# Bean

## Overview

The bean component binds beans to Apache Camel message exchanges.

## URI format

    bean:beanID[?options]

Where beanID can be any string which is used to lookup look up the bean in the Registry

## Options

Name | Type | Default | Description
--- | --- | --- | ---
`method` | `String` | `null` | The method name that bean will be invoked. If not provided, Apache Camel will try to pick the method itself. In case of ambiguity an exception is thrown. See Bean Binding for more details.
`cache` | `boolean` | `false` | If enabled, Apache Camel will cache the result of the first Registry look-up. Cache can be enabled if the bean in the Registry is defined as a singleton scope.
`multiParameterArray` | `boolean` | `false` | Apache Camel 1.5: How to treat the parameters which are passed from the message body; if it is `true`, the In message body should be an array of parameters.

You can append query options to the URI in the following format, `?option=value&option=value&...`

## Using

The object instance that is used to consume messages must be explicitly registered with the Registry. For example, if you are using Spring you must define the bean in the Spring configuration, `spring.xml`; or if you don't use Spring, put the bean in JNDI.

    // lets populate the context with the services we need
    // note that we could just use a spring.xml file to avoid this step
    JndiContext context = new JndiContext();
    context.bind("bye", new SayService("Good Bye!"));

    CamelContext camelContext = new DefaultCamelContext(context);

Once an endpoint has been registered, you can build routes that use it to process exchanges.

    // lets add simple route
    camelContext.addRoutes(new RouteBuilder() {
        public void configure() {
            from("direct:hello").to("bean:bye");
        }
    });

A bean: endpoint cannot be defined as the input to the route; i.e. you cannot consume from it, you can only route from some inbound message Endpoint to the bean endpoint as output. So consider using a direct: or queue: endpoint as the input.

You can use the `createProxy()` methods on ProxyHelper to create a proxy that will generate BeanExchanges and send them to any endpoint:

    Endpoint endpoint = camelContext.getEndpoint("direct:hello");
    ISay proxy = ProxyHelper.createProxy(endpoint, ISay.class);
    String rc = proxy.say();
    assertEquals("Good Bye!", rc);

And the same route using XML DSL:

        <route>
           <from uri="direct:hello">
           <to uri="bean:bye"/>
        </route>

## Bean as endpoint

Apache Camel also supports invoking Bean as an Endpoint. In the route below:

    <camelContext xmlns="http://camel.apache.org/schema/spring">
      <route>
        <from uri="direct:start"/>
        <to uri="myBean"/>
        <to uri="mock:results"/>
      </route>
    </camelContext>

    <bean id="myBean" class="org.apache.camel.spring.bind.ExampleBean"/>

What happens is that when the exchange is routed to the `myBean` Apache Camel will use the Bean Binding to invoke the bean. The source for the bean is just a plain POJO:

    public class ExampleBean {

        public String sayHello(String name) {
            return "Hello " + name + "!";
        }
    }

Apache Camel will use Bean Binding to invoke the `sayHello` method, by converting the Exchange's In body to the `String` type and storing the output of the method on the Exchange Out body.

## Bean Binding

How bean methods to be invoked are chosen (if they are not specified explicitly through the method parameter) and how parameter values are constructed from the `Message` are all defined by the Bean Binding mechanism which is used throughout all of the various Bean Integration mechanisms in Apache Camel.

- Class component

- Bean Binding

- Bean Integration