Web MVC with the Spring Framework

Juergen Hoeller

1.????? Introduction: Spring the Application Framework

When first confronted with the Spring Framework, one might be tempted to think: "Oh no, not yet another web framework". This article will outline why Spring isn't particularly a web framework but a generic lightweight application framework with dedicated web support, and show the architectural differences to Struts and WebWork

In contrast to Struts or WebWork, Spring is an application framework for all layers: It offers a bean configuration foundation, AOP support, a JDBC abstraction framework, abstract transaction support, etc. It is a very non-intrusive effort: Your application classes do not need to depend on any Spring classes if not necessary, and you can reuse every part on its own if you like to. From its very design, the framework encourages clean separation of tiers, most importantly web tier and business logic: e.g. the validation framework does not depend on web controllers. Major goals are reusability and testability: Unnecessary container or framework dependencies can be considered avoidable evils.

Of course, Spring's own web support is nicely integrated with the framework's general patterns. Nevertheless, replacing the web solution with Struts, WebWork, or the like is easy. Both with Spring's web support or a different one, Spring allows for building a true dedicated middle tier in the web container, with the option to reuse exactly the same business logic in test environments or standalone applications. And within J2EE, your business logic will not unnecessarily depend on container services like JTA or EJB - allowing complex, well-architected web applications to run in a "simple" container like Tomcat or Resin.

Note that Spring doesn't generally aim to compete with existing solutions. It rather fosters seamless integration with standards like Servlet, JSP, JTA, JNDI, JDBC, and JDO, and well-suited tools like Hibernate, Velocity, Log4J, and Caucho'