9.2.2.2. Use CDI with Existing Code

Almost every concrete Java class that has a constructor with no parameters, or a constructor designated with the annotation @Inject, is a bean. The only thing you need to do before you can start injecting beans is create a file called beans.xml in the META-INF/ or WEB-INF/ directory of your archive. The file can be empty.

Procedure 9.2. Use legacy beans in CDI applications

  1. Package your beans into an archive.

    Package your beans into a JAR or WAR archive.

  2. Include a beans.xml file in your archive.

    Place a beans.xml file into your JAR archive's META-INF/ or your WAR archive's WEB-INF/ directory. The file can be empty.
Result:

You can use these beans with CDI. The container can create and destroy instances of your beans and associate them with a designated context, inject them into other beans, use them in EL expressions, specialize them with qualifier annotations, and add interceptors and decorators to them, without any modifications to your existing code. In some circumstances, you may need to add some annotations.

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