Package org.apache.commons.configuration2.builder.combined

Class CombinedConfigurationBuilder

java.lang.Object
org.apache.commons.configuration2.builder.BasicConfigurationBuilder<CombinedConfiguration>
org.apache.commons.configuration2.builder.combined.CombinedConfigurationBuilder
All Implemented Interfaces:
ConfigurationBuilder<CombinedConfiguration>, EventSource
Direct Known Subclasses:
ReloadingCombinedConfigurationBuilder
public class CombinedConfigurationBuilder extends BasicConfigurationBuilder<CombinedConfiguration>

A specialized ConfigurationBuilder implementation that creates a CombinedConfiguration from multiple configuration sources defined by an XML-based configuration definition file.

This class provides an easy and flexible means for loading multiple configuration sources and combining the results into a single configuration object. The sources to be loaded are defined in an XML document that can contain certain tags representing the different supported configuration classes. If such a tag is found, a corresponding ConfigurationBuilder class is instantiated and initialized using the classes of the beanutils package (namely XMLBeanDeclaration will be used to extract the configuration's initialization parameters, which allows for complex initialization scenarios).

It is also possible to add custom tags to the configuration definition file. For this purpose an implementation of CombinedConfigurationBuilderProvider has to be created which is responsible for the creation of a ConfigurationBuilder associated with the custom tag. An instance of this class has to be registered at the CombinedBuilderParametersImpl object which is used to initialize this CombinedConfigurationBuilder. This provider will then be called when the corresponding custom tag is detected. For many default configuration classes providers are already registered.

The configuration definition file has the following basic structure: 

 <configuration systemProperties="properties file name">
   <header>
     <!-- Optional meta information about the combined configuration -->
   </header>
   <override>
     <!-- Declarations for override configurations -->
   </override>
   <additional>
     <!-- Declarations for union configurations -->
   </additional>
 </configuration>

The name of the root element (here configuration) is arbitrary. The optional systemProperties attribute identifies the path to a property file containing properties that should be added to the system properties. If specified on the root element, the system properties are set before the rest of the configuration is processed.

There are two sections (both of them are optional) for declaring override and additional configurations. Configurations in the former section are evaluated in the order of their declaration, and properties of configurations declared earlier hide those of configurations declared later. Configurations in the latter section are combined to a union configuration, i.e. all of their properties are added to a large hierarchical configuration. Configuration declarations that occur as direct children of the root element are treated as override declarations.

Each configuration declaration consists of a tag whose name is associated with a CombinedConfigurationBuilderProvider. This can be one of the predefined tags like properties, or xml, or a custom tag, for which a configuration builder provider was registered (as described above). Attributes and sub elements with specific initialization parameters can be added. There are some reserved attributes with a special meaning that can be used in every configuration declaration:

Standard attributes for configuration declarations
Attribute Meaning
config-name Allows specifying a name for this configuration. This name can be used to obtain a reference to the configuration from the resulting combined configuration (see below). It can also be passed to the getNamedBuilder(String) method.
config-at With this attribute an optional prefix can be specified for the properties of the corresponding configuration.
config-optional Declares a configuration source as optional. This means that errors that occur when creating the configuration are ignored.
config-reload Many configuration sources support a reloading mechanism. For those sources it is possible to enable reloading by providing this attribute with a value of true.

The optional header section can contain some meta data about the created configuration itself. For instance, it is possible to set further properties of the NodeCombiner objects used for constructing the resulting configuration.

The default configuration object returned by this builder is an instance of the CombinedConfiguration class. This allows for convenient access to the configuration objects maintained by the combined configuration (e.g. for updates of single configuration objects). It has also the advantage that the properties stored in all declared configuration objects are collected and transformed into a single hierarchical structure, which can be accessed using different expression engines. The actual CombinedConfiguration implementation can be overridden by specifying the class in the config-class attribute of the result element.

A custom EntityResolver can be used for all XMLConfigurations by adding 

 <entity-resolver config-class="EntityResolver fully qualified class name">

A specific CatalogResolver can be specified for all XMLConfiguration sources by adding 

 <entity-resolver catalogFiles="comma separated list of catalog files">

Additional ConfigurationProviders can be added by configuring them in the header section. 

 <providers>
   <provider config-tag="tag name" config-class="provider fully qualified class name"/>
 </providers>

Additional variable resolvers can be added by configuring them in the header section. 

 <lookups>
   <lookup config-prefix="prefix" config-class="StrLookup fully qualified class name"/>
 </lookups>

All declared override configurations are directly added to the resulting combined configuration. If they are given names (using the config-name attribute), they can directly be accessed using the getConfiguration(String) method of CombinedConfiguration. The additional configurations are altogether added to another combined configuration, which uses a union combiner. Then this union configuration is added to the resulting combined configuration under the name defined by the ADDITIONAL_NAME constant. The getNamedBuilder(String) method can be used to access the ConfigurationBuilder objects for all configuration sources which have been assigned a name; care has to be taken that these names are unique.

Since:
1.3

  • Field Details

    • ADDITIONAL_NAME

      public static final String ADDITIONAL_NAME
      Constant for the name of the additional configuration. If the configuration definition file contains an additional section, a special union configuration is created and added under this name to the resulting combined configuration.

  • Constructor Details

    • CombinedConfigurationBuilder

      public CombinedConfigurationBuilder()
      Creates a new instance of CombinedConfigurationBuilder. No parameters are set.

    • CombinedConfigurationBuilder

      public CombinedConfigurationBuilder(Map<String,Object> params)
      Creates a new instance of CombinedConfigurationBuilder and sets the specified initialization parameters.
      Parameters:
      params - a map with initialization parameters

    • CombinedConfigurationBuilder

      public CombinedConfigurationBuilder(Map<String,Object> params, boolean allowFailOnInit)
      Creates a new instance of CombinedConfigurationBuilder and sets the specified initialization parameters and the allowFailOnInit flag.
      Parameters:
      params - a map with initialization parameters
      allowFailOnInit - the allowFailOnInit flag

  • Method Details

    • getDefinitionBuilder

      public ConfigurationBuilder<? extends HierarchicalConfiguration<?>> getDefinitionBuilder() throws ConfigurationException
      Gets the ConfigurationBuilder which creates the definition configuration.
      Returns:
      the builder for the definition configuration
      Throws:
      ConfigurationException - if an error occurs

    • configure

      public CombinedConfigurationBuilder configure(BuilderParameters... params)
      Appends the content of the specified BuilderParameters objects to the current initialization parameters. Calling this method multiple times will create a union of the parameters provided. This method is overridden to adapt the return type.
      Overrides:
      configure in class BasicConfigurationBuilder<CombinedConfiguration>
      Parameters:
      params - an arbitrary number of objects with builder parameters
      Returns:
      a reference to this builder for method chaining

    • getNamedBuilder

      public ConfigurationBuilder<? extends Configuration> getNamedBuilder(String name) throws ConfigurationException

      Gets the configuration builder with the given name. With this method a builder of a child configuration which was given a name in the configuration definition file can be accessed directly.

      Important note: This method only returns a meaningful result after the result configuration has been created by calling getConfiguration(). If called before, always an exception is thrown.

      Parameters:
      name - the name of the builder in question
      Returns:
      the child configuration builder with this name
      Throws:
      ConfigurationException - if information about named builders is not yet available or no builder with this name exists

    • builderNames

      public Set<String> builderNames()

      Returns a set with the names of all child configuration builders. A tag defining a configuration source in the configuration definition file can have the config-name attribute. If this attribute is present, the corresponding builder is assigned this name and can be directly accessed through the getNamedBuilder(String) method. This method returns a collection with all available builder names.

      Important note: This method only returns a meaningful result after the result configuration has been created by calling getConfiguration(). If called before, always an empty set is returned.

      Returns:
      a set with the names of all builders

    • resetParameters

      public void resetParameters()
      Removes all initialization parameters of this builder. This method can be called if this builder is to be reused for creating result objects with a different configuration. This implementation resets some specific internal state of this builder.
      Overrides:
      resetParameters in class BasicConfigurationBuilder<CombinedConfiguration>

    • setupDefinitionBuilder

      protected ConfigurationBuilder<? extends HierarchicalConfiguration<?>> setupDefinitionBuilder(Map<String,Object> params) throws ConfigurationException
      Obtains the ConfigurationBuilder object which provides access to the configuration containing the definition of the combined configuration to create. If a definition builder is defined in the parameters, it is used. Otherwise, we check whether the combined builder parameters object contains a parameters object for the definition builder. If this is the case, a builder for an XMLConfiguration is created and configured with this object. As a last resort, it is looked for a FileBasedBuilderParametersImpl object in the properties. If found, also a XML configuration builder is created which loads this file. Note: This method is called from a synchronized block.
      Parameters:
      params - the current parameters for this builder
      Returns:
      the builder for the definition configuration
      Throws:
      ConfigurationException - if an error occurs

    • createXMLDefinitionBuilder

      protected ConfigurationBuilder<? extends HierarchicalConfiguration<?>> createXMLDefinitionBuilder(BuilderParameters builderParams)
      Creates a default builder for the definition configuration and initializes it with a parameters object. This method is called if no definition builder is defined in this builder's parameters. This implementation creates a default file-based builder which produces an XMLConfiguration; it expects a corresponding file specification. Note: This method is called in a synchronized block.
      Parameters:
      builderParams - the parameters object for the builder
      Returns:
      the standard builder for the definition configuration

    • getDefinitionConfiguration

      protected HierarchicalConfiguration<?> getDefinitionConfiguration() throws ConfigurationException
      Gets the configuration containing the definition of the combined configuration to be created. This method only returns a defined result during construction of the result configuration. The definition configuration is obtained from the definition builder at first access and then stored temporarily to ensure that during result construction always the same configuration instance is used. (Otherwise, it would be possible that the definition builder returns a different instance when queried multiple times.)
      Returns:
      the definition configuration
      Throws:
      ConfigurationException - if an error occurs

    • getChildBuilders

      protected Collection<ConfigurationBuilder<? extends Configuration>> getChildBuilders()
      Gets a collection with the builders for all child configuration sources. This method can be used by derived classes providing additional functionality on top of the declared configuration sources. It only returns a defined value during construction of the result configuration instance.
      Returns:
      a collection with the builders for child configuration sources

    • createResultDeclaration

      protected BeanDeclaration createResultDeclaration(Map<String,Object> params) throws ConfigurationException
      Creates a new BeanDeclaration which is used for creating new result objects dynamically. This implementation creates a specialized BeanDeclaration object that is initialized from the given map of initialization parameters. The BeanDeclaration must be initialized with the result class of this builder, otherwise exceptions will be thrown when the result object is created. Note: This method is invoked in a synchronized block. This implementation evaluates the result property of the definition configuration. It creates a combined bean declaration with both the properties specified in the definition file and the properties defined as initialization parameters.
      Overrides:
      createResultDeclaration in class BasicConfigurationBuilder<CombinedConfiguration>
      Parameters:
      params - a snapshot of the current initialization parameters
      Returns:
      the BeanDeclaration for creating result objects
      Throws:
      ConfigurationException - if an error occurs

    • initResultInstance

      protected void initResultInstance(CombinedConfiguration result) throws ConfigurationException
      Initializes a newly created result object. This is the second step of the process of producing a result object for this builder. This implementation uses the BeanHelper class to initialize the object's property based on the BeanDeclaration returned by BasicConfigurationBuilder.getResultDeclaration(). Note: This method is invoked in a synchronized block. This is required because internal state is accessed. Sub classes must not call this method without proper synchronization. This implementation processes the definition configuration in order to
      • initialize the resulting CombinedConfiguration
      • determine the builders for all configuration sources
      • populate the resulting CombinedConfiguration
      Overrides:
      initResultInstance in class BasicConfigurationBuilder<CombinedConfiguration>
      Parameters:
      result - the object to be initialized
      Throws:
      ConfigurationException - if an error occurs

    • createAdditionalsConfiguration

      protected CombinedConfiguration createAdditionalsConfiguration(CombinedConfiguration resultConfig)
      Creates the CombinedConfiguration for the configuration sources in the &lt;additional&gt; section. This method is called when the builder constructs the final configuration. It creates a new CombinedConfiguration and initializes some properties from the result configuration.
      Parameters:
      resultConfig - the result configuration (this is the configuration that will be returned by the builder)
      Returns:
      the CombinedConfiguration for the additional configuration sources
      Since:
      1.7

    • registerConfiguredLookups

      protected void registerConfiguredLookups(HierarchicalConfiguration<?> defConfig, Configuration resultConfig) throws ConfigurationException
      Processes custom Lookup objects that might be declared in the definition configuration. Each Lookup object is registered at the definition configuration and at the result configuration. It is also added to all child configurations added to the resulting combined configuration.
      Parameters:
      defConfig - the definition configuration
      resultConfig - the resulting configuration
      Throws:
      ConfigurationException - if an error occurs

    • initFileSystem

      protected FileSystem initFileSystem(HierarchicalConfiguration<?> config) throws ConfigurationException
      Creates and initializes a default FileSystem if the definition configuration contains a corresponding declaration. The file system returned by this method is used as default for all file-based child configuration sources.
      Parameters:
      config - the definition configuration
      Returns:
      the default FileSystem (may be null)
      Throws:
      ConfigurationException - if an error occurs

    • initSystemProperties

      protected void initSystemProperties(HierarchicalConfiguration<?> config, String basePath) throws ConfigurationException
      Handles a file with system properties that may be defined in the definition configuration. If such property file is configured, all of its properties are added to the system properties.
      Parameters:
      config - the definition configuration
      basePath - the base path defined for this builder (may be null)
      Throws:
      ConfigurationException - if an error occurs.

    • configureEntityResolver

      protected void configureEntityResolver(HierarchicalConfiguration<?> config, XMLBuilderParametersImpl xmlParams) throws ConfigurationException
      Creates and initializes a default EntityResolver if the definition configuration contains a corresponding declaration.
      Parameters:
      config - the definition configuration
      xmlParams - the (already partly initialized) object with XML parameters; here the new resolver is to be stored
      Throws:
      ConfigurationException - if an error occurs

    • providerForTag

      protected ConfigurationBuilderProvider providerForTag(String tagName)
      Returns the ConfigurationBuilderProvider for the given tag. This method is called during creation of the result configuration. (It is not allowed to call it at another point of time; result is then unpredictable!) It supports all default providers and custom providers added through the parameters object as well.
      Parameters:
      tagName - the name of the tag
      Returns:
      the provider that was registered for this tag or null if there is none

    • initChildBuilderParameters

      protected void initChildBuilderParameters(BuilderParameters params)
      Initializes a parameters object for a child builder. This combined configuration builder has a bunch of properties which may be inherited by child configurations, e.g. the base path, the file system, etc. While processing the builders for child configurations, this method is called for each parameters object for a child builder. It initializes some properties of the passed in parameters objects which are derived from this parent builder.
      Parameters:
      params - the parameters object to be initialized