[FIXED] Spring @Value property for custom class

Issue

Is it possible to use Spring's @Value annotation to read and write property values of a custom class type?

For example:

@Component
@PropertySource("classpath:/data.properties")
public class CustomerService {

    @Value("${data.isWaiting:#{false}}")
    private Boolean isWaiting;

    // is this possible for a custom class like Customer???
    // Something behind the scenes that converts Custom object to/from property file's string value via an ObjectFactory or something like that?
    @Value("${data.customer:#{null}}")
    private Customer customer;

    ...
}

EDITED SOLUTION

Here is how I did it using Spring 4.x APIs...

Created new PropertyEditorSupport class for Customer class:

public class CustomerPropertiesEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport {

    // simple mapping class to convert Customer to String and vice-versa.
    private CustomerMap map;

    @Override
    public String getAsText() 
    {
        Customer customer = (Customer) this.getValue();
        return map.transform(customer);
    }

    @Override
    public void setAsText(String text) throws IllegalArgumentException 
    {
        Customer customer = map.transform(text);
        super.setValue(customer);
    }
}

Then in application's ApplicationConfig class:

@Bean
public CustomEditorConfigurer customEditorConfigurer() {

    Map<Class<?>, Class<? extends PropertyEditor>> customEditors = 
            new HashMap<Class<?>, Class<? extends PropertyEditor>>(1);
    customEditors.put(Customer.class, CustomerPropertiesEditor.class);

    CustomEditorConfigurer configurer = new CustomEditorConfigurer();
    configurer.setCustomEditors(customEditors);

    return configurer;
}

Cheers, PM

Solution

You have to create a class extending PropertyEditorSupport.

public class CustomerEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport {
  @Override
  public void setAsText(String text) {
    Customer c = new Customer();
    // Parse text and set customer fields...
    setValue(c);
  }
}

Answered By - Efe Kahraman
Answer Checked By - Candace Johnson (JavaFixing Volunteer)