Types

You can use the special T operator to specify an instance of java.lang.Class (the type). Static methods are invoked by using this operator as well. The StandardEvaluationContext uses a TypeLocator to find types, and the StandardTypeLocator (which can be replaced) is built with an understanding of the java.lang package. This means that T() references to types within the java.lang package do not need to be fully qualified, but all other type references must be. The following example shows how to use the T operator:

  • Java

Class dateClass = parser.parseExpression("T(java.util.Date)").getValue(Class.class);

Class stringClass = parser.parseExpression("T(String)").getValue(Class.class);

boolean trueValue = parser.parseExpression(
    "T(java.math.RoundingMode).CEILING < T(java.math.RoundingMode).FLOOR")
    .getValue(Boolean.class);

If your application or framework manages its own EvaluationContext, you may need to manually configure a StandardTypeLocator with a specific ClassLoader to ensure that the SpEL expression parser is able to reliably locate user types.

For example, the StandardBeanExpressionResolver in the spring-context module configures a StandardTypeLocator using the bean ClassLoader of the corresponding BeanFactory.