Most Java developers are used to creating Java classes that conform to the
JavaBeans naming patterns for property getters and setters. It is natural to
then access these methods directly, using calls to the corresponding
getXxx
and setXxx
methods. However, there are some
occasions where dynamic access to Java object properties (without compiled-in
knowledge of the property getter and setter methods to be called) is needed.
Example use cases include:
server.xml
file).
The Java language provides Reflection and Introspection
APIs (see the java.lang.reflect
and java.beans
packages in the JDK Javadocs). However, these APIs can be quite complex to
understand and utilize. The BeanUtils component provides
easy-to-use wrappers around these capabilities.
Since the 1.7.0 release BeanUtils has distributed three jars:
commons-beanutils.jar
- contains everythingcommons-beanutils-core.jar
- excludes Bean Collections classescommons-beanutils-bean-collections.jar
- only Bean Collections classescommons-beanutils.jar
has an optional dependency on
Commons Collections
Bean collections is a library combining BeanUtils with
Commons Collections
to provide services for collections of beans. One class (BeanComparator
)
was previously released, the rest are new. This new distribution strategy should allow
this sub-component to evolve naturally without the concerns about size and scope
that might otherwise happen.
Bean Collections has an additional dependency on Commons Collections.
The User Guide is part of the package JavaDocs.
The Release Notes document the new features and bug fixes that have been included in this release.
The
JavaDoc API documents are available online. In particular, you should
note the property reference syntax options described in the
PropertyUtils
class description.
Releases after 1.7.0 should be downloaded from a mirror. Please remember to verify the sigature of the release from the main apache site when downloading from a mirror.
Binary and Source releases are available here.
BeanUtils 1.7.0 is a service release which removes the dependency upon a specific commons-collection library version. It may be safely used together with either the 2.x or 3.x series of commons-collections releases. It also introduces a number of important enhancements. It is backward compatible with the 1.6 release.
This important service release is intended to help downstream applications solve
dependency issues. The dependency on commons collections (which has become problematic
now that there are two incompatible series of commons collections releases)
has been factored into a separate optional sub-component plus a small number of
stable and mature org.apache.commons.collections
packaged classes
(which are distributed with the BeanUtils core). This arrangement means that the
BeanUtils core sub-component (which is the primary dependency for most downsteam
applications) can now be safely included on the same classpath as commons collections
2.x, 3.x or indeed neither.
The distribution now contains alternative jar sets. The all-in-one jar contains all classes. The modular jar set consists of a core jar dependent only on commons logging and an optional bean collections jar (containing classes that provide easy and efficient ways to manage collections of beans) which depends on commons collections 3.
The commons mailing lists act as the main support forum. The user list is suitable for most library usage queries. The dev list is intended for the development discussion. Please remember that the lists are shared between all commons components, so prefix your email by [beanutils].
Issues may be reported via ASF JIRA.