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Java Spring IOC bean creation value

I need a bean like this
<bean id="studentWithSchool" class="com.model.Student" scope="prototype">
<property name="school">
<bean class="com.model.School" scope="prototype"/>
</property>
</bean>
This is OK.
My problem is I have the student returning from a method from a different bean.
I usually load the bean like this when is a property.
<property name='beanProperty' value='#{anotherBean.getBeanProperty()}'/>
But in this case I need the new bean itself being set from the other bean method (School object is returned from another bean method).
This is what I try, and of course this is wrong:
<bean id="studentWithSchool" class="com.model.Student" scope="prototype" value='#{anotherBean.getBeanProperty()}'>
<property name="school">
<bean class="com.model.School" scope="prototype"/>
</property>
</bean>
Is there any workaround?

If I understand you correctly, the studentWithSchool is created and returned by a method in anotherBean. If that's the case, you can use a factory-method:
<bean id="studentWithSchool" factory-bean="anotherBean" factory-method="getBeanProperty" scope="prototype" />

I believe you are trying to use factory patter with Spring . For that you can use factory bean from spring.
<bean id="studentWithSchool" factory-bean="anotherBeanStaticFactory" factory- method="createBeanProperty" scope="prototype"
<property name="school">
<bean class="com.model.School" scope="prototype"/>
</property>
For more detail you can use below link :-
http://docs.spring.io/spring-framework/docs/2.5.6/api/org/springframework/beans/factory/BeanFactory.html

Is it possible in Spring to have a reference to part of another bean?

Code:
<bean id="bean1" ...
<property name="Utils">
...
</bean>
I would like to do:
<bean id="bean2" ...
<property name="Utils" ref="bean1.Utils"/>
Is it possible in Spring? Or something similar?
Thanks.

Yes
<bean id="bean1" ...>
<property name="Utils" ref="utilBean">
</bean>
<bean id="utilBean" ...>
and
<bean id="bean2" ...
<property name="Utils" ref="utilBean"/>
Since utilBean would be singleton both bean1 and bean2 would have same instance for property Utils

I'm pretty sure that Jigar Joshi's answer is what you need - but if not you can use SpEL:
<bean id="bean2" ...
<property name="Utils" value="#{bean1.getUtils()}"/>
This is assuming bean1 exposes a getUtils() method.
Note that this is less than orthodox and usually not a recommended practice.

You can use the PropertyPathFactoryBean. See http://static.springsource.org/spring/docs/2.5.x/reference/xsd-config.html#xsd-config-body-schemas-util-property-path :
<bean id="bean2" ...
<property name="Utils">
<bean id="bean1.Utils"
class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean"/>
This can also use properties from bean1 that are not set by Spring, as long as there's a getter for it.

It can be defined as xml based like;
<bean id="bean1">
<property name="Utils" ref="bean2">
</bean>
as annotation based in Java like;
#Autowired
Bean2 bean2;

Can I use spring to achieve this following goal?

Bean A depends on another Bean B. (Bean B is a property of Bean A).
I want Bean B sometime have objects and sometimes be null.

The simple answer is Yes. In terms of Spring 2.x XML (and this will work in 3.x):
<bean id="A" class="my.bean.A">
<property name="property_B">
<ref local="B"/>
</property>
</bean>
<bean id="B" class="my.bean.B"/>
You can build on this to expand 'B' so that it has its own properties:
<bean id="B" class="my.bean.B">
<property name="property_C">
<ref local="C"/>
</property>
</bean>
You can make B null with respect to A by changing you XML so that B is not injected into A
<bean id="A" class="my.bean.A"/>

Spring: Getting FactoryBean object instead of FactoryBean.getObject()

Short question: If I have class that impelemnts FactoryBean interface, how can I get from FactoryBean object itself instead of FactoryBean.getObject()?
Long question: I have to use 3-rd party Spring based library which is hardly use FactoryBean interface. Right now I always must configure 2 beans:
<!-- Case 1-->
<bean id="XYZ" class="FactoryBean1" scope="prototype">
<property name="steps">
<bean class="FactoryBean2">
<property name="itemReader" ref="aName"/>
</bean>
</property>
</bean>
<bean id="aName" class="com.package.ClassName1" scope="prototype">
<property name="objectContext">
<bean class="com.package.ABC"/>
</property>
</bean>
<!-- Case 2-->
<bean id="XYZ2" class="FactoryBean1" scope="prototype">
<property name="steps">
<bean class="FactoryBean2">
<property name="itemReader" ref="aName2"/>
</bean>
</property>
</bean>
<bean id="aName2" class="com.package.ClassName1" scope="prototype">
<property name="objectContext">
<bean class="com.package.QWE"/>
</property>
</bean>
Actyually defintion of a bean with name "XYZ" (compare with "XYZ2") never will be changed, but because of factory nature I must copy the code for each configuration.
Definition of a bean with name "aName" always will be new (i.e. each configuration will have own objectContext value).
I would like to simplify the configuration have a single factory bean (remove "XYZ2" and rid of link to "aName"):
<bean id="XYZ" class="FactoryBean1" scope="prototype">
<property name="steps">
<bean class="FactoryBean2"/>
</property>
</bean>
<bean id="aName" class="com.package.ClassName1" scope="prototype">
<property name="objectContext">
<bean class="com.package.ABC"/>
</property>
</bean>
<bean id="aName2" class="com.package.ClassName1" scope="prototype">
<property name="objectContext">
<bean class="com.package.QWE"/>
</property>
</bean>
Unfortunately, it's not as simple as I expect. I suppose to glue factory (i.e. XYZ bean from the example) with necessary objects (i.e. "aName", "aName2") at runtime.
The approach doesn't work because when I ask Spring for FactoryBean object it returns to me FactoryBean.getObject() which impossible to instanciate at that time because of missing itemReader value.
I hope that SpringSource foresee my case I can somehome "hook" FactoryBean.getObject() call to provide all necessary properties at runtime.
Another complexity that disturb me a bit it's chains of Factories (Factory1 get an object from Factory2 that I have to "hook" at runtime).
Any ideas will be appreciated.

It's the & (ampersand), not the At-symbol, see Spring Framework documentation: Customizing instantiation logic using FactoryBeans
<property name="factoryBean" ref="&theFactoryBean" />

You can get the factory bean itself using the & syntax in the spring config:
<property name="factoryBean" ref="&theFactoryBean" />
as opposed to:
<property name="createdBean" ref="theFactoryBean" />

spring: set property of one bean by reading the property of another bean?

Is it possible to set the property of one bean by reading the property of another bean? For instance, suppose I had:
class A {
void setList(List list);
}
class B {
List getList();
}
I would like Spring to instantiate both classes, and call A's setList method, passing in the result of calling B's getList method. The Spring configuration might look something like:
<bean id="b" class="B"/>
<bean id"a" class="A">
<property name="list" ref="b" ref-property="list"/>
</bean>
Alas, this made-up XML does not work.
Why not just inject B into A? Because I do not want to introduce the extra dependency. A is only dependent List, not on B.

in addition to #Kevin's answer if you are using spring 3.0 it is possible to do this with the new spring expression language
<bean id="a" class="A">
<property name="list"
value="#{b.list}"/>
</bean>
spring 3.0 documentation

There are a couple of ways. Here is one:
<bean id="b" class="B"/>
<bean id="a" class="A">
<property name="list">
<bean class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPathFactoryBean">
<property name="targetObject" ref="b"/>
<property name="propertyPath" value="list"/>
</bean>
</property>
</bean>
Also see the <util:property-path/> element

If you are trying to do the same for a constructor then do this.
<bean id="jdbcTemplate" class="org.springframework.jdbc.core.JdbcTemplate">
<constructor-arg type="javax.sql.DataSource" value="#{jdbc.dataSource}">
</constructor-arg>
</bean>
Here "jdbc" is as mentioned below that has property "dataSource" with getter and setter and initilized as:
<bean id="jdbc" class="com.la.activator.DataSourceProvider">
<property name="myDataSourcePool" ref="dsPoolService"/>
</bean>