A Deep Dive into @Autowired Annotation in the Spring Framework

Alexander Obregon
16 min readAug 15, 2023
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Introduction

Understanding the Spring Framework is a crucial aspect of building Java applications. One of the essential elements of Spring is dependency injection (DI), and the @Autowired annotation plays a pivotal role in this mechanism. This article will delve deep into the @Autowired annotation, its functionality, its importance in the Spring Framework, and some common usage scenarios.

Introduction to @Autowired

In the Spring Framework, @Autowired is a popular annotation used for automatic dependency injection. When the Spring Framework sees @Autowired on fields, constructors, setter methods, or config methods, it attempts to fulfill the dependency by searching the application context for matching beans.

The Basics of @Autowired

In Spring, the @Autowired annotation is used to auto-wire Spring beans into other beans, which means letting Spring automatically satisfy bean dependencies. Here's a deeper look into how it works and the essential concepts that govern its behavior:

How Spring Resolves Dependencies

When you place the @Autowired annotation on a field, constructor, or method, Spring looks into its application context…

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Alexander Obregon

Software Engineer, fervent coder & writer. Devoted to learning & assisting others. Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-obregon-97849b229/