Post

Spring Circular Reference - BeanCurrentlyInCreationException

Posted Updated
By Przemysław Wojnowski
5 min read

BeanCurrentlyInCreationException is thrown by Spring Framework when it meets circular reference while setting up application context. Here we show what is it and how to fix it!

Beans with circular reference

Bean A with constructor injected Bean B

Library is a Spring Bean that is using another bean - BookRepository - as a dependency injected through constructor:

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package com.farenda.spring.tutorial.injection.conflict;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;

@Component
public class Library {

    private BookRepository bookRepository;

    @Autowired
    public Library(BookRepository bookRepository) {
        this.bookRepository = bookRepository;
    }

    public String findBook(int id) {
        return bookRepository.titleById(id);
    }

    public String name() {
        return "Public library #1";
    }
}

Bean B with constructor injected Bean A - circular reference

BookRepository, for some reason, want’s to have Library injected, also through constructor:

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package com.farenda.spring.tutorial.injection.conflict;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Repository;

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

@Repository
public class BookRepository {

    private Library library;

    @Autowired
    public BookRepository(Library library) {
        this.library = library;
    }

    // It's our local database ;-)
    private Map<Integer, String> books = new HashMap<>();

    {
        books.put(1, "Effective Java, 2nd edition");
        books.put(2, "Java Concurrency in Practice");
        books.put(3, "Spring in Action");
    }

    public String titleById(int id) {
        System.out.println("In a library: " + library.name());
        return books.get(id);
    }
}

The application runner

The simplest Spring Boot app to run the code:

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package com.farenda.spring.tutorial.injection.conflict;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScan;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;

@Configuration
@ComponentScan
public class InjectionConflict {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ApplicationContext context = SpringApplication
                .run(InjectionConflict.class, args);

        Library library = context.getBean(Library.class);

        System.out.println("Title 2: " + library.findBook(2));
    }
}

When we run the above code the application will fail during startup with UnsatisfiedDependencyException exception, which is caused by BeanCurrentlyInCreationException:

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2016-08-09 23:29:01.530  INFO 11796 --- [           main] c.f.s.t.i.conflict.InjectionConflict     : Starting InjectionConflict on namek with PID 11796 (/home/przemek/Dropbox/projekty/farenda/java/spring-tutorial/build/classes/main started by przemek in /home/przemek/Dropbox/projekty/farenda/java/spring-tutorial)
2016-08-09 23:29:01.535  INFO 11796 --- [           main] c.f.s.t.i.conflict.InjectionConflict     : No active profile set, falling back to default profiles: default
2016-08-09 23:29:01.612  INFO 11796 --- [           main] s.c.a.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext : Refreshing org.springframework.context.annotation.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext@2eda0940: startup date [Tue Aug 09 23:29:01 CEST 2016]; root of context hierarchy
2016-08-09 23:29:02.147  WARN 11796 --- [           main] s.c.a.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext : Exception encountered during context initialization - cancelling refresh attempt: org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'bookRepository' defined in file [/home/przemek/Dropbox/projekty/farenda/java/spring-tutorial/build/classes/main/com/farenda/spring/tutorial/injection/conflict/BookRepository.class]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor argument with index 0 of type [com.farenda.spring.tutorial.injection.conflict.Library]: Error creating bean with name 'library' defined in file [/home/przemek/Dropbox/projekty/farenda/java/spring-tutorial/build/classes/main/com/farenda/spring/tutorial/injection/conflict/Library.class]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor argument with index 0 of type [com.farenda.spring.tutorial.injection.conflict.BookRepository]: Error creating bean with name 'bookRepository': Requested bean is currently in creation: Is there an unresolvable circular reference?; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCurrentlyInCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'bookRepository': Requested bean is currently in creation: Is there an unresolvable circular reference?; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'library' defined in file [/home/przemek/Dropbox/projekty/farenda/java/spring-tutorial/build/classes/main/com/farenda/spring/tutorial/injection/conflict/Library.class]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor argument with index 0 of type [com.farenda.spring.tutorial.injection.conflict.BookRepository]: Error creating bean with name 'bookRepository': Requested bean is currently in creation: Is there an unresolvable circular reference?; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCurrentlyInCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'bookRepository': Requested bean is currently in creation: Is there an unresolvable circular reference?
2016-08-09 23:29:02.166 ERROR 11796 --- [           main] o.s.boot.SpringApplication               : Application startup failed

org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'bookRepository' defined in file [/home/przemek/Dropbox/projekty/farenda/java/spring-tutorial/build/classes/main/com/farenda/spring/tutorial/injection/conflict/BookRepository.class]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor argument with index 0 of type [com.farenda.spring.tutorial.injection.conflict.Library]: Error creating bean with name 'library' defined in file [/home/przemek/Dropbox/projekty/farenda/java/spring-tutorial/build/classes/main/com/farenda/spring/tutorial/injection/conflict/Library.class]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor argument with index 0 of type [com.farenda.spring.tutorial.injection.conflict.BookRepository]: Error creating bean with name 'bookRepository': Requested bean is currently in creation: Is there an unresolvable circular reference?; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCurrentlyInCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'bookRepository': Requested bean is currently in creation: Is there an unresolvable circular reference?; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.UnsatisfiedDependencyException: Error creating bean with name 'library' defined in file [/home/przemek/Dropbox/projekty/farenda/java/spring-tutorial/build/classes/main/com/farenda/spring/tutorial/injection/conflict/Library.class]: Unsatisfied dependency expressed through constructor argument with index 0 of type [com.farenda.spring.tutorial.injection.conflict.BookRepository]: Error creating bean with name 'bookRepository': Requested bean is currently in creation: Is there an unresolvable circular reference?; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCurrentlyInCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'bookRepository': Requested bean is currently in creation: Is there an unresolvable circular reference?
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.createArgumentArray(ConstructorResolver.java:749) ~[spring-beans-4.2.6.RELEASE.jar:4.2.6.RELEASE]
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.ConstructorResolver.autowireConstructor(ConstructorResolver.java:185) ~[spring-beans-4.2.6.RELEASE.jar:4.2.6.RELEASE]

The reason is that Spring Framework first tries to instantiate all the beans and then inject them. When constructor dependency is used, Spring Framework cannot instantiate mutually dependent beans. To fix that the beans participating in circular reference have to use field/setter injection.

Field/setter injection to break constructor circular references

To fix that let’s use field injection in the beans:

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@Repository
public class BookRepository {

    @Autowired
    private Library library;

//    @Autowired
//    public BookRepository(Library library) {
//        this.library = library;
//    }

//...
}

public class Library {

    @Autowired
    private BookRepository bookRepository;

//    public Library(BookRepository bookRepository) {
//        this.bookRepository = bookRepository;
//    }

//...
}

Now Spring Framewokr can instantiate BookRepository, inject it through the constructor into the Library, and then inject it back to the BookRepository:

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2016-08-09 23:55:54.594  INFO 12472 --- [           main] c.f.s.t.i.conflict.InjectionConflict     : Started InjectionConflict in 1.553 seconds (JVM running for 2.679)
In a library: Public library #1
Title 2: Java Concurrency in Practice
2016-08-09 23:55:54.605  INFO 12472 --- [       Thread-1] s.c.a.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext : Closing org.springframework.context.annotation.AnnotationConfigApplicationContext@2eda0940: startup date [Tue Aug 09 23:55:54 CEST 2016]; root of context hierarchy

References:

java spring
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