Logical operators in Spring Expression Language SpEL [Annotation] | Spring Tutorial

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Overview: Logical Operators in SpEL

The Spring Expression Language (SpEL) includes extensive support for logical operations, making it easy to evaluate complex conditions dynamically at runtime. When building Spring applications with annotation-based configuration, you can evaluate boolean logic and inject conditional states directly into your beans using the @Value annotation.

In this guide, you will learn about the different logical operators supported by SpEL and how to use them with annotation configuration.

Supported Logical Operators

SpEL supports standard symbols as well as text-based equivalents for logical operators:

• Logical AND (and / &&): Evaluates to true only if both conditions are true: @Value("#{250 > 200 and 200 < 400}").
• Logical OR (or / ||): Evaluates to true if at least one condition is true: @Value("#{250 > 200 or 200 > 400}").
• Logical NOT (! / not): Inverts the boolean result of an expression: @Value("#{!(250 > 200)}") or @Value("#{not (250 > 200)}").

Injecting Logical Results with @Value

By placing logical expressions inside the @Value("#{...}") annotation, Spring evaluates them during bean initialization:

1. Direct Boolean Assignment: Assign evaluated condition results directly to boolean fields.
2. Combining Relational and Logical Operations: Chain comparisons seamlessly (e.g., combining <, >, == with and, or).
3. Dynamic Bean State Resolution: Conditionally configure beans based on property values or environment flags without boilerplate Java code.

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---

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Logical operators in Spring Expression Language SpEL [Annotation] | Spring Tutorial

Logical operators in Spring Expression Language SpEL [Annotation] | Spring Tutorial

Logical operators in Spring Expression Language SpEL [Annotation] | Spring Tutorial

pom.xml

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0%20http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.ram.core</groupId>
    <artifactId>SpringDemo</artifactId>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <name>SpringDemo</name>
    <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>

    <properties>
        <spring.version>5.0.5.RELEASE</spring.version>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>3.8.1</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Spring 5 dependencies -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
</project>

MedicalInsurence.java

package com.ram.model;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;

@Component("medicalInsurence")
public class MedicalInsurence
{
    @Value("10")
    private int insurencePolicyNumber;

    @Value("15000")
    private int insuredAmount;

    public int getInsurencePolicyNumber()
    {
        return insurencePolicyNumber;
    }

    public void setInsurencePolicyNumber(int insurencePolicyNumber)
    {
        this.insurencePolicyNumber = insurencePolicyNumber;
    }

    public int getInsuredAmount()
    {
        return insuredAmount;
    }

    public void setInsuredAmount(int insuredAmount)
    {
        this.insuredAmount = insuredAmount;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString()
    {
        return "MedicalInsurence [insurencePolicyNumber="
                insurencePolicyNumber ", insuredAmount=" insuredAmount
                "]";
    }

}
 

Employee.java

package com.ram.model;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;

@Component("employee")
public class Employee
{

    @Value("100")
    private int id;

    @Value("Peter")
    private String name;

    @Value("#{medicalInsurence.insuredAmount == 15000 and medicalInsurence.insurencePolicyNumber == 10}")
    private boolean testAndCondition;

    @Value("#{medicalInsurence.insuredAmount == 15000 or medicalInsurence.insurencePolicyNumber == 30}")
    private boolean testOrCondition;

    @Value("#{medicalInsurence.insuredAmount != 15000}")
    private boolean testNotCondition;

    public int getId()
    {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(int id)
    {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public String getName()
    {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name)
    {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public boolean isTestAndCondition()
    {
        return testAndCondition;
    }

    public void setTestAndCondition(boolean testAndCondition)
    {
        this.testAndCondition = testAndCondition;
    }

    public boolean isTestOrCondition()
    {
        return testOrCondition;
    }

    public void setTestOrCondition(boolean testOrCondition)
    {
        this.testOrCondition = testOrCondition;
    }

    public boolean isTestNotCondition()
    {
        return testNotCondition;
    }

    public void setTestNotCondition(boolean testNotCondition)
    {
        this.testNotCondition = testNotCondition;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString()
    {
        return "Employee [id=" + id + ", name=" + name + ", testAndCondition="
                + testAndCondition + ", testOrCondition=" + testOrCondition
                + ", testNotCondition=" + testNotCondition + "]";
    }

}

applicationContext.xml

<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-4.3.xsd
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-4.3.xsd">

    <context:component-scan base-package="com.ram" />

</beans>

App.java

package com.ram.core;

import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;

import com.ram.model.Employee;
import com.ram.model.MedicalInsurence;

public class App
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(
                "applicationContext.xml");

        System.out.println("---------------------------------------");

        MedicalInsurence medicalInsurence = (MedicalInsurence) context
                .getBean("medicalInsurence");
        System.out.println(medicalInsurence+"\n");

        Employee employee = (Employee) context.getBean("employee");
        System.out.println(employee);
    }

}

Output

Sep 13, 2018 9:54:26 AM org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext prepareRefresh
INFO: Refreshing org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext@736e9adb: startup date [Thu Sep 13 09:54:26 IST 2018]; root of context hierarchy
Sep 13, 2018 9:54:26 AM org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader loadBeanDefinitions
INFO: Loading XML bean definitions from class path resource [applicationContext.xml]
---------------------------------------
MedicalInsurence [insurencePolicyNumber=10, insuredAmount=15000]

Employee [id=100, name=Peter, testAndCondition=true, testOrCondition=true, testNotCondition=false]

Click the below link to download the code:
https://sites.google.com/site/ramj2eev2/java_basics/SpringDemo_Spring%20EL_logical_Op_Annotation.zip?attredirects=0&d=1

Github Link:
https://github.com/ramram43210/javaee/tree/master/Spring_2018/SpringDemo_Spring%20EL_logical_Op_Annotation

Bitbucket Link:
https://bitbucket.org/ramram43210/spring/src/bc57993ee6a8afd4aea41a3f35b305677f5544e1/Spring_2018/SpringDemo_Spring%20EL_logical_Op_Annotation/?at=master

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Logical operators in Spring Expression Language SpEL [XML] | Spring Tutorial

Master Spring & Java Development!

Subscribe to Ram N Java for clean, beginner-friendly coding guides!

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Overview: Logical Operators in SpEL via XML

The Spring Expression Language (SpEL) offers built-in support for evaluating logical conditions right inside your bean definition files. When configuring beans using XML, using logical expressions allows you to evaluate conditions dynamically and inject the resulting boolean values into your bean properties during initialization.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to write and evaluate logical operators (such as and, or, and not) inside an XML-based configuration.

Supported Logical Operators

When working in XML files, SpEL text-based keywords are especially recommended because they avoid XML entity escaping issues:

• Logical AND (and): Evaluates to true only if both operands are true. Example: value="#{250 gt 200 and 200 lt 400}".
• Logical OR (or): Evaluates to true if at least one operand is true. Example: value="#{250 gt 200 or 200 gt 400}".
• Logical NOT (not / !): Reverses the truth value of the condition. Example: value="#{not (250 gt 200)}".

Configuring Logical Operations in XML

To evaluate logical conditions in your Spring XML configuration:

1. Target Property: Identify the target boolean property on your bean.
2. Declare Expression: Place the logical evaluation inside the value attribute using #{...}:
   <property name="andResult" value="#{100 gt 50 and 50 lt 75}" />
3. Automatic Container Evaluation: When the ApplicationContext loads, Spring evaluates the logical expression and injects the evaluated boolean result.

Recommended Next Videos from Ram N Java

• 👉 Mastering Logical Operators in Spring Expression Language (SpEL) with Annotation| Spring Tutorial
• 👉 Mastering Mathematical operators in Spring Expression Language SpEL with XML | Spring Tutorial
• 👉 Mastering Regular Expressions in Spring Expression Language via XML Configuration | Spring Tutorial

---

Click here to watch on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eREAVedKRNE&list=UUhwKlOVR041tngjerWxVccw

Click the below Image to Enlarge:

Logical operators in Spring Expression Language SpEL [XML] | Spring Tutorial

Logical operators in Spring Expression Language SpEL [XML] | Spring Tutorial

Logical operators in Spring Expression Language SpEL [XML] | Spring Tutorial

pom.xml

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0%20http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>com.ram.core</groupId>
    <artifactId>SpringDemo</artifactId>
    <packaging>jar</packaging>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
    <name>SpringDemo</name>
    <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>

    <properties>
        <spring.version>5.0.5.RELEASE</spring.version>
    </properties>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>junit</groupId>
            <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
            <version>3.8.1</version>
            <scope>test</scope>
        </dependency>

        <!-- Spring 5 dependencies -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
        </dependency>

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
            <version>${spring.version}</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
</project>

MedicalInsurence.java

package com.ram.model;

public class MedicalInsurence
{
    private int insurencePolicyNumber;
    private int insuredAmount;

    public int getInsurencePolicyNumber()
    {
        return insurencePolicyNumber;
    }

    public void setInsurencePolicyNumber(int insurencePolicyNumber)
    {
        this.insurencePolicyNumber = insurencePolicyNumber;
    }

    public int getInsuredAmount()
    {
        return insuredAmount;
    }

    public void setInsuredAmount(int insuredAmount)
    {
        this.insuredAmount = insuredAmount;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString()
    {
        return "MedicalInsurence [insurencePolicyNumber="
                + insurencePolicyNumber + ", insuredAmount=" + insuredAmount
                + "]";
    }

}

Employee.java

package com.ram.model;

public class Employee
{

    private int id;
    private String name;
    private boolean testAndCondition;
    private boolean testOrCondition;
    private boolean testNotCondition;

    public int getId()
    {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(int id)
    {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public String getName()
    {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name)
    {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public boolean isTestAndCondition()
    {
        return testAndCondition;
    }

    public void setTestAndCondition(boolean testAndCondition)
    {
        this.testAndCondition = testAndCondition;
    }

    public boolean isTestOrCondition()
    {
        return testOrCondition;
    }

    public void setTestOrCondition(boolean testOrCondition)
    {
        this.testOrCondition = testOrCondition;
    }

    public boolean isTestNotCondition()
    {
        return testNotCondition;
    }

    public void setTestNotCondition(boolean testNotCondition)
    {
        this.testNotCondition = testNotCondition;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString()
    {
        return "Employee [id=" + id + ", name=" + name + ", testAndCondition="
                + testAndCondition + ", testOrCondition=" + testOrCondition
                + ", testNotCondition=" + testNotCondition + "]";
    }

}

applicationContext.xml

<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-4.3.xsd
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
    http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-4.3.xsd">

    <bean id="medicalInsurence" class="com.ram.model.MedicalInsurence">
        <property name="insurencePolicyNumber" value="10"></property>
        <property name="insuredAmount" value="15000"></property>
    </bean>

    <bean id="employee" class="com.ram.model.Employee">
        <property name="id" value="100"></property>
        <property name="name" value="Peter"></property>
        <property name="testAndCondition"
            value="#{medicalInsurence.insuredAmount == 15000 and medicalInsurence.insurencePolicyNumber == 10}"></property>
     
        <property name="testOrCondition"
            value="#{medicalInsurence.insuredAmount == 15000 or medicalInsurence.insurencePolicyNumber == 30}"></property>
     
        <property name="testNotCondition" value="#{medicalInsurence.insuredAmount != 15000}"></property>
    </bean>

</beans>

App.java

package com.ram.core;

import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;

import com.ram.model.Employee;
import com.ram.model.MedicalInsurence;

public class App
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(
                "applicationContext.xml");

        System.out.println("---------------------------------------");

        MedicalInsurence medicalInsurence = (MedicalInsurence) context
                .getBean("medicalInsurence");
        System.out.println(medicalInsurence+"\n");

        Employee employee = (Employee) context.getBean("employee");
        System.out.println(employee);
    }

}

Output

Sep 13, 2018 9:29:13 AM org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext prepareRefresh
INFO: Refreshing org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext@736e9adb: startup date [Thu Sep 13 09:29:13 IST 2018]; root of context hierarchy
Sep 13, 2018 9:29:13 AM org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader loadBeanDefinitions
INFO: Loading XML bean definitions from class path resource [applicationContext.xml]
---------------------------------------
MedicalInsurence [insurencePolicyNumber=10, insuredAmount=15000]

Employee [id=100, name=Peter, testAndCondition=true, testOrCondition=true, testNotCondition=false]

Click the below link to download the code:
https://sites.google.com/site/ramj2eev2/java_basics/SpringDemo_Spring%20EL_logical_Op_XML.zip?attredirects=0&d=1

Github Link:
https://github.com/ramram43210/javaee/tree/master/Spring_2018/SpringDemo_Spring%20EL_logical_Op_XML

Bitbucket Link:
https://bitbucket.org/ramram43210/spring/src/bc57993ee6a8afd4aea41a3f35b305677f5544e1/Spring_2018/SpringDemo_Spring%20EL_logical_Op_XML/?at=master

See also:

All JavaEE Videos Playlist

All JavaEE Videos

All JAVA EE Links

Spring Tutorial

Servlets Tutorial

All Design Patterns Links

JDBC Tutorial

Java Collection Framework Tutorial

JAVA Tutorial

Kids Tutorial

Cooking Tutorial