Defining a bean implicitly with @Component

Beans don't have to be defined in a Spring configuration class. Spring will automatically generate a bean from any class annotated with @Component.

Getting ready

We will use the basic web application created in the Creating a Spring web application recipe in Chapter 1, Creating a Spring Application.

Create the com.springcookbook.service package and the following service class in it:

public class UserService {
  public int findNumberOfUsers() {
    return 10;
  }
}

How to do it…

Here are the steps to define a bean by adding @Component to an existing class:

1. In the Spring configuration file, in the @ComponentScan class annotation, add the com.springcookbook.service base package:

   @Configuration
   @EnableWebMvc
   @ComponentScan(basePackages = {"com.springcookbook.controller", "com.springcookbook.service"})
   public class AppConfig {  
   }

2. In the UserService class, add @Component:

   @Component
   public class UserService {
     public int findNumberOfUsers...