diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/aws/s3/config/xml/AmazonS3InboundChannelAdapterParser.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/aws/s3/config/xml/AmazonS3InboundChannelAdapterParser.java
index 2d19dfd..51c4ce2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/aws/s3/config/xml/AmazonS3InboundChannelAdapterParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/aws/s3/config/xml/AmazonS3InboundChannelAdapterParser.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2013 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2015 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -16,24 +16,24 @@
 package org.springframework.integration.aws.s3.config.xml;
 import static org.springframework.integration.aws.config.xml.AmazonWSParserUtils.getAmazonWSCredentials;
 
+import org.w3c.dom.Element;
+
 import org.springframework.beans.BeanMetadataElement;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.config.BeanDefinition;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionBuilder;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.ParserContext;
-import org.springframework.expression.Expression;
-import org.springframework.expression.common.LiteralExpression;
-import org.springframework.expression.spel.standard.SpelExpressionParser;
 import org.springframework.integration.aws.s3.AmazonS3InboundSynchronizationMessageSource;
 import org.springframework.integration.config.xml.AbstractPollingInboundChannelAdapterParser;
 import org.springframework.integration.config.xml.IntegrationNamespaceUtils;
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
-import org.w3c.dom.Element;
 
 
 /**
  * The channel adapter parser for the S3 inbound parser
  *
  * @author Amol Nayak
+ * @author Li Wang
  *
  * @since 0.5
  *
@@ -84,14 +84,10 @@ public class AmazonS3InboundChannelAdapterParser extends
 			throw new BeanDefinitionStoreException(message);
 		}
 		else {
-			Expression expr;
-			if(hasDirectory) {
-				expr = new LiteralExpression(directory);
-			}
-			else {
-				expr = new SpelExpressionParser().parseExpression(directoryExpression);
-			}
-			builder.addPropertyValue("directory", expr);
+        	BeanDefinition expressionDef =
+			        IntegrationNamespaceUtils.createExpressionDefinitionFromValueOrExpression("local-directory",
+					        "local-directory-expression", parserContext, element, true);
+			builder.addPropertyValue("directory", expressionDef);
 		}
 		IntegrationNamespaceUtils.setValueIfAttributeDefined(builder, element, MAX_OBJECTS_PER_BATCH);
 		IntegrationNamespaceUtils.setValueIfAttributeDefined(builder, element, ACCEPT_SUB_FOLDERS);
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/aws/s3/config/xml/AmazonS3InboundChannelAdapterParserTests.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/aws/s3/config/xml/AmazonS3InboundChannelAdapterParserTests.java
index 5345367..4e7d325 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/aws/s3/config/xml/AmazonS3InboundChannelAdapterParserTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/aws/s3/config/xml/AmazonS3InboundChannelAdapterParserTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2013 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2015 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ import org.springframework.integration.endpoint.SourcePollingChannelAdapter;
  * The test case class for S3 inbound channel adapter
  *
  * @author Amol Nayak
- *
+ * @author Li Wang
  * @since 0.5
  *
  */
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ public class AmazonS3InboundChannelAdapterParserTests {
 		AmazonS3InboundSynchronizationMessageSource source = getPropertyValue(valid, "source", AmazonS3InboundSynchronizationMessageSource.class);
 		assertEquals("TestBucket", getPropertyValue(source, "bucket"));
 		assertEquals(".temp", getPropertyValue(source, "temporarySuffix"));
-		assertEquals(new File(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir")), getPropertyValue(source, "directory"));
+		assertEquals(new File("/"), getPropertyValue(source, "directory"));
 		assertEquals("remote", getPropertyValue(source, "remoteDirectory"));
 		assertEquals(true, getPropertyValue(source, "acceptSubFolders", Boolean.class).booleanValue());
 		assertEquals(100, getPropertyValue(source, "maxObjectsPerBatch", Integer.class).intValue());
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ public class AmazonS3InboundChannelAdapterParserTests {
 		//test the second definition with custom attributes
 		valid = ctx.getBean("validInboundWithCustomOps", SourcePollingChannelAdapter.class);
 		source = getPropertyValue(valid, "source", AmazonS3InboundSynchronizationMessageSource.class);
+		assertEquals(new File(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir")), getPropertyValue(source, "directory"));
 		AmazonS3Operations s3Operations = getPropertyValue(source, "s3Operations", AmazonS3Operations.class);
 		assertEquals(AmazonS3DummyOperations.class, s3Operations.getClass());
 
diff --git a/src/test/resources/s3-valid-inbound-cases.xml b/src/test/resources/s3-valid-inbound-cases.xml
index eccc721..bb910ce 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/s3-valid-inbound-cases.xml
+++ b/src/test/resources/s3-valid-inbound-cases.xml
@@ -1,12 +1,19 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
-	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
-	xmlns:integration="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration"
-	xmlns:int-aws="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/aws"
-	xsi:schemaLocation=
-	"http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
-	http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/aws http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/aws/spring-integration-aws.xsd
-	http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/spring-integration.xsd">
+	   xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	   xmlns:integration="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration"
+	   xmlns:int-aws="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/aws"
+	   xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
+	   xmlns:util="http://www.springframework.org/schema/util"
+	   xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/spring-integration.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/aws http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/aws/spring-integration-aws.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/util http://www.springframework.org/schema/util/spring-util.xsd">
+
+	<util:properties id="placeholderProperties"/>
+
+	<context:property-placeholder properties-ref="placeholderProperties"/>
 
 	<bean id="localDirectory" class="java.lang.String">
 		<constructor-arg value="#{T(java.lang.System).getProperty('java.io.tmpdir')}"/>
@@ -19,7 +26,7 @@
 					bucket="TestBucket"
 					propertiesFile="testawscredentials.properties"
 					temporary-suffix=".temp"
-					local-directory-expression="@localDirectory"
+					local-directory="${foo.dir:/}"
 					remote-directory="remote"
 					accept-sub-folders="true"
 					max-objects-per-batch="100"
@@ -62,4 +69,4 @@
 	<bean id="customOps"
 		class="org.springframework.integration.aws.s3.config.xml.AmazonS3DummyOperations"/>
 
-</beans>
\ No newline at end of file
+</beans>