The ContextCollector is responsible for collecting context data from ContextSources. It can be invoked through a Spring MVC interceptor or a servlet filter both of which must be installed in all handler chains that require user context data.

Figure 4.4. ContextCollector position

The ContextCollector manages a list of ContextSources to fill before processing the request. Sources are processed in the order implied by the respective list and the request and session lifecycle are mapped as follows to the ContextSource methods: preHandle and postHandle can be invoked by a servlet filter or by the corresponding lifecycle methods of a Spring HandlerInterceptor, preSession and postSession relate to sessionCreated and sessionDestroyed of an HttpSessionListener.

In addition to the lists of context sources, you have got to provide a LicenseHelper bean, configured with a connection to the content server, as well as the ContextCollection bean to be filled by the collector.