java.lang.Object
   org.springframework.beans.factory.config.AbstractFactoryBean
      org.springframework.beans.factory.config.ObjectFactoryCreatingFactoryBean

All Implemented Interfaces:
    DisposableBean, BeanFactoryAware, InitializingBean, FactoryBean

As such, this may be used to avoid having a client object directly calling org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory#getBean(String) to get a (typically prototype) bean from a org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory , which would be a violation of the inversion of control principle. Instead, with the use of this class, the client object can be fed an org.springframework.beans.factory.ObjectFactory instance as a property which directly returns only the one target bean (again, which is typically a prototype bean).

A sample config in an XML-based org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory might look as follows:

<beans>

<!-- Prototype bean since we have state -->
<bean id="myService" class="a.b.c.MyService" singleton="false"/>

<bean id="myServiceFactory"
class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.ObjectFactoryCreatingFactoryBean">
<property name="targetBeanName"><idref local="myService"/></property>
</bean>

<bean id="clientBean" class="a.b.c.MyClientBean">
<property name="myServiceFactory" ref="myServiceFactory"/>
</bean>

</beans>

The attendant MyClientBean class implementation might look something like this:

package a.b.c;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.ObjectFactory;

public class MyClientBean {

private ObjectFactory myServiceFactory;

public void setMyServiceFactory(ObjectFactory myServiceFactory) {
this.myServiceFactory = myServiceFactory;
}

public void someBusinessMethod() {
// get a 'fresh', brand new MyService instance
MyService service = this.myServiceFactory.getObject();
// use the service object to effect the business logic...
}
}

An alternate approach to this application of an object creational pattern would be to use the ServiceLocatorFactoryBean to source (prototype) beans. The ServiceLocatorFactoryBean approach has the advantage of the fact that one doesn't have to depend on any Spring-specific interface such as org.springframework.beans.factory.ObjectFactory , but has the disadvantage of requiring runtime class generation. Please do consult the ServiceLocatorFactoryBean JavaDoc for a fuller discussion of this issue.

Also see:

org.springframework.beans.factory.ObjectFactory
ServiceLocatorFactoryBean
author: Colin - Sampaleanu

author: Juergen - Hoeller

since: 1.0.2 -

 public  void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception 
{
		Assert.hasText(this.targetBeanName, "Property 'targetBeanName' is required");
		super.afterPropertiesSet();
}

 protected Object createInstance() 
{
		return new ObjectFactory() {
			public Object getObject() throws BeansException {
				return getTargetBean(targetBeanName);
			}
		};
}

 public Class getObjectType() 
{
		return ObjectFactory.class;
}

 protected Object getTargetBean(String targetBeanName) 
{
		return getBeanFactory().getBean(targetBeanName);
}

 public  void setTargetBeanName(String targetBeanName) 
{
		this.targetBeanName = targetBeanName;
}