TARGET: Java Common Annotations and APIs specification

section "@Reference"

DESCRIPTION:

The description of the @Reference annotation does not specify what happens if the wire changes after the component has been instantiated. One example of a place where this could occur is for a composite-scoped component that exists at the domain level. The target of its reference could start off unwired (and thus would be null). A later deployment could deploy a <wire source="" target=""> element which provides a target for this component.

PROPOSAL:

In the above scenario, when constructor-based injection is not being used, the target MAY be reinjected.

This would be marked as "MAY" behavior, since it would not be required of all runtimes. However, the developer who is creating portable code needs to know that this reinjection may occur.

Other scenarios where such reinjection may occur is TBD. Note that reinjection should never occur for a conversational-scoped component that is in middle of its conversation.