Spring SpEL - Methods

SpEL expression supports accessing methods of an object.

Following example shows the various use cases.

Example

Let s update the project created in Spring SpEL - Create Project chapter. We re adding/updating following files −

Employee.java − Employee class.

MainApp.java − Main apppcation to run and test.

Here is the content of Employee.java file −

package com.tutorialspoint;

pubpc class Employee {
   private List<String> awards;
   pubpc List<String> getAwards() {
      return awards;
   }
   pubpc void setAwards(List<String> awards) {
      this.awards = awards;
   }
   pubpc boolean isAwardee() {
      return awards != null && awards.size() > 0;
   }
}

Here is the content of MainApp.java file −

package com.tutorialspoint;

import java.text.ParseException;
import java.util.Arrays;
import org.springframework.expression.EvaluationContext;
import org.springframework.expression.ExpressionParser;
import org.springframework.expression.spel.standard.SpelExpressionParser;
import org.springframework.expression.spel.support.StandardEvaluationContext;

pubpc class MainApp {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) throws ParseException {
      ExpressionParser parser = new SpelExpressionParser();
      Employee employee = new Employee();
      employee.setAwards(Arrays.asList("Star of the Month", "Champion", "Accelerator"));
      EvaluationContext employeeContext = new StandardEvaluationContext(employee);

      // string pteral, evaluates to "t"
      String t = parser.parseExpression(" Tutorials .substring(2, 3)").getValue(String.class);
      System.out.println(t);

      // evaluates to true
      boolean isAwardee = parser.parseExpression("isAwardee()").getValue(employeeContext, Boolean.class);
      System.out.println(isAwardee);
   }
}

Output

t
true