diff --git a/spring-webflow/src/main/java/org/springframework/webflow/engine/VariableValueFactory.java b/spring-webflow/src/main/java/org/springframework/webflow/engine/VariableValueFactory.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..be9fa332
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-webflow/src/main/java/org/springframework/webflow/engine/VariableValueFactory.java
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+package org.springframework.webflow.engine;
+
+import org.springframework.webflow.execution.RequestContext;
+
+public interface VariableValueFactory {
+	public Object createVariableValue(RequestContext context);
+
+	public Object restoreReferences(Object value, RequestContext context);
+}
diff --git a/spring-webflow/src/main/java/org/springframework/webflow/engine/support/BeanFactoryVariableValueFactory.java b/spring-webflow/src/main/java/org/springframework/webflow/engine/support/BeanFactoryVariableValueFactory.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bf250fbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-webflow/src/main/java/org/springframework/webflow/engine/support/BeanFactoryVariableValueFactory.java
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2004-2008 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.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.springframework.webflow.engine.support;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.config.AutowireCapableBeanFactory;
+import org.springframework.webflow.engine.VariableValueFactory;
+import org.springframework.webflow.execution.RequestContext;
+
+public class BeanFactoryVariableValueFactory implements VariableValueFactory {
+
+	private Class type;
+
+	private AutowireCapableBeanFactory beanFactory;
+
+	public BeanFactoryVariableValueFactory(Class type, AutowireCapableBeanFactory beanFactory) {
+		this.type = type;
+		this.beanFactory = beanFactory;
+	}
+
+	public Object createVariableValue(RequestContext context) {
+		return beanFactory.createBean(type);
+	}
+
+	public Object restoreReferences(Object value, RequestContext context) {
+		beanFactory.autowireBeanProperties(value, AutowireCapableBeanFactory.AUTOWIRE_NO, false);
+		return value;
+	}
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spring-webflow/src/test/java/org/springframework/webflow/engine/builder/xml/flow-var.xml b/spring-webflow/src/test/java/org/springframework/webflow/engine/builder/xml/flow-var.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ec2ae8ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-webflow/src/test/java/org/springframework/webflow/engine/builder/xml/flow-var.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<flow xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/webflow"
+      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+      xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/webflow http://www.springframework.org/schema/webflow/spring-webflow-2.0.xsd">
+
+	<var name="flow-foo" class="org.springframework.webflow.TestBean"/>
+	<var name="conversation-foo" class="org.springframework.webflow.TestBean" scope="conversation"/>
+	
+	<end-state id="end"/>
+
+</flow>
\ No newline at end of file