It's like "extends" for bean definitions. If you have several beans that all share similar configuration, you can define a parent bean to house the redundant configuration, and then make child beans that inherit that configuration without having to duplicate it.
If you don't use autowiring, it can provide a significant reduction in the XML's size, particularly if you have a lot of similar beans. I generally steer away from it except in tightly controlled scenarios to cut down on the "voodoo factor" within the code. Little more typing, but explicitness is worth it, I think, and with parent definitions you can keep the extra keystrokes to a minimum. cheers, barneyb On 8/13/07, Jeff Chastain <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > I just came across a snippet of ColdSpring XML today that utilized a > "parent" attribute for the bean tag. I have never seen this before, so I am > assuming it is something new in the BE release. I did a quick Google > without any luck, so could somebody in the know elaborate on what this is? > > > > Thanks > > -- Jeff -- Barney Boisvert [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.barneyb.com/ Got Gmail? I have 100 invites.
