This course enables the experienced Java developer to use the Spring application framework to manage objects in a lightweight "IoC" (inversion-of-control) container and to manage persistent objects using Spring's support for DAOs and transaction control. Spring is a far-reaching framework that aims to facilitate all sorts of Java development, including every level of multi-tier distributed systems. Here we focus on the Core and persistence modules, with a brief stop in the Web module to support hands-on exercises in Spring persistence for web applications.

Spring supports a wide range of persitence technology: everything from raw JDBC to sophisticated object/relational mapping tools such as Hibernate and TopLink, and also the new Java standard for those tools, the Java Persistence API. We work at either end of this spectrum, with exercises on improving JDBC code with Spring templates and transaction management, and also how to integrate JPA entities and DAOs into Spring applications and to deploy Spring transactions over JPA.

Prerequisites

Learning Objectives

• Connect business objects to persistent stores using Spring's DAO and ORM modules
• Simplify JDBC code using Spring templates
• Integrate JPA entities and DAOs into Spring applications
• Declare and enforce transaction requirements using Spring

Timeline: 3 days.

IDE Support: SpringIDE 2.2

• In addition to the primary lab files, an optional overlay is available that adds support for SpringIDE 2.2. Students can code, build, deploy, and test all exercises from within Eclipse, and take advantage of SpringIDE's built-in editors and wizards for Spring configuration files. An appendix in the coursebook introduces SpringIDE features. See also our orientation to Using Capstone's Eclipse Overlays, and please be advised that this is an optional feature; it is not a separate version of the course, and the course itself does not contain explicit Eclipse-specific lab instructions.

Module 1. Introduction to Spring

Chapter 1. Overview of Spring

• Java EE: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
• Enter the Framework
• Spring Value Proposition
• The Spring Container
• Web Applications
• Persistence Support
• Aspect-Oriented Programming
• The Java EE Module(s)
• Integrating Other Frameworks

Chapter 2. The Container

• JavaBeans, Reconsidered
• The Factory Pattern
• Inversion of Control
• XML View: Declaring Beans
• Java View: Using Beans
• Singletons and Prototypes

Chapter 3. Instantiation and Configuration

• Configuring Through Properties
• Configuration Namespaces
• The p: Notation
• Bean (Configuration) Inheritance
• Configuring Through Constructors
• Bean Post-Processors
• Lifecycle Hooks
• Integrating Existing Factory Code

Chapter 4. Dependency Injection

• Complex Systems
• Assembling Object Graphs
• Dependency Injection
• Single and Multiple Relationships
• The Utility Schema
• Bean Aliases
• Inner Beans
• Autowiring
• Auto-Detecting Beans
• @Autowired Properties
• Best Practices with Spring 2.5 Annotations

Chapter 5. Assembling Object Models

• Collections and Maps
• Support for Generics
• The Spring Utility Schema (util:)
• Autowiring to Multiple Beans
• Order of Instantiation
• Bean Factory vs. Application Context

Chapter 6. Validation

• Validators
• The Errors Object
• ValidationUtils
• Error Messages and Localization
• Nested Property Paths

Module 2. Web Applications

Chapter 1. The Web Module

• Spring in Flux
• Servlets and JSPs: What's Missing
• The MVC Pattern
• The Front Controller Pattern
• DispatcherServlet
• A Request/Response Cycle
• The Strategy Pattern
• JavaBeans as Web Components
• Web Application Contexts
• Handler Mappings
• "Creating" a Model
• View Resolvers

Module 3. Persistence

Chapter 1. Templates and DAOs

• The DAO Pattern
• The DaoSupport Hierarchy
• The DataAccessException Hierarchy
• JDBC DAOs
• JdbcTemplate and RowMapper

Chapter 2. Working with JPA

• Object/Relational Mapping
• The Java Persistence API
• Blending Spring and JPA
• Entity Manager Factories
• Configuration Issues

Chapter 3. Transactions

• Transaction Managers
• Transaction Advice
• AOP vs. Annotations
• JDBC Transaction Manager
• JPA Transaction Manager

Appendix A. Spring IDE

• Installing Spring IDE
• Naviation Features
• Auto-Completes
• Validation
• Support for Spring WebFlow

Appendix B. Learning Resources

System Requirements