Spring MVC tutorial

The Spring Web model-view-controller (MVC) framework is designed around a DispatcherServlet that dispatches requests to handlers, with configurable handler mappings, view resolution, locale and theme resolution as well as support for uploading files. The default handler is based on the @Controller and @RequestMapping annotations, offering a wide range of flexible handling methods. With the introduction of Spring 3.0, the @Controller mechanism also allows you to create RESTful Web sites and applications, through the @PathVariable annotation and other features.

“Open for extension…”

A key design principle in Spring Web MVC and in Spring in general is the “Open for extension, closed for modification” principle.

Some methods in the core classes of Spring Web MVC are marked final. As a developer you cannot override these methods to supply your own behavior. This has not been done arbitrarily, but specifically with this principal in mind.

For an explanation of this principle, refer to Expert Spring Web MVC and Web Flow by Seth Ladd and others; specifically see the section “A Look At Design,” on page 117 of the first edition. Alternatively, see

Bob Martin, The Open-Closed Principle (PDF)

You cannot add advice to final methods when you use Spring MVC. For example, you cannot add advice to the AbstractController.setSynchronizeOnSession() method. Refer to Section 7.6.1, “Understanding AOP proxies” for more information on AOP proxies and why you cannot add advice to final methods.

In Spring Web MVC you can use any object as a command or form-backing object; you do not need to implement a framework-specific interface or base class. Spring’s data binding is highly flexible: for example, it treats type mismatches as validation errors that can be evaluated by the application, not as system errors. Thus you need not duplicate your business objects’ properties as simple, untyped strings in your form objects simply to handle invalid submissions, or to convert the Strings properly. Instead, it is often preferable to bind directly to your business objects.

Spring’s view resolution is extremely flexible. A Controller implementation can even write directly to the response stream. Typically, a ModelAndView instance consists of a view name and a model Map, which contains bean names and corresponding objects such as a command or form, which contain reference data. View name resolution is highly configurable, through bean names, a properties file, or your own ViewResolver implementation. The model (the M in MVC) is based on the Map interface, which allows for the complete abstraction of the view technology. You can integrate directly JSP, Velocity, or any other rendering technology. The model Map is simply transformed into an appropriate format, such as JSP request attributes or a Velocity template model.