Table of Contents

@Configuration and @ConfigurationBuilder

Learn how to utilize @Configuration and @ConfigurationBuilder annotations to effectively configure declared properties.

Authors: Nirav Assar

Micronaut Version: 2.5.0

1. Getting Started

In this guide we are going to create a Micronaut app written in Kotlin.

In this guide you are going to learn how to effectively use the annotations @ConfigurationProperties, @ConfigurationBuilder, and @EachProperty to use configured properties in a Micronaut application. These annotations allow declared values to be injected into a bean for easy usage in the application.

2. What you will need

To complete this guide, you will need the following:

  • Some time on your hands

  • A decent text editor or IDE

  • JDK 1.8 or greater installed with JAVA_HOME configured appropriately

3. Solution

We recommend that you follow the instructions in the next sections and create the app step by step. However, you can go right to the completed example.

4. Writing the App

Create an app using the Micronaut Command Line Interface or with Micronaut Launch.

mn create-app example.micronaut.micronautguide --build=gradle --lang=kotlin
If you don’t specify the --build argument, Gradle is used as a build tool.
If you don’t specify the --lang argument, Java is used as a language.

The previous command creates a Micronaut app with the default package example.micronaut in a folder named micronautguide.

If you are using Java or Kotlin and IntelliJ IDEA, make sure you have enabled annotation processing.

annotationprocessorsintellij

5. Team Configuration with @ConfigurationProperties

Imagine a feature where you can configure a sports team in a declarative manner. The team has a few attributes like team name, color, and players.

src/main/resources/application.yml
team:
  name: 'Steelers'
  color: 'Black'
  player-names:
    - 'Mason Rudolph'
    - 'James Connor'

With Micronaut, we can use the @ConfigurationProperties annotation to slurp the configuration into a bean. Each property that matches the configuration in the application.yml will call the setter in the bean. The bean will be subsequently available for injection in the application!

src/main/kotlin/example/micronaut/TeamConfiguration.kt
@ConfigurationProperties("team")
class TeamConfiguration  {
    var name: String? = null
    var color: String? = null
    var playerNames: List<String>? = null

5.1. Test @ConfigurationProperties

Let’s validate that the bean is available in the application context and is created with the values declared in the application.xml.

src/test/kotlin/example/micronaut/TeamConfigurationTest.kt
    @Test
    fun testTeamConfiguration() {
        val names = Arrays.asList("Nirav Assar", "Lionel Messi")
        val items: MutableMap<String, Any> = HashMap()
        items["team.name"] = "evolution"
        items["team.color"] = "green"
        items["team.player-names"] = names

        val ctx = ApplicationContext.run(items) (1)
        val teamConfiguration = ctx.getBean(TeamConfiguration::class.java)

        Assertions.assertEquals("evolution", teamConfiguration.name)
        Assertions.assertEquals("green", teamConfiguration.color)
        Assertions.assertEquals(names.size, teamConfiguration.playerNames!!.size)
        names.forEach(Consumer { name: String? -> Assertions.assertTrue(teamConfiguration.playerNames!!.contains(name!!)) })

        ctx.close()
    }
1 Setup configuration properties for the test to use

6. Team Admin Builder with @ConfigurationBuilder

The Builder pattern is a great way to build configuration objects incrementally. Read about the Builder pattern in this DZone article to learn more. Micronaut supports the Builder pattern with @ConfigurationBuilder.

Let’s suppose we want to add team administrators to a team. The team administration is composed by using a builder pattern object. We can add a coach, manager and president to the team.

src/main/resources/application.yml
team:
  name: 'Steelers'
  color: 'Black'
  player-names:
    - 'Mason Rudolph'
    - 'James Connor'
  team-admin:
    manager: 'Nirav Assar' (1)
    coach: 'Mike Tomlin'
    president: 'Dan Rooney'
1 manager property is an example of an element that will be built

The TeamAdmin object abides by the Builder pattern.

src/main/kotlin/example/micronaut/TeamAdmin.kt
package example.micronaut

class TeamAdmin private constructor(
        val manager: String?,
        val coach: String?,
        val president: String?) { (1)
    data class Builder( (2)
            var manager: String? = null,
            var coach: String? = null,
            var president: String? = null) {
        fun withManager(manager: String) = apply { this.manager = manager } (3)
        fun withCoach(coach: String) = apply { this.coach = coach }
        fun withPresident(president: String) = apply { this.president = president }
        fun build() = TeamAdmin(manager, coach, president) (4)
    }
}
1 TeamAdmin is the configuration object which consumes the declared properties.
2 The builder object is used to incrementally construct the object.
3 An example of a builder method, where a attribute is set and then the builder itself is returned.
4 The final build() method creates the TeamAdmin object.

At the bottom of TeamConfiguration, we add the inner class TeamAdmin.Builder and annotate it with @ConfigurationBuilder. This tells Micronaut that configuration can be read in and an object can be constructed using the Builder pattern.

We are using the builder only here, so we will have to call builder.build() to actually get the TeamAdmin object, at a later time. In our case, we will call builder.build() in the JUnit test.
src/main/kotlin/example/micronaut/TeamConfiguration.kt
package example.micronaut

import io.micronaut.context.annotation.ConfigurationBuilder
import io.micronaut.context.annotation.ConfigurationProperties

//tag::teamConfigClassNoBuilder[]
@ConfigurationProperties("team")
class TeamConfiguration  {
    var name: String? = null
    var color: String? = null
    var playerNames: List<String>? = null
//end::teamConfigClassNoBuilder[]
//tag::teamConfigClassBuilder[]
    @ConfigurationBuilder(prefixes = ["with"], configurationPrefix = "team-admin") (1)
    var builder = TeamAdmin.Builder() (2)
//end::teamConfigClassBuilder[]
}

//tag::gettersandsetters[]
//end::gettersandsetters[]
1 prefixes tells Micronaut to find methods that are prefixed by with; configurationPrefix allows the developer to customize the application.yml element
2 Instantiate the builder object so it can be populated with configuration values.

6.1. Test @ConfigurationBuilder

We can validate @ConfigurationBuilder is applied properly with the following JUnit test. The test format is similar to previous tests.

src/test/kotlin/example/micronaut/TeamConfigurationTest.kt
    @Test
    fun testTeamConfigurationBuilder() {
        val names = Arrays.asList("Nirav Assar", "Lionel Messi")
        val items: MutableMap<String, Any> = HashMap()
        items["team.name"] = "evolution"
        items["team.color"] = "green"
        items["team.team-admin.manager"] = "Jerry Jones" (1)
        items["team.team-admin.coach"] = "Tommy O'Neill"
        items["team.team-admin.president"] = "Mark Scanell"
        items["team.player-names"] = names

        val ctx = ApplicationContext.run(items)
        val teamConfiguration = ctx.getBean(TeamConfiguration::class.java)
        val teamAdmin = teamConfiguration.builder.build() (2)

        Assertions.assertEquals("evolution", teamConfiguration.name)
        Assertions.assertEquals("green", teamConfiguration.color)
        Assertions.assertEquals("Nirav Assar", teamConfiguration.playerNames!![0])
        Assertions.assertEquals("Lionel Messi", teamConfiguration.playerNames!![1])

        // check the builder has values set
        Assertions.assertEquals("Jerry Jones", teamConfiguration.builder.manager)
        Assertions.assertEquals("Tommy O'Neill", teamConfiguration.builder.coach)
        Assertions.assertEquals("Mark Scanell", teamConfiguration.builder.president)

        // check the object can be built
        Assertions.assertEquals("Jerry Jones", teamAdmin.manager) (3)
        Assertions.assertEquals("Tommy O'Neill", teamAdmin.coach)
        Assertions.assertEquals("Mark Scanell", teamAdmin.president)
        ctx.close()
1 Properties which will invoke the builder methods on TeamAdmin.Builder
2 The builder object is now configured, so we must run build() on it to create the TeamAdmin object
3 Verify the object is created with the applicaton.yml properties

7. Stadiums with @EachProperty

Micronaut is also able to read a "list" of configurations that are related. Imagine we would like to declare stadiums and their attributes.

src/main/resources/application.yml
stadium:
  coors: (1)
    city: 'Denver'
    size: 50000
  pnc:
    city: 'Pittsburgh'
    size: 35000
1 This element will be the name of the bean.

We can use @EachProperty which will cycle through the configuration and read each nested clause as a bean. The higher level property will be parameterized as the name.

src/main/kotlin/example/micronaut/StadiumConfiguration.kt
package example.micronaut

import io.micronaut.context.annotation.EachProperty
import io.micronaut.context.annotation.Parameter
import io.micronaut.core.annotation.Introspected

@Introspected
@EachProperty("stadium") (1)
class StadiumConfiguration
constructor(@param:Parameter val name: String) {  (2)
    var city: String? = null
    var size: Int? = null
}
1 Establish the top layer of configuration
2 name is read in from the property key and send as a parameter to the bean.

7.1. Test @EachProperty

Validate the configuration with a test. Notice multiple beans are created from the configuration. In a controller we can inject a particular StadiumConfiguration instance bean by using the @Named parameter with qualifier name.

src/test/kotlin/example/micronaut/StadiumConfigurationTest.kt
package example.micronaut

import io.micronaut.context.ApplicationContext
import io.micronaut.inject.qualifiers.Qualifiers
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test

class StadiumConfigurationTest {
    @Test
    fun testStadiumConfiguration() {
        val items: MutableMap<String, Any> = HashMap()
        items["stadium.fenway.city"] = "Boston" (1)
        items["stadium.fenway.size"] = 60000
        items["stadium.wrigley.city"] = "Chicago" (1)
        items["stadium.wrigley.size"] = 45000

        val ctx = ApplicationContext.run(items)

        (2)
        val fenwayConfiguration = ctx.getBean(StadiumConfiguration::class.java, Qualifiers.byName("fenway"))
        val wrigleyConfiguration = ctx.getBean(StadiumConfiguration::class.java, Qualifiers.byName("wrigley"))

        Assertions.assertEquals("fenway", fenwayConfiguration.name)
        Assertions.assertEquals(60000, fenwayConfiguration.size)
        Assertions.assertEquals("wrigley", wrigleyConfiguration.name)
        Assertions.assertEquals(45000, wrigleyConfiguration.size)

        ctx.close()
    }
}
1 Multiple configurations can be declared for the same class.
2 Since there are multiple beans to retrieve a bean a Qualifier must be sent.

8. Running the Application

To run the application use the ./gradlew run command which will start the application on port 8080.

9. Controller

Configuration beans can be injected into the application with just like any other beans. As a demonstration, create a controller where the beans are constructor injected. The StadiumConfiguration class has two instances, so for injection we need to use the @Named annotation with a qualifier name to specify the bean.

src/main/kotlin/example/micronaut/MyController.kt
package example.micronaut

import io.micronaut.http.annotation.Controller
import io.micronaut.http.annotation.Get
import javax.inject.Named

@Controller("/my")
class MyController(val teamConfiguration: TeamConfiguration,
                   @Named("pnc") val stadiumConfiguration: StadiumConfiguration) { (1)

    @Get("/team")
    fun team(): TeamConfiguration {
        return teamConfiguration
    }

    @Get("/stadium")
    fun stadium(): StadiumConfiguration {
        return stadiumConfiguration
    }
}
1 Injection of configuration beans; @Named annotation is needed to choose which StadiumConfiguration instance is retrieved.
In the browser go to http://localhost:8080/my/team and http://localhost:8080/my/stadium.

Add test:

src/test/kotlin/example/micronaut/MyControllerTest.kt
package example.micronaut

import io.micronaut.http.HttpRequest
import io.micronaut.http.client.HttpClient
import io.micronaut.http.client.annotation.Client
import io.micronaut.test.extensions.junit5.annotation.MicronautTest
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
import java.util.Arrays
import java.util.function.Consumer
import javax.inject.Inject

@MicronautTest
class MyControllerTest {
    @Inject
    @field:Client("/")
    lateinit var client: HttpClient

    @Test
    fun testMyTeam() {
        val teamConfiguration = client.toBlocking()
                .retrieve(HttpRequest.GET<Any>("/my/team"), TeamConfiguration::class.java)
        Assertions.assertEquals("Steelers", teamConfiguration.name)
        Assertions.assertEquals("Black", teamConfiguration.color)
        val expectedPlayers = Arrays.asList("Mason Rudolph", "James Connor")
        Assertions.assertEquals(expectedPlayers.size, teamConfiguration.playerNames!!.size)
        expectedPlayers.forEach(Consumer { name: String? -> Assertions.assertTrue(teamConfiguration.playerNames!!.contains(name!!)) })
    }

    @Test
    fun testMyStadium() {
        val conf = client.toBlocking()
                .retrieve(HttpRequest.GET<Any>("/my/stadium"), StadiumConfiguration::class.java)
        Assertions.assertEquals("Pittsburgh", conf.city)
        Assertions.assertEquals(35000, conf.size)
    }
}

10. Generate a Micronaut app’s Native Image with GraalVM

We are going to use GraalVM, the polyglot embeddable virtual machine, to generate a Native image of our Micronaut application.

Native images compiled with GraalVM ahead-of-time improve the startup time and reduce the memory footprint of JVM-based applications.

Use of GraalVM’s native-image tool is only supported in Java or Kotlin projects. Groovy relies heavily on reflection which is only partially supported by GraalVM.

10.1. Native Image generation

The easiest way to install GraalVM is to use SDKMan.io.

# For Java 8
$ sdk install java 21.1.0.r8-grl

# For Java 11
$ sdk install java 21.1.0.r11-grl

You need to install the native-image component which is not installed by default.

$ gu install native-image

To generate a native image using Gradle run:

$ ./gradlew nativeImage

The native image will be created in build/native-image/application and can be run with ./build/native-image/application

It is also possible to customize the name of the native image or pass additional parameters to GraalVM:

build.gradle
nativeImage {
    args('--verbose')
    imageName('mn-graalvm-application') (1)
}
1 The native image name will now be mn-graalvm-application

You can invoke the controller exposed by the native image:

curl http://localhost:8080/my/stadium
curl http://localhost:8080/my/team

11. Next steps

Visit Micronaut Application Configuration to learn more.

12. Help with Micronaut

Object Computing, Inc. (OCI) sponsored the creation of this Guide. A variety of consulting and support services are available.

Meet the Team.