Spring MVC: How to use a request-scoped bean inside a spawned thread?

Question

In a Spring MVC application, I have a request-scoped bean. I inject this bean somewhere. There, the HTTP-request serving thread could possibly spawn a new thread.

But whenever I try accessing the request-scoped bean from the newly spawned thread, I get a org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException (see stack trace below).
Accessing the request-scoped bean from the HTTP request thread works fine.

How can I make a request-scoped bean available to threads spawned by the HTTP request thread?

---

Simple setup

Get the following code snippets running. Then start up a server, for instance at http://example.com:8080.
When accessing http://example.com:8080/scopetestnormal, each time a request is made to this address, counter is incremented by 1 (noticeable via logger output). :) Super!

When accessing http://example.com:8080/scopetestthread, each time a request is made to this address, the mentioned exceptions are thrown. :(. No matter what chosen ScopedProxyMode, this happens for both CGLIB-based and JDK-dynamic-proxy-interface-based request-scoped beans

Configuration file

package com.example.config

@Configuration
@ComponentScan(basePackages = { "com.example.scopetest" })
public class ScopeConfig {

    private Integer counter = new Integer(0);

    @Bean
    @Scope(value = "request", proxyMode = ScopedProxyMode.TARGET_CLASS)
    public Number counter() {
        counter = new Integer(counter.intValue() + 1);
        return counter;
    }


    /* Adding a org.springframework.social.facebook.api.Facebook request-scoped bean as a real-world example why all this matters
    @Bean
    @Scope(value = "request", proxyMode = ScopedProxyMode.INTERFACES)
    public Facebook facebook() {
    Connection<Facebook> facebook = connectionRepository()
            .findPrimaryConnection(Facebook.class);
    return facebook != null ? facebook.getApi() : new FacebookTemplate();
    }
    */

    ...................

}

Controller file

package com.example.scopetest;

import javax.inject.Inject;

import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;

import org.springframework.social.facebook.api.Facebook;
import org.springframework.social.facebook.api.FacebookProfile;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;

import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;

@Controller
public class ScopeTestController {

    //@Inject
    //private Facebook facebook;

    @Inject
    private Number counter;

    private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory
            .getLogger(ScopeTestController.class);

    @RequestMapping(value = "/scopetestnormal") 
    public void scopetestnormal() {
        logger.debug("About to interact with a request-scoped bean from HTTP request thread");
        logger.debug("counter is: {}", counter);

        /* 
         * The following also works
         * FacebookProfile profile = facebook.userOperations().getUserProfile();
         * logger.debug("Facebook user ID is: {}", profile.getId());    
         */
    }



    @RequestMapping(value = "/scopetestthread")
    public void scopetestthread() {
        logger.debug("About to spawn a new thread");
        new Thread(new RequestScopedBeanAccessingThread()).start();
        logger.debug("Spawned a new thread");
    }


    private class RequestScopedBeanAccessingThread implements Runnable {

        @Override
        public void run() {
            logger.debug("About to interact with a request-scoped bean from another thread. Doomed to fail.");          
            logger.debug("counter is: {}", counter);

            /*
             * The following is also doomed to fail
             * FacebookProfile profile = facebook.userOperations().getUserProfile();
             * logger.debug("Facebook user ID is: {}", profile.getId());        
             */
        }

    }

}

---

Stack trace for CGLIB-based request-scoped bean (proxyMode = ScopedProxyMode.TARGET_CLASS)

SLF4J: Failed toString() invocation on an object of type [$java.lang.Number$$EnhancerByCGLIB$$45ffcde7]
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'scopedTarget.counter': Scope 'request' is not active for the current thread; consider defining a scoped proxy for this bean if you intend to refer to it from a singleton; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalStateException: No thread-bound request found: Are you referring to request attributes outside of an actual web request, or processing a request outside of the originally receiving thread? If you are actually operating within a web request and still receive this message, your code is probably running outside of DispatcherServlet/DispatcherPortlet: In this case, use RequestContextListener or RequestContextFilter to expose the current request.
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:342)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:193)
    at org.springframework.aop.target.SimpleBeanTargetSource.getTarget(SimpleBeanTargetSource.java:33)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.Cglib2AopProxy$DynamicAdvisedInterceptor.getTarget(Cglib2AopProxy.java:654)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.Cglib2AopProxy$DynamicAdvisedInterceptor.intercept(Cglib2AopProxy.java:605)
    at $java.lang.Number$$EnhancerByCGLIB$$45ffcde7.toString(<generated>)
    at org.slf4j.helpers.MessageFormatter.safeObjectAppend(MessageFormatter.java:304)
    at org.slf4j.helpers.MessageFormatter.deeplyAppendParameter(MessageFormatter.java:276)
    at org.slf4j.helpers.MessageFormatter.arrayFormat(MessageFormatter.java:230)
    at ch.qos.logback.classic.spi.LoggingEvent.<init>(LoggingEvent.java:114)
    at ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger.buildLoggingEventAndAppend(Logger.java:447)18:09:48.276 container [Thread-16] DEBUG c.g.s.c.c.god.ScopeTestController - counter is: [FAILED toString()]

    at ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger.filterAndLog_1(Logger.java:421)
    at ch.qos.logback.classic.Logger.debug(Logger.java:514)
    at com.example.scopetest.ScopeTestController$RequestScopedBeanAccessingThread.run(ScopeTestController.java:58)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: No thread-bound request found: Are you referring to request attributes outside of an actual web request, or processing a request outside of the originally receiving thread? If you are actually operating within a web request and still receive this message, your code is probably running outside of DispatcherServlet/DispatcherPortlet: In this case, use RequestContextListener or RequestContextFilter to expose the current request.
    at org.springframework.web.context.request.RequestContextHolder.currentRequestAttributes(RequestContextHolder.java:131)
    at org.springframework.web.context.request.AbstractRequestAttributesScope.get(AbstractRequestAttributesScope.java:40)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:328)
    ... 14 more

---

Stack trace for JDK-dynamic-proxy-interface-based request-scoped bean (proxyMode = ScopedProxyMode.INTERFACES)

Exception in thread "Thread-16" org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'scopedTarget.facebook': Scope 'request' is not active for the current thread; consider defining a scoped proxy for this bean if you intend to refer to it from a singleton; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalStateException: No thread-bound request found: Are you referring to request attributes outside of an actual web request, or processing a request outside of the originally receiving thread? If you are actually operating within a web request and still receive this message, your code is probably running outside of DispatcherServlet/DispatcherPortlet: In this case, use RequestContextListener or RequestContextFilter to expose the current request.
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:342)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:193)
    at org.springframework.aop.target.SimpleBeanTargetSource.getTarget(SimpleBeanTargetSource.java:33)
    at org.springframework.aop.framework.JdkDynamicAopProxy.invoke(JdkDynamicAopProxy.java:182)
    at $Proxy28.userOperations(Unknown Source)
    at com.example.scopetest.ScopeTestController$PrintingThread.run(ScopeTestController.java:61)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: No thread-bound request found: Are you referring to request attributes outside of an actual web request, or processing a request outside of the originally receiving thread? If you are actually operating within a web request and still receive this message, your code is probably running outside of DispatcherServlet/DispatcherPortlet: In this case, use RequestContextListener or RequestContextFilter to expose the current request.
    at org.springframework.web.context.request.RequestContextHolder.currentRequestAttributes(RequestContextHolder.java:131)
    at org.springframework.web.context.request.AbstractRequestAttributesScope.get(AbstractRequestAttributesScope.java:40)
    at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:328)
    ... 6 more

Answer 1

OK, by reading the code in SimpleThreadScope that comes with Spring I think you can create a SimpleInheritableThreadScope by using an InheritableThreadLocal instead.

Then just use a bit of xml to register your custom scope:

<bean class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.CustomScopeConfigurer">
      <property name="scopes">
          <map>
              <entry key="thread-inherited">
                  <bean class="org.mael.spring.context.support.SimpleInheritableThreadScope"/>
              </entry>
          </map>
      </property>
  </bean>

This means that when you create a bean with a thread-inherited scope, you will have access to this bean with a copy per thread and that copy will be avaliable in threads spawned by your thread i.e. a request scoped bean that can be used in threads spawned in your request thread.

Answer 2

The configuration below will propagate request context to your threads launched from within HTTP request:

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>Spring MVC Dispatcher Servlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>threadContextInheritable</param-name>
      <param-value>true</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

Disclaimer: I havent tested this specifically with request-scoped beans as I dont use any. I did test that RequestContextHolder returns valid context in child threads.

Disclaimer 2: there is a reason this setting defaults to false. There may be side-effects, especially if you reuse your threads (as in threadpools).

Answer 3

If you have a look at AbstractRequestAttributesScope you'll see that it's using the current RequestAttributes in order to get the desired bean.

In your thread you'll probably want to do something like this:

final RequestAttributes requestAttributes = RequestContextHolder.getRequestAttributes();
final SecurityContext securityContext = SecurityContextHolder.getContext();

new Thread(
    () -> {

      boolean hasContext = RequestContextHolder.getRequestAttributes() == requestAttributes
          && SecurityContextHolder.getContext() == securityContext;

      if (!hasContext) {
        RequestContextHolder.setRequestAttributes(requestAttributes);
        SecurityContextHolder.setContext(securityContext);
      }

      try {

        // useful stuff goes here

      } finally {
        if (!hasContext) {
          RequestContextHolder.resetRequestAttributes();
          SecurityContextHolder.clearContext();
        }
      }
    }
).start();  

Answer 4

Inspired by @mael's answer, here is my "custom-scope-out-of-the-box" solution. I am using a fully annotation-driven Spring configuration.

For my particular case, Spring's own org.springframework.context.support.SimpleThreadScope already provides the behavior the question is looking for (right, that's weird, because SimpleThreadScope doesn't use an InheritableThreadLocal, but effectively a ThreadLocal. But as it works, I'm already happy).

Correct behavior at concurrent user interaction has not been tested yet.

Steps

Register the SimpleThreadScope type:

package com.example.config

public class MainConfig implements BeanFactoryAware {

    private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(MainConfig.class);

    .......

    @Override
    public void setBeanFactory(BeanFactory beanFactory) throws BeansException {
        if (beanFactory instanceof ConfigurableBeanFactory) {

            logger.info("MainConfig is backed by a ConfigurableBeanFactory");
            ConfigurableBeanFactory cbf = (ConfigurableBeanFactory) beanFactory;

            /*Notice:
             *org.springframework.beans.factory.config.Scope
             * !=
             *org.springframework.context.annotation.Scope
             */
            org.springframework.beans.factory.config.Scope simpleThreadScope = new SimpleThreadScope();
            cbf.registerScope("simpleThreadScope", simpleThreadScope);

            /*why the following? Because "Spring Social" gets the HTTP request's username from
             *SecurityContextHolder.getContext().getAuthentication() ... and this 
             *by default only has a ThreadLocal strategy...
             *also see http://stackoverflow.com/a/3468965/923560 
             */
            SecurityContextHolder.setStrategyName(SecurityContextHolder.MODE_INHERITABLETHREADLOCAL);

        }
        else {
            logger.info("MainConfig is not backed by a ConfigurableBeanFactory");
        } 
    }
}

---

Now for any bean that shall have request-scope and that shall be usable from any thread spawned by the HTTP request thread, set the newly defined scope accordingly:

package com.example.config

@Configuration
@ComponentScan(basePackages = { "com.example.scopetest" })
public class ScopeConfig {

    private Integer counter = new Integer(0);

    @Bean
    @Scope(value = "simpleThreadScope", proxyMode = ScopedProxyMode.TARGET_CLASS)
    public Number counter() {
        counter = new Integer(counter.intValue() + 1);
        return counter;
    }


    @Bean
    @Scope(value = "simpleThreadScope", proxyMode = ScopedProxyMode.INTERFACES)
    public ConnectionRepository connectionRepository() {
        Authentication authentication = SecurityContextHolder.getContext().getAuthentication();
        if (authentication == null) {
            throw new IllegalStateException("Unable to get a ConnectionRepository: no user signed in");
        }
        return usersConnectionRepository().createConnectionRepository(authentication.getName());
    }


    @Bean
    @Scope(value = "simpleThreadScope", proxyMode = ScopedProxyMode.INTERFACES)
    public Facebook facebook() {
    Connection<Facebook> facebook = connectionRepository().findPrimaryConnection(Facebook.class);
    return facebook != null ? facebook.getApi() : new FacebookTemplate();
    }


    ...................

}

Answer 5

https://stackoverflow.com/a/30640097/2569475

For This Issue check My answer at above given url

Using a request scoped bean outside of an actual web request. If you use a Servlet 2.5 web container, with requests processed outside of Spring’s DispatcherServlet (for example, when using JSF or Struts), you need to register the org.springframework.web.context.request.RequestContextListener ServletRequestListener. For Servlet 3.0+, this can done programmatically via the WebApplicationInitializer interface. Alternatively, or for older containers, add the following declaration to your web application’s web.xml file: