Spring MVC framework is a sub-framework of Spring framework. It can be referred to as the web component of Spring framework. It has all the feature-rich functionalities to build terrific web applications that are of industrial standards. It has the popular MVC(Model-View-Controler) model which makes all the functionalities of a web project flexible and configurable at any point as per requirement. It also makes it easy for developers to integrate different component of the projects integrate with other popular frameworks in web development like Struts and likewise. In other words, you can take full advantage of other web frameworks by coding in Spring MVC framework. It can be integrated with various popular view generators like Velocity to showcase advanced output for the users.

Why Is Spring MVC Framework The Most Powerful Web Framework?

Spring MVC framework is considered to be the most powerful and most widely used web framework in the world. There are various popular web frameworks like Apache Struts, Tapestry, Grails but Spring web MVC scores over all of them. In terms of popularity in the web development world, Struts comes after Spring. Here is how Spring scores over Struts –

Spring Vs Struts – Spring has clearer architecture and programming model when you consider controllers, models, and views. Struts needs some upgrading so that new programmers can pick it up for moderate to complex web application development. Struts MVC is quite strict and it forces you to follow the traditional Action and Form approach with inheritance. On the other hand, Spring MVC only restricts you to the interface level only and you can conduct the action as per your requirement. Most importantly, Spring web MVC is fully configurable at every level of the interface which makes it more flexible and versatile.

In Spring MVC, you can use interceptors and controllers at the same time and hence, you can handle multiple requests efficiently. This makes a web application sustainable and robust. Spring MVC gives you the freedom to avoid JSP and you other view generators like Velocity. You can even use your own templating language to design interface just the way you want to. In Struts, you have to use JSP and there are various restrictions in JSP that prevent you from developing stunning interfaces. Testing in Spring MVC is a cakewalk and you can integrate with other frameworks seamlessly. Struts needs to develop on these front to be more developer-friendly.

As far as other frameworks go, they are yet to be robust and accommodate all the features that Spring MVC framework can offer and therefore, Spring MVC is in a free run having the most market share in web application development using web frameworks.

Unique Features Of Spring MVC Framework –

Role Defining – As stated earlier, Spring MVC framework is the clearest web framework available. The reason behind it is the fact that there is a separation of roles of every specialized object starting from controller and validator to form and model object. It is easy for the developers without much experience to write clean code and hence, the future scalability increases tremendously. This is the reason by industry is using Spring MVC framework so often than others.

Reusability – One of the main reasons of using frameworks in the web development is the applicability of reusable codes. Spring MVC framework lets developers use existing business objects without the need of mirroring them in the framework class one is currently using. Instead, they can use the objects as form or command object and this also helps in better memory management and processing speed.

Pluggability – There are various projects which when divided into various modules, it is found out that some of the modules are better with non-MVC or non-Spring framework development. But since most of the project is dependent on Spring MVC, a situation arises where the two frameworks have to be merged for a smooth running of the application. Fortunately, Spring MVC framework has support for other frameworks and you can integrate both of them effortlessly. As a matter of fact, you can have a team of developers with expertise in different web frameworks and they can develop appropriate modules in their specialized frameworks and the base framework must be Spring so that you can integrate everything seamlessly as it all modules are part of Spring MVC framework only.

Special Bean Types – Spring MVC framework uses special beans in order to process the incoming requests and produce the appropriate views. There are certain unique special beans that make processing superfast and non-congested. For example, FlashMap helps in passing parameters from one request to another, ThemeResolver to select the themes your application can use and provided personalized layouts to the users. Similarly, there are others like LocaleResover for internationalized views, HandleException Resolver for handling complex exceptions easily and likewise.

If you are a jack of all trades in web frameworks, Spring MVC framework is where you need to be to develop robust applications by making the best use of your knowledge in various frameworks an finally integrating them for a successful project.

Kitty Gupta
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