonnull SphereClientConfig clientConfig) {
        return CtpClientConfigurationUtils.createSphereClient(clientConfig);
    }
}

The example below is what I use to hit the proxy from within the same bean, it is similar to @mario-eis' solution, but I find it a bit more readable (maybe it's not:-). Anyway, I like to keep the @Cacheable annotations at the service level:

@Service
@Transactional(readOnly=true)
public class SettingServiceImpl implements SettingService {

@Inject
private SettingRepository settingRepository;

@Inject
private ApplicationContext applicationContext;

@Override
@Cacheable("settingsCache")
public String findValue(String name) {
    Setting setting = settingRepository.findOne(name);
    if(setting == null){
        return null;
    }
    return setting.getValue();
}

@Override
public Boolean findBoolean(String name) {
    String value = getSpringProxy().findValue(name);
    if (value == null) {
        return null;
    }
    return Boolean.valueOf(value);
}

/**
 * Use proxy to hit cache 
 */
private SettingService getSpringProxy() {
    return applicationContext.getBean(SettingService.class);
}
...

See also Starting new transaction in Spring bean

Here is what I do for small projects with only marginal usage of method calls within the same class. In-code documentation is strongly advidsed, as it may look strage to colleagues. But its easy to test, simple, quick to achieve and spares me the full blown AspectJ instrumentation. However, for more heavy usage I'd advice the AspectJ solution.

@Service
@Scope(proxyMode = ScopedProxyMode.TARGET_CLASS)
class AService {

    private final AService _aService;

    @Autowired
    public AService(AService aService) {
        _aService = aService;
    }

    @Cacheable("employeeData")
    public List<EmployeeData> getEmployeeData(Date date){
        ..println("Cache is not being used");
        ...
    }

    public List<EmployeeEnrichedData> getEmployeeEnrichedData(Date date){
        List<EmployeeData> employeeData = _aService.getEmployeeData(date);
        ...
    }
}

If you call a cached method from same bean it will be treated as a private method and annotations will be ignored

In my Case I add variable :

@Autowired
private AService  aService;

So I call the getEmployeeData method by using the aService

@Named("aService")
public class AService {

@Cacheable("employeeData")
public List<EmployeeData> getEmployeeData(Date date){
..println("Cache is not being used");
...
}

public List<EmployeeEnrichedData> getEmployeeEnrichedData(Date date){
    List<EmployeeData> employeeData = aService.getEmployeeData(date);
    ...
}

}

It will use the cache in this case.