Spring Cache @Cacheable - not working while calling from another method of the same bean

Spring cache is not working when calling cached method from another method of the same bean.

Here is an example to explain my problem in clear way.

Configuration:

<cache:annotation-driven cache-manager="myCacheManager" />

<bean id="myCacheManager" class="org.springframework.cache.ehcache.EhCacheCacheManager">
    <property name="cacheManager" ref="myCache" />
</bean>

<!-- Ehcache library setup -->
<bean id="myCache"
    class="org.springframework.cache.ehcache.EhCacheManagerFactoryBean" p:shared="true">
    <property name="configLocation" value="classpath:ehcache.xml"></property>
</bean>

<cache name="employeeData" maxElementsInMemory="100"/>  

Cached service :

@Named("aService")
public class AService {

    @Cacheable("employeeData")
    public List<EmployeeData> getEmployeeData(Date date){
    ..println("Cache is not being used");
    ...
    }

    public List<EmployeeEnrichedData> getEmployeeEnrichedData(Date date){
        List<EmployeeData> employeeData = getEmployeeData(date);
        ...
    }

}

Result :

aService.getEmployeeData(someDate);
output: Cache is not being used
aService.getEmployeeData(someDate); 
output: 
aService.getEmployeeEnrichedData(someDate); 
output: Cache is not being used

The getEmployeeData method call uses cache employeeData in the second call as expected. But when the getEmployeeData method is called within the AService class (in getEmployeeEnrichedData), Cache is not being used.

Is this how spring cache works or am i missing something ?

Solution 1:

I believe this is how it works. From what I remember reading, there is a proxy class generated that intercepts all requests and responds with the cached value, but 'internal' calls within the same class will not get the cached value.

From https://code.google.com/p/ehcache-spring-annotations/wiki/UsingCacheable

Only external method calls coming in through the proxy are intercepted. This means that self-invocation, in effect, a method within the target object calling another method of the target object, will not lead to an actual cache interception at runtime even if the invoked method is marked with @Cacheable.

Solution 2:

Since Spring 4.3 the problem could be solved using self-autowiring over @Resource annotation:

@Component
@CacheConfig(cacheNames = "SphereClientFactoryCache")
public class CacheableSphereClientFactoryImpl implements SphereClientFactory {

    /**
     * 1. Self-autowired reference to proxified bean of this class.
     */
    @Resource
    private SphereClientFactory self;

    @Override
    @Cacheable(sync = true)
    public SphereClient createSphereClient(@Nonnull TenantConfig tenantConfig) {
        // 2. call cached method using self-bean
        return self.createSphereClient(tenantConfig.getSphereClientConfig());
    }

    @Override
    @Cacheable(sync = true)
    public SphereClient createSphereClient(@Nonnull SphereClientConfig clientConfig) {
        return CtpClientConfigurationUtils.createSphereClient(clientConfig);
    }
}

Solution 3:

The example below is what I use to hit the proxy from within the same bean, it is similar to @mario-eis' solution, but I find it a bit more readable (maybe it's not:-). Anyway, I like to keep the @Cacheable annotations at the service level:

@Service
@Transactional(readOnly=true)
public class SettingServiceImpl implements SettingService {

@Inject
private SettingRepository settingRepository;

@Inject
private ApplicationContext applicationContext;

@Override
@Cacheable("settingsCache")
public String findValue(String name) {
    Setting setting = settingRepository.findOne(name);
    if(setting == null){
        return null;
    }
    return setting.getValue();
}

@Override
public Boolean findBoolean(String name) {
    String value = getSpringProxy().findValue(name);
    if (value == null) {
        return null;
    }
    return Boolean.valueOf(value);
}

/**
 * Use proxy to hit cache 
 */
private SettingService getSpringProxy() {
    return applicationContext.getBean(SettingService.class);
}
...

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