Spring - @Autowired method when execute

Question

I have a BaseDaoImpl class, it has following method:

@Autowired
public void initSessionFactory(@Qualifier("sqlSessionFactory") SqlSessionFactory sqlSessionFactory) {
    super.setSqlSessionFactory(sqlSessionFactory);
    System.out.println("------ ok ------");
}

I defined a subclass UserDaoImpl, which implements BaseDaoImpl. And defined it as a bean.
When init Spring context, I found that the initSessionFactory() method is executed automatically, but I didn't call any methods.
In my understanding, the method is executed & autowire its params only when I call it, can someone help to explain how it works? Thanks.

Answer 1

That behavior is normal. Your initSessionFactory method annotated with @Autowired is considered to be a config method. @Autowired can be placed on constructors, fields and methods. When the bean is created, first the constructor is called, then the fields are injected and then config methods are called.

A config method's (annotated with @Autowired) arguments will be autowired with a matching bean in the Spring container.

See the Javadoc API for Autowired annotation for more details.