This example shows how to successfully use circular dependencies in Spring by using @Lazy annotation at injection point. Spring uses a proxy instead of the real object at the injection point. This proxy delays the initialization of the underlying object until it is first used. This is the preferable way to handle circular dependencies in Spring.

Examples

Bean with circular dependencies

We need to use @Lazy only with one bean.

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Lazy;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;

@Component
public class Car {
  private final Driver driver;

  public Car(@Lazy Driver driver) {
      this.driver = driver;
  }

  public void drive() {
      System.out.println("driven by: " + driver);
  }
}

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;

@Component
public class Driver {
  private final Car car;

  public Driver(Car car) {
      this.car = car;
  }

  public void showCar() {
      System.out.println("my car: " + car);
  }
}

Main class

package com.logicbig.example;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScan;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import javax.annotation.PostConstruct;

@ComponentScan
@Configuration
public class ExampleMain {

  @Autowired
  private Car car;
  @Autowired
  private Driver driver;

  @PostConstruct
  public void postConstruct() {
      car.drive();
      driver.showCar();
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
      new AnnotationConfigApplicationContext(ExampleMain.class);
  }
}

Output

driven by: com.logicbig.example.Driver@5b65f8e1
my car: com.logicbig.example.Car@69a9f050

Example Project

Dependencies and Technologies Used:

• spring-context 5.3.8: Spring Context. Version Compatibility: 4.3.0.RELEASE - 5.3.8 Version List
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  Versions in green have been tested.

• JDK 8
• Maven 3.8.1