Accessing Spring beans from a Tiles view (JSP)

Question

In Spring MVC I can access my beans in JSP using JstlView's exposedContextBeanNames (or exposeContextBeansAsAttributes). For example, then, in my JSP I can write (${properties.myProperty). But when the same JSP is a part of a tiles view, these properties aren't accessible. Is possible to configure Tiles properly or access these properties in another way?

I'm using Spring MVC 3.0.2 and Tiles 2.2.1. Here's a bit of my configuration:

<bean id="tilesViewResolver" class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.UrlBasedViewResolver">
    <property name="order" value="1"/>
    <property name="viewClass" value="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.tiles2.TilesView" />
</bean> 

<bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceViewResolver">
    <property name="viewClass" value="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.JstlView"/>
    <property name="order" value="2"/>
    <property name="prefix" value="/WEB-INF/views/"/>
    <property name="suffix" value=".jsp"/>
    <property name="exposedContextBeanNames">
        <list><value>properties</value></list>
    </property>
</bean>

EDIT: I've implemented Skaffman's solution.

TilesExposingBeansViewResolver.java:

package es.kcsolutions.util.spring.servlet.view;

import org.springframework.web.servlet.view.*;

public class TilesExposingBeansViewResolver extends UrlBasedViewResolver {

    private Boolean exposeContextBeansAsAttributes;
    private String[] exposedContextBeanNames;

    public void setExposeContextBeansAsAttributes(boolean exposeContextBeansAsAttributes) {
        this.exposeContextBeansAsAttributes = exposeContextBeansAsAttributes;
    }

    public void setExposedContextBeanNames(String[] exposedContextBeanNames) {
        this.exposedContextBeanNames = exposedContextBeanNames;
    }

    @Override
    protected AbstractUrlBasedView buildView(String viewName) throws Exception {
        AbstractUrlBasedView superView = super.buildView(viewName);
        if (superView instanceof TilesExposingBeansView) {
            TilesExposingBeansView view = (TilesExposingBeansView) superView;
            if (this.exposeContextBeansAsAttributes != null) view.setExposeContextBeansAsAttributes(this.exposeContextBeansAsAttributes);
            if (this.exposedContextBeanNames != null) view.setExposedContextBeanNames(this.exposedContextBeanNames);
        }
        return superView;
    }

}

TilesExposingBeansView.java:

package es.kcsolutions.util.spring.servlet.view;

import java.util.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
import org.springframework.web.context.support.ContextExposingHttpServletRequest;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.view.tiles2.TilesView;

public class TilesExposingBeansView extends TilesView {

    private boolean exposeContextBeansAsAttributes = false;
    private Set<String> exposedContextBeanNames;

    public void setExposeContextBeansAsAttributes(boolean exposeContextBeansAsAttributes) {
        this.exposeContextBeansAsAttributes = exposeContextBeansAsAttributes;
    }

    public void setExposedContextBeanNames(String[] exposedContextBeanNames) {
        this.exposedContextBeanNames = new HashSet<String>(Arrays.asList(exposedContextBeanNames));
    } 

    protected HttpServletRequest getRequestToExpose(HttpServletRequest originalRequest) {
        if (this.exposeContextBeansAsAttributes || this.exposedContextBeanNames != null) 
        return new ContextExposingHttpServletRequest(originalRequest, getWebApplicationContext(), this.exposedContextBeanNames);
        return originalRequest;
    }

    @Override
    protected void renderMergedOutputModel(Map<String, Object> model, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
        HttpServletRequest requestToExpose = getRequestToExpose(request);
        exposeModelAsRequestAttributes(model, requestToExpose);
        super.renderMergedOutputModel(model, requestToExpose, response);
    }

}

Spring configuration:

    <bean id="tilesViewResolver" class="es.kcsolutions.util.spring.servlet.view.TilesExposingBeansViewResolver">
        <property name="order" value="1"/>
        <property name="viewClass" value="es.kcsolutions.util.spring.servlet.view.TilesExposingBeansView"/>
        <property name="exposedContextBeanNames">
            <list><value>properties</value></list>
        </property>
    </bean>

If you have some problem, take a look at TilesExposingBeansView.renderMergedOutputModel. I've made some tests, but maybe it's necessary to make a lot more.

Yes, I googled. I have some troubles with previous versions, but now it was all ok, except for this issue. I searched for it but I've found nothing :( — sinuhepop, May 17 '10 at 11:47
man, spring and apache must write you a check for this ;) great job — Ricardo, Apr 11 '11 at 08:09

score 13 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 08 '13 at 14:40

13

Have you tried to use ServletContextAttributeExporter in xml configuration file?

<bean
    class="org.springframework.web.context.support.ServletContextAttributeExporter">
    <property name="attributes">
        <map>
            <entry key="<bean key here>">
                <ref bean="<bean name here" />
            </entry>
        </map>
    </property>
</bean>

answered Jul 08 '13 at 14:40

francarl

921
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I use this because it is simpler to implement. – msangel Sep 12 '13 at 03:13
Certainly This is more elegant and unobtrusive method of adding session beans ! I was about to extend the Spring Classes, your solution saved my several days of work ! THANK YOU ! – Rakesh Waghela Oct 07 '13 at 05:37

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered May 17 '10 at 11:14

12

As you've noticed, this functionality is part of InternalResourceViewResolver and InternalResourceView, whereas the Tiles stuff inherits directly from UrlBasedViewResolver and AbstractUrlBasedView, so you can't make use of it.

Looking at the code, there's no reason why this stuff couldn't have been put into AbstractUrlBasedView. The magic happens in InternalResourceView.getRequestToExpose, and it looks perfectly applicable to AbstractUrlBasedView too.

In the short term, I suggest subclassing UrlBasedViewResolver and TilesView, copying the getRequestToExpose stuff from InternalResourceView. In the longer term, I encourage you to file a issue with SpringSource asking them to move this functionality up the class hierarchy into AbstractUrlBasedView, making it more widely available.

answered May 17 '10 at 11:14

skaffman

398,947
96
818
769

I've tried something similar, but it doesn't work. I've subclassed JstlView, overriding initServletContext, checkResource and renderMergedOutputModel. I'll try your idea now. – sinuhepop May 17 '10 at 11:39
@Sinuhe: `JstlView` isn't going to be compatible with Tiles, the mechanisms are fundamentally different. – skaffman May 17 '10 at 12:41
Well, your solution worked! While I was doing it, I've noticed my previous idea wasn't correct. I've try it a little more before filing an issue to SpringSource. Thanks! – sinuhepop May 17 '10 at 12:52
@skaffman What are you views on 'ServletContextAttributeExporter'? Shouldn't we be using 'ServletContextAttributeExporter' instead of extending UrlBasedViewResolver's functionality? – Sudarshan_SMD Jul 03 '14 at 10:18

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 18 '12 at 02:56

As of Spring 3.0 there is now a TilesViewResolver.

Convenience subclass of UrlBasedViewResolver that supports TilesView (i.e. Tiles definitions) and custom subclasses of it.

The view class for all views generated by this resolver can be specified via the "viewClass" property. See UrlBasedViewResolver's javadoc for details.

Note: When chaining ViewResolvers, a TilesViewResolver will check for the existence of the specified template resources and only return a non-null View object if the template was actually found.

Since: 3.0 Author: Juergen Hoeller

TilesViewResolver doesnt solve the problem as it subclasses UrlBasedViewResolver without adding exposedContextBeanNames property. The original post and the accepted answer are still the best way to go AFAIK. — azpublic, Nov 12 '12 at 05:03

Accessing Spring beans from a Tiles view (JSP)

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