import javax.annotation.Resource
import spock.lang.*
// Spring imports omitted for brevity

@ContextConfiguration(locations = "appcontext.xml")
class SpringExtensionExample extends Specification {
  @Autowired
  ItemDao dao

  @Resource
  EmailService email

  @Autowired
  ApplicationContext context
}

The Spring extension, compatible with Spring 2.5 and Spring 3, brings Spring's TestContext framework to Spock. Instead of providing its own API, the extension relies solely on the TestContext API. To activate the extension, annotate your specification with @ContextConfiguration. Additionally, at least the following Jars have to be present on the runtime class path:

• spring-beans
• spring-test
• spock-spring

In many cases, you will want to access Spring beans from your specification. To do so, provide the locations of your Spring bean definition files, and use Spring's annotation-based injection mechanism to inject the fields of your specification. For example, @Autowired will inject beans by type, and @Resource will inject beans by name. If required, you can also inject the ApplicationContext itself. However, you should prefer injecting beans whenever possible.

The TestContext framework provides many features, most of which are supported by the Spring extension. From the annotations listed in the Spring documentation, all but the following are supported:

• @ExpectedException (use Spock's thrown() method or @FailsWith annotation instead)
• @Timed (use Spock's @Timeout annotation instead)
• @Repeat (Spock will likely add a similar feature in the future)

Note: Due to the way Spring's TestContext framework is designed, @Shared fields cannot currently be injected. This also means that setupSpec() and cleanupSpec() cannot get access to Spring beans. See TransactionalExample for how to deal with this limitation.

To learn more about Spring's TestContext framework, see the official documentation. Also take a look at the code examples in spock-spring, in particular DirtiesContextExample and TransactionalExample.