SPRING FRAMEWORK CHANGELOG
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http://www.springsource.org


Changes in version 3.0.0.GA (2009-12-16)
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* component scanning autodetects the new EE 6 "javax.annotation.ManagedBean" stereotype
* updated JPA 2.0 support to the final spec (tested compatibility with EclipseLink 2.0 GA)
* full support for GlassFish V3 GA (includes component scanning and load-time weaving)
* upgraded to JRuby 1.4 (while remaining compatible with JRuby 1.1 and above)
* bean property names are matched leniently ("title" and "Title"; "ISBN" and "iSBN")
* bean properties of type enum array/collection can be populated with comma-separated String
* removed getBeansWithAnnotation(Class,boolean,boolean) method from ListableBeanFactory
* PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer is compatible with Spring 2.5 extensions (again)
* SmartLifecycle beans will get auto-started on demand even if marked as lazy-init
* MBeanExporter detects FactoryBean-exported resources independent from declaration order
* refactored SpelExpressionParser to accept SpelParserConfiguration object with boolean flags
* revised TypeDescriptor's valueOf and forObject factory methods with some level of caching
* revised GenericConverter's "getConvertibleTypes" signature to return Set of ConvertiblePair
* GenericConversionService prefers matches against inherited interfaces over superclasses
* renamed ConverterRegistry's addGenericConverter(GenericConverter) method to addConverter
* no default converters for Object-to-Map and Map-To-Object anymore
* default converter for String-to-Properties parsing only applies for actual Properties objects
* default ObjectToStringConverter only stringifies objects that indicate proper toString behavior
* added "converters" property to FormattingConversionServiceFactoryBean as well
* full support for formatters and formatting annotations on array/collection elements
* no default number formatter (relying on plain java.lang.Number parsing and rendering)
* no default formatters for Date/Calendar (requiring explicit use of @DateTimeFormat)
* BeanValidationPostProcessor runs in before-initialization phase (before init methods) by default
* removed MultipartRequest mixin interface again (avoiding a package dependency cycle)
* revised RestTemplate method signatures to accept Object values instead of just Strings
* revised path variable extraction to properly deal with dots in variable values (again)
* reintroduced createBinder template method in Servlet/Portlet AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter


Changes in version 3.0.0.RC3 (2009-12-01)
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* prepared for Grails and ROO requirements
* restored compatibility with Apache CXF
* fixed bean definition import via "classpath*:" URLs
* added chaining-capable "add" method to MutablePropertyValues
* constructor arguments can be overridden by name in child bean definitions
* BeanDefinitions return isSingleton()=true by default again, with scope name empty
* init/destroy methods get processed in the order of declaration at each hierarchy level
* fixed lookup of LifecycleProcessor bean in a Spring Dynamic Modules environment
* refined lifecycle processing through introduction of startup/shutdown phases
* fixed transaction synchronization setup with TransactionAwareDataSourceProxy involved
* added support for Hibernate 3.3 RegionFactory cache SPI to LocalSessionFactoryBean
* JSR-303 SpringValidatorAdapter uses field name as first argument (analogous to bind errors)
* replaced DefaultConversionService with ConversionServiceFactory(Bean)
* revised FormatterRegistry interface and FormattingConversionServiceFactoryBean setup
* mvc:annotation-driven exposes default Validator and ConversionService as top-level beans
* mvc:annotation-driven registers applicable HttpMessageConverters by default, if available
* added interceptors support to mvc namespace, for path-based interceptor mappings


Changes in version 3.0.0.RC2 (2009-11-13)
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* updated to final versions of JSR-330 "javax.inject" and JSR-303 "javax.validation" APIs
* full compliance with the JSR-330 TCK (i.e. full compliance with the final specification)
* support for Hibernate Validator 4.0 GA (as the JSR-303 reference implementation)
* added support for load-time weaving in JBoss 5.x
* added support for recent EHCache 1.6 configuration properties to EHCacheFactoryBean
* added AnnotatedBeanDefinitionReader helper for programmatic registration of annotated classes
* added AnnotationConfig(Web)ApplicationContext for convenient registration/scanning of classes
* added GenericXmlApplicationContext with flexible configuration options for its XML support
* AbstractApplicationContext can also start up in case of system properties access failure
* internal MergedBeanDefinitionPostProcessors apply after all other post-processors
* inner beans detected as ApplicationListeners as well (only supported for inner singletons)
* child bean definition's scope attribute can be inherited from parent bean definition now
* introduced SmartLifecycle interface with auto-startup and shutdown order support
* introduced LifecycleProcessor delegate, customizable through "lifecycleProcessor" bean
* MessageListenerContainers and Quartz SchedulerFactoryBean start up on refresh instead of init
* added initialize-database tag to jdbc namespace for populating external data sources with data
* PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver leniently ignores non-existing root directories
* DefaultConversionService understands "on"/"off", "yes"/"no", "1"/"0" as boolean values
* CustomEditorConfigurer supports PropertyEditor instances again (with deprecation warning)
* revised MethodParameter's annotation accessor methods
* ClassUtils is now parameterized with Class<?> and Class<T> where appropriate
* DataBinder now accepts var-args to set allowed, disallowed, and required fields
* DataBinder auto-grows nested paths on traversal (avoiding NullValueInNestedPathException)
* fixed enum binding regression with WebRequestDataBinder (as used by @MVC data binding now)
* fixed FieldError to expose rejected input value as String value instead of as array
* JSR-303 Validator will only register validation failures if no binding failure happened
* ContentNegotiatingViewResolver works with ignoreAcceptHeader and defaultContentType as well
* added Spring MVC namespace, with convenient mvc:annotation-driven configuration element
* default number and datetime formatters configured when using the Spring MVC namespace
* full support for datetime formatting using the Joda Time library (automatically enabled)
* added convenient @NumberFormat and @DateTimeFormat annotations for declarative formatting
* implicit T.valueOf(S) and constructor T(S) lookup if no explicit S->T converter matches
* AbstractExcelView is compatible with Apache POI 3.0 as well as 3.5 now
* TilesConfigurer only sets up EL support if JSP 2.1 is present (for JSP 2.0 compatibility)
* re-introduced Struts 1.x support ("org.springframework.web.struts") in deprecated form
* deprecated scheduling support for JDK 1.3 Timer ("org.springframework.scheduling.timer")
* deprecated remoting support for JAX-RPC (in favor of JAX-WS)


Changes in version 3.0.0.RC1 (2009-09-25)
-----------------------------------------

* upgraded to CGLIB 2.2, AspectJ 1.6.5, Groovy 1.6.3, EHCache 1.6.2, JUnit 4.7, TestNG 5.10
* introduced early support for JSR-330 "javax.inject" annotations (for autowiring)
* introduced early support for JSR-303 Bean Validation (setup and MVC integration)
* added default editors for "java.util.Currency" and "java.util.TimeZone"
* refined PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver's treatment of non-readable directories
* PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver understands VFS resources (i.e. works on JBoss 5.x)
* revised AccessControlContext access from BeanFactory
* AbstractBeanDefinitionParser can deal with null return value as well
* PropertyOverrideConfigurer's "ignoreInvalidKeys" ignores invalid property names as well
* PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer supports "${myKey:myDefaultValue}" defaulting syntax
* BeanFactory's default type conversion falls back to String constructor on target type
* BeanFactory tries to create unknown collection implementation types via default constructor
* BeanFactory supports ObjectFactory as a dependency type for @Autowired and @Value
* BeanFactory supports JSR-330 Provider interface as a dependency type for @Inject
* BeanFactory prefers local primary bean to primary bean in parent factory
* protected @Autowired method can be overridden with non-annotated method to suppress injection
* private @Autowired methods with same signature will be called individually across a hierarchy
* @PostConstruct processed top-down (base class first); @PreDestroy bottom-up (subclass first)
* ConfigurationClassPostProcessor detect @Bean methods on registered plain bean classes as well
* support for default "conversionService" bean in an ApplicationContext
* MBeanServerFactoryBean returns JDK 1.5 platform MBeanServer for agent id "" (empty String)
* changed NamedParameter/SimpleJdbcOperations parameter signatures to accept any Map value type 
* refined logging in JMS SingleConnectionFactory and DefaultMessageListenerContainer
* introduced "ui.format" package as an alternative to PropertyEditors for data binding
* @RequestMapping annotation now supported for annotated interfaces (and JDK proxies) as well
* @RequestParam and co support placeholders and expressions in their defaultValue attributes
* @Value expressions supported as MVC handler method arguments as well (against request scope)
* JSR-303 support for validation of @MVC handler method arguments driven by @Valid annotations
* refined response handling for @ExceptionHandler methods
* @ResponseStatus usage in handler methods detected by RedirectView
* all @SessionAttributes get exposed to the model before handler method execution
* @Event/ResourceMapping uniquely mapped to through event/resource id, even across controllers
* MultipartRequest is available as a mixin interface on (Native)WebRequest as well
* removed outdated "cacheJspExpressions" feature from ExpressionEvaluationUtils
* introduced common ErrorHandler strategy, supported by message listener container
* Jpa/JdoTransactionManager passes resolved timeout into Jpa/JdoDialect's beginTransaction
* HibernateJpaDialect applies timeout onto native Hibernate Transaction before begin call
* Spring's Hibernate support is now compatible with Hibernate 3.5 beta 1 as well
* Spring's JPA support is now fully compatible with JPA 2.0 as in EclipseLink 2.0.0.M7
* SpringJUnit4ClassRunner is now compatible with JUnit 4.5, 4.6, and 4.7
* SpringJUnit4ClassRunner once again supports collective timeouts for repeated tests
* deprecated @NotTransactional annotation for test classes in favor of @BeforeTransaction


Changes in version 3.0.0.M4 (2009-08-10)
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* upgraded to JUnit 4.6, TestNG 5.9, and EasyMock 2.5.1
* updated all Spring Framework OSGI manifests to list unversioned imports explicitly
* relaxed several OSGi bundle dependencies (optional, extended version ranges)
* revised Java 6 checks to test for the presence of specific Java 6 interfaces/classes only
* replaced Commons Collections dependency with Spring-provided LinkedCaseInsensitiveMap
* case-insensitive Maps and key Sets preserve original casing for introspection/logging
* constructor argument type matching supports arrays and simple class names now
* XML constructor-arg element allows for specifying a constructor argument by name now
* XML import elements with relative resource patterns are supported as well now
* introduced non-lenient constructor resolution mode for BeanDefinitions (for RFC-124)
* revised DefaultListableBeanFactory's access control when running within a SecurityManager
* BeanWrapper and DefaultListableBeanFactory accept a custom ConversionService now
* DefaultListableBeanFactory references are serializable now when initialized with an id
* scoped proxies are serializable now, for web scopes as well as for singleton beans
* injected request/session references are serializable proxies for the current request now
* Servlet/Portlet ApplicationContexts use a specific id based on servlet/portlet name
* ReloadableResourceBundleMessageSource correctly calculates filenames for all locales now
* @PostConstruct works for multiple private init methods of the same name in a hierarchy
* @Primary/@Lazy/@DependsOn supported as meta-annotations as well
* @Bean/@Scope etc supported as meta-annotations on factory methods as well now
* @Required does not get processed on beans returned by @Bean factory methods
* @Import detects and accepts existing configuration class of the desired type
* @Transactional supports qualifier value for choosing between multiple transaction managers
* WebSphereUowTransactionManager falls back to UOWManagerFactory lookup by default
* JMS SingleConnectionFactory performs start call within connection monitor (for Oracle AQ)
* @ManagedResource is marked as inherited now, for generic management-aware base classes
* introduced dedicated @ManagedMetric annotation for metric attributes in a JMX environment
* added task namespace with scheduler/executor configuration and scheduled task definitions
* added jdbc namespace with embedded-database tag (supporting HSQL, H2, and Derby)
* Hibernate AnnotationSessionFactoryBean detects Hibernate's special @Entity annotation too
* added SimpleJaxWsServiceExporter workaround for WebLogic 10.3's address format requirements
* added support for @WebServiceProvider annotation to Spring's JaxWsServiceExporters
* updated Hessian support for Hessian 3.2 compatibility (requiring Hessian 3.2 or above now)
* updated Tiles support for Tiles 2.1 compatibility (requiring Tiles 2.1.2 or above now)
* Velocity/FreeMarker/TilesViewResolver only returns a view if the target resource exists now
* @DirtiesContext is now supported at the test class level with configurable class modes
* added beforeTestClass() and afterTestClass() to the TestExecutionListener API
* ProfileValueUtils now enforces class-level overrides for @IfProfileValue
* @ContextConfiguration's loader attribute is now inherited if not declared locally
* TransactionalTestExecutionListener no longer flushes transactions before rolling back


Changes in version 3.0.0.M3 (2009-05-06)
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* Spring 3.0 includes reference documentation now
* Spring 3.0 is shipping with proper Maven POMs now
* updated to JRuby 1.2 (remaining compatible with JRuby 1.1 and above)
* updated to Hessian 3.2.1 (remaining compatible with Hessian 3.1.3 and above)
* updated to FreeMarker 2.3.15 (for exposure of FreeMarkerServlet-style HTTP scopes)
* removed Axis 1.x support package, keeping basic JAX-RPC support only (next to JAX-WS)
* introduced explicit XML array element in spring-beans-3.0.xsd
* introduced new type conversion SPI and converter API in spring-core convert package
* introduced annotated @Bean factory methods and JavaConfig-style @Configuration classes
* introduced @Primary, @Lazy and @DependsOn annotations for scanned components
* custom stereotype annotations can be meta-annotated with @Service, @Controller etc as well
* @Scope and @Transactional are now supported as meta-annotations on custom annotations
* @Autowired uses field/parameter name as fallback qualifier value
* qualifier annotations can be used at method level as well (applying to all parameters)
* @Value annotation can be used at method level as well (e.g. on bean property setters)
* @Value values may use ${...} placeholders (driven by PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer)
* @Resource names may use ${...} placeholders (driven by PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer)
* fixed EL evaluation of prepared constructor arguments for repeated prototype creation
* ConstructorArgumentValues exposed indexed arguments in the order of definition
* AutowiredAnnotationBeanPostProcessor calculates cached arguments in a synchronized block
* declarative destroy-method="..." specifications get validated at bean creation time
* component-scan's "base-package" attribute supports spaces as separators as well
* CachedIntrospectionResults always caches bean classes except in case of custom BeanInfo
* GenericTypeResolver's type variable cache uses weak values (for OSGi compatibility)
* fixed CachingMapDecorator to support garbage-collected weak references (again)
* AOP ProxyFactory excludes non-public interfaces when autodetecting proxy interfaces
* added DuplicateKeyException to DAO exception hierachy 
* added EmbeddedDatabase support in spring-jdbc embedded package, with initial HSQL support
* SessionAwareMessageListener supports generic declaration of concrete JMS Message type
* RmiServiceExporter and RmiRegistryFactoryBean synchronize registry lookup/creation
* added "unregisterManagedResource" method to MBeanExporter/MBeanExportOperations
* TimerTaskExecutor creates non-daemon Timer and uses bean name as default Timer name
* added TaskScheduler interface and Trigger abstraction
* added ConcurrentTaskScheduler and ThreadPoolTaskScheduler
* added CommonJ TimerManagerTaskScheduler
* added CronTrigger implementation for cron expression support
* renamed "contextProperties" attribute to "contextParameters" (matching web.xml naming)
* "contextParameters" contains Servlet/PortletConfig parameters as well
* added default "servletContext" and "servletConfig" environment beans
* added default "portletContext" and "portletConfig" environment beans
* added default web scope "application", wrapping a ServletContext/PortletContext
* JSF FacesContext and ExternalContext are resolvable dependencies by default, if available
* FacesRequestAttributes (as used by RequestContextHolder) can access global Portlet session
* revised @RequestMapping semantics for REST support purposes
* request handler methods with @ModelAttribute annotation always return a model attribute
* introduced @ExceptionHandler annotation for used in annotated web controllers
* introduced ModelAndViewResolver SPI for custom handler method return types
* FreeMarkerView can be initialized with ServletContext only (e.g. for testing)
* MockPortletSession supports destruction of session attributes on invalidation
* completed upgrade of the TestContext Framework to JUnit 4.5
* SpringJUnit4ClassRunner subclasses can now override the default ContextLoader class
* added "value" alias for @ContextConfiguration's "locations" attribute


Changes in version 3.0.0.M2 (2009-02-25)
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* revised expression parser API design
* added SimpleThreadScope implementation
* refined OSGi version constraints for "javax.annotation" and "junit.framework"
* "systemProperties" bean is not considered a default match for type Properties anymore
* SimpleAliasRegistry's "getAliases" method returns transitive aliases now
* SimpleAliasRegistry detects resolved aliases that loop back to the original name
* PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer does not modify Map in case of equal String keys
* improved NoClassDefFoundError handling during constructor resolution
* inner class names in Java source style ("java.lang.Thread.State") supported as well
* pre-converted property values are preserved more eagerly for re-created beans
* prototype beans receive independent collection/array even when based on single value
* registered plain singletons will be fully matched according to their qualifiers
* @Qualifier value matching takes chained aliases of target beans into account as well
* ASM-based AnnotationMetadata fully resolves class arguments and enums into Java types
* ProceedingJoinPoint resolves parameter names using ASM-based parameter name discovery
* MethodInvocations and ProceedingJoinPoints always expose original method (not bridge)
* bridge method resolution works with Hibernate-generated CGLIB proxies as well
* generic collection type resolution respects upper bound (e.g. ? extends Number) as well
* TypeUtils detects variations of ParameterizedType/GenericArrayType assignability as well
* ReflectionUtils findMethod detects methods on "java.lang.Object" as well
* UrlResource eagerly closes HTTP connections in case of "getInputStream()" failure
* PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver avoids NPE when initialized with null ClassLoader
* all "taskExecutor" bean properties now accept any "java.util.concurrent.Executor"
* added "Future submit(Runnable)" and "Future submit(Callable)" to AsyncTaskExecutor
* SimpleAsyncTaskExecutor supports a custom "java.util.concurrent.ThreadFactory"
* SchedulingTaskExecutor interface extends AsyncTaskExecutor now
* added ThreadPoolExecutorFactoryBean (exposing the native ExecutorService interface)
* added ExecutorServiceAdapter class as a standard wrapper for a Spring TaskExecutor
* reduced backport-concurrent support to TaskExecutor adapters
* added @Async annotation and AsyncAnnotationAdvisor (namespace support coming in M3)
* EJB 3.1's @Asynchronous annotation gets detected and supported by default as well
* ApplicationListener beans get obtained on demand, supporting non-singletons as well
* ApplicationListeners will be called in the order according to the Ordered contract
* generified ApplicationListener interface, narrowing the event type to be received
* introduced SmartApplicationListener interface for supported event/source types
* generified Transaction/Hibernate/Jdo/JpaCallback with generic "doInXxx" return type
* HibernateOperations uses generic parameter/return types where possible
* JdoOperations uses generic parameter/return types where possible (following JDO 2.1)
* removed "flush" operation from JdoDialect (fully relying on JDO 2.0+ compliance now)
* added JDO 2.1 compliant StandardPersistenceManagerProxy/SpringPersistenceManagerProxy
* Spring-created EntityManagers support JPA 2.0 draft API ("unwrap", "getQueryBuilder")
* Spring initiates JPA 2.0 query timeout with remaining Spring transaction timeout
* added support for WebSphere's ResourceAdapter-managed messaging transactions
* made SpringBeanAutowiringInterceptor callback signature compatible with WebSphere
* WebSphereUowTransactionManager preserves original exception in case of rollback
* added "flush()" method to TransactionStatus and TransactionSynchronization interfaces
* test context manager automatically flushes transactions before rolling back
* DefaultLobHandler uses explicit Blob/Clob access for reading when "wrapAsLob"=true
* fixed JmsException/JmsUtils to fully avoid NPEs in case of cause messages being null
* fixed MessageListenerAdapter's "getSubscriptionName()" to work without delegate as well
* fixed HTTP invoker to support resolution of multi-level primitive array classes again
* deprecated support for JMS 1.0.2 providers (JmsTemplate102 etc)
* introduced top-level HTTP support package "org.springframework.http"
* introduced RestTemplate facility in package "org.springframework.web.client"
* introduced OXM support package (originating from Spring Web Services)
* introduced OXM-based MarshallingMessageConverter for Spring JMS
* introduced OXM-based MarshallingView for Spring MVC
* refined @PathVariable handling in MVC handler methods
* updated Spring Portlet MVC infrastructure and mocks for Portlet API 2.0
* added resource and event methods to Portlet HandlerAdapter/HandlerInterceptor
* added resolveException method for resource requests to HandlerExceptionResolver
* introduced Resource/EventAwareController subinterfaces of Portlet Controller
* introduced @Action/@Render/@Resource/@EventMapping annotations for Portlet MVC
* added @RequestHeader support for Portlet MVC (based on Portlet request properties)
* introduced @CookieValue annotation for Servlet and Portlet MVC handler methods
* @RequestMapping type-level param constraints taken into account consistently
* optional boolean parameters in MVC handler methods resolve to "false" if not present
* "url" macro in "spring.ftl" performs standard Servlet URL encoding automatically


Changes in version 3.0.0.M1 (2008-12-05)
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* revised project layout and build system (module-based sources, bundle repository)
* updated entire codebase for Java 5 code style (generics, varargs, StringBuilder)
* updated to JUnit 4.5 and JRuby 1.1
* removed WebLogic 8.1 and WebSphere 5.1 support
* removed native TopLink API support (superseded by JPA)
* removed Commons Attributes support (superseded by Java 5 annotations)
* removed Jakarta JSTL support for JSP 1.2 (superseded by JSP 2.0)
* removed outdated Struts 1.x Action delegation support
* removed ContextLoaderServlet and Log4jConfigServlet
* deprecated form controller hierarchy in favor of @MVC form object handling
* deprecated JUnit 3.8 test class hierarchy in favor of test context framework
* revised TaskExecutor interface to extend "java.util.concurrent.Executor" now
* introduced Spring EL parser in org.springframework.expression package
* introduced #{...} expression support in bean definitions
* introduced @Value annotation for embedded expression support
* introduced @PathVariable annotation for MVC handler methods
* introduced ShallowEtagHeaderFilter
* introduced AbstractAtomFeedView and AbstractRssFeedView
* introduced default value support for @RequestParam
* introduced @RequestHeader annotation for MVC handler methods
* introduced "spring:url" and "spring:param" JSP tags