Spring MVC DispatcherServlet initialization parameter contextClass in documentation should implement ConfigurableWebApplicationContext not WebApplicationContext [SPR-17414]

[spring-projects-issues]

Sun Tao opened SPR-17414 and commented

In section 22.2.3 table 22.2, the explanation for contextClass Paramter is "Class that implements WebApplicationContext ..."

Web MVC framework

But when I see the source code of FrameworkServlet, the method createWebApplicationContext will throw exception if  ConfigurableWebApplicationContext is not a super class of contextClass. So is it better to say contextClass should implement ConfigurableWebApplicationContext?

Thank you.

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Affects: 4.3.18

Referenced from: commits 448182f, 1c67ef4, c9f1016

Backported to: 5.0.11, 4.3.21

[spring-projects-issues]

Juergen Hoeller commented

Indeed, with the default context loading algorithm in FrameworkServlet / DispatcherServlet, the context class needs to implement ConfigurableWebApplicationContext. Only with a custom subclass of DispatcherServlet, other kinds of WebApplicationContext could be used.