Get bean reference on a non EJB aware context

[cjalmeida]

Hi,

I needed to access a managed bean on a non-managed PhaseListener and had to write (straight from Seam3Faces module)

BeanManager beanManager;
try {
     beanManager = (BeanManager) new InitialContext().lookup("java:app/BeanManager");
} catch (NamingException e) {
     throw new RuntimeException(e);
}
Bean<ILoginService> bean = (Bean<ILoginService>) beanManager.getBeans(ILoginService.class).iterator().next();
CreationalContext<ILoginService> context = beanManager.createCreationalContext(bean);
ILoginService loginService = (ILoginService) beanManager.getReference(bean, LoginService.class, context);

IMO, such thing should be part of Weld API (even if as an extension). Something like a static helper method on BeanManager.

ILoginService service = BeanManager.inject(<type>,<qualifiers>...);

[nickarls]

There is a Java services based BeanManagerAware superclass in weld-extensions under construction that has a getBeanManager(). I also recall seeing the famous three-liner for getting the reference somewhere in extensions but I can't seem to find it now. It will be there sooner or later, anyway so you'll be able to do something like

getBeanManager().getReference(Foo.class);

etc

[cjalmeida]

The static helper is probably a better idea since you need to extend nothing. Having to extend BeanManagerAware might pose some restriction on integrating frameworks that also uses extensions.

[nickarls]

That was one design option but I think Pete wanted it to be as ugly as possible so it wouldn't be used that much ;-) There was also something with static and classloaders, can't remember now. It might of course be subject to change since it's just a minor implementation detail.