dont ever use classpath application context in a web application

the architect before made a pretty big mistake by using the class path application context for spring. it caused tons of problems. He created a static bean factory so anyone could just get any old bean anywhere in the code. Not only is this a problem from a cross context point of view but developers also starting making direct factory calls in the code, totally bypassing the whole dependency injection model.

generally I would recommend only using class path application context for unit tests or stand alone applications.