This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by arunagri82
Spring MVC internally follows the MVC (Model–View–Controller) design pattern. It divides the application into three parts:
- Model – Manages data and business logic.
- View – Represents the front-end (such as JSP pages, Thymeleaf templates). It displays information to the user and collects input.
- Controller – Acts as an intermediary between the View and the Model. It processes user requests, invokes business logic, and sends data back to the View. In Spring MVC, the @Controller and @RequestMapping annotations are mainly responsible for handling HTTP requests.
Key Components in Spring MVC Pattern
- Client
- The browser (or any client) sends an HTTP request.
- DispatcherServlet
- Known as the Front Controller.
- This is the entry point of the Spring MVC application.
- It receives every request from the client and delegates it to the right component.
- Handler Mapping
- Determines which Controller should handle the incoming request.
- Controller
- Connects the View and the Model.
- Handles the client request and invokes business logic from the Model.
- Model
- Represents the data and business logic of the application.
- View Resolver
- Selects the appropriate View (such as JSP, Thymeleaf).
- In case of a REST controller, the data is returned directly without going through a View.
- View
- The final output shown to the user (HTML, JSON, XML, etc.).
Advantages of Spring MVC
- Lightweight – Works with a lightweight servlet container.
- Separation of concerns – Clear separation between front-end and back-end code.
- Loosely coupled – Easy to maintain and extend.
- Team-friendly – Multiple developers can work together efficiently (front-end and back-end separately).
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by arunagri82