How to creaate ApplicationContext for a jar?

[peter tong]

I think ApplicationContext should only create once and then use it to getBean, again, I see many example in Web which create applicationcontext in the main method

public static void main(String[] args) {
      ApplicationContext context = 
             new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("Beans.xml");
............
}

But for my case, it is packed as a jar and no main method, it is just called by a webapp and not a standalone application, then where should I create ApplicationContext for this jar?
I think it is not good to create applicationcontext each time I need getBean, right?

[Bill Gorder]

Spring will look in jars too as long as its in the classpath. Use the ContextLoader in the web.xml to load it from the jar in addition to any contexts in the web-app.

<context-param>
    <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
    <param-value>
        classpath*:**/*context.xml
    </param-value>
</context-param>

Or to avoid time scanning declare them explicitly

<context-param>
    <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
    <param-value>
        classpath:my-jar-context.xml
        classpath:my-webapp-context.xml
    </param-value>
</context-param>