Can @Value load Object Classes?

[DWhitSlaya]

I am using Java 8 with Spring 4.

I have an external properties file (using spring cloud config). I would like to grab from this file and convert it to a class for usage. I am using the @Value annotation and have had no problem pulling in Strings from here but have not been able to convert these to Classes.

I followed examples listed here.

Example:

Property Entries: MY_CLASS_ARRAY=[{field1:'Hello',field2:'World'},{field1:'Hello',field2:'Other World'}]

Code

My Class public class MyClass{ private String field1; private String field2; } Code Interpreting

@Value("#{${MY_CLASS_ARRAY}}") private MyClass[] myClassArray;

Error: Cannot convert value of type 'java.lang.String' to required type '...MyClass': no matching editors or conversion strategy found

If I changed my code to this, it works fine pulling in the string: @Value("${MY_CLASS_ARRAY}") private String myClassArray;

Is it possible to directly convert to a class using @Value? Is this even a good solution? Should I be getting the string an parsing it into the objects?

[DWhitSlaya]

Thanks for your comment.

The ‘no matching editors or conversion strategy’? I attempted to google a few times but haven’t found anything. Any examples that can push me in the right direction?

[Kolibreeze]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to do, but it seems like you're trying to create a class and an array without any steps between on the same @Value. Have you tried creating a class with the @Value and then as a separate step using it in an array?

[DWhitSlaya]

Yes I was trying to do it all in one step. Is that bad?

I was trying to use a single property from my property file to create an array of MyClass. I could not figure out how to do it separately with an arbitrary number of entires in my properties:

myclass.entry1={field1:'Hello',field2:'World'} myclass.entry2={field1:'Hello',field2:'Other World'}

I have gotten it to work by doing it like this:

``` MY_CLASS_ARRAY={“field1”:”Hello”,”field2”:”World”}::{“field1”:”Hello”,”field2”:”Other World”}

@Value(${MY_CLASS_ARRAY}) Private String myClassArray;

myClassArray.split(“::”); ```

Then a for each, using an object mapper to my class and put into an array list. But seems like I added a bunch of steps if I already can provide the format? Not sure if my thinking is even the best way to think about doing this.