Spring MVC Interview Questions and Answers for 2025

Spring MVC is a powerful web development framework that can significantly reduce the amount of time and effort required to create a high-performing web application. When working with Spring MVC, it is important to understand the limitations of auto wiring for beans. One significant limitation of auto wiring is that all objects must be managed by the Spring container in order for dependency injection to work properly.

This means that you cannot use non-Spring objects or components in your beans without additional coding modifications, which may make your code more complex. Another limitation is that when there are multiple classes with identical names and/or similar signatures, it can be difficult for the Spring container to distinguish between them during configuration.

Additionally, auto wiring does not allow developers to set properties on components outside of the Spring context, like environment variables or system properties. While understanding these limitations will help developers design and build successful applications using Spring MVC, familiarize yourself with its features and advantages before making any decisions about adopting this technology into your project. 

The @EnableWebMVC annotation is one of the most important aspects of configuring Spring MVC. With this annotation, you can define a broad range of web application behaviors, such as: setting up view resolvers, defining message converters, and adding interceptors. The annotation also allows you to set up a powerful controller layer by specifying base packages for controller classes, mapping servlet names to HandlerMapping objects, and even explicitly declaring controller classes.

Furthermore, if you wish to enable more advanced features such as asynchronous requests handling or cross-origin resource sharing (CORS), you can make use of the @EnableAsync and @CrossOrigin annotations respectively. Taken together, these annotations allow you to create powerful yet lightweight web applications with minimal configuration. All in all, the @EnableWebMVC annotation offers the power necessary for controlling major elements of a Spring MVC application with relative ease. 

DataAccessException is a subclass of RuntimeException that provides an API for dealing with recoverable exceptions that occur during Data Access operations. In particular, this exception is thrown when errors related to retrieving data from databases occur, such as errors in connection or query execution.

It's important to understand that DataAccessException marks the boundary of the app's codebase and the data access layers such as JDBC, Hibernate, JPA and others such that it still allows for meaningful explanation of underlying exceptions without introducing implementation-specific details into the application layer. Furthermore, DataAccessExceptions provide methods for retrieving certain vendor-specific codes or SQL state codes which can help developers to determine and fix the root cause of the error more quickly.

Ultimately, understanding how to configure and use DataAccessExceptions are essential skills for any Java developer who plans on developing projects using Spring MVC Framework.  By being familiar with how they work in practice, developers can save time debugging their applications while also taking advantage of rich diagnostic tools provided by Spring MVC Framework.

XMLBeanFactory is an important tool for Java developers who are constructing Spring MVC applications. It allows developers to work with externalized bean definitions that match a specific configuration. Specifically, it allows projects built on the Spring MVC framework to incorporate application contexts from sources such as XML file configurations.

XMLBeanFactory is a powerful tool in the development process, allowing developers to customize their application context by providing factory class definitions and property values at runtime.

Moreover, this type of bean definition supports parent-child relationships between beans, helping make the code more layered and organized. As a result, understanding how to use XMLBeanFactory can be invaluable when preparing for a Spring MVC interview and shows that you have an advanced knowledge of the technology. 

The Spring framework includes a robust set of beans and objects which manage web application development. The important bean lifecycle methods provide a way to manage the lifecycle of beans in an efficient manner. The most commonly used methods are @PostConstruct, @PreDestroy, @Configuration, and @Bean.

The PostConstruct method is called immediately after the constructor of the bean has been executed. Inside this method any customizations regarding configuration can be done before using it in production scenarios. The PreDestroy method is called before the bean instance is destroyed by the Spring Container. This may be useful when resources have to be released or connection pooling must be taken care of. @Configuration tags indicate that this particular class will serve as a Spring Configuration class for beans etc and it enables explicit dependencies to be defined between beans at runtime depending on certain conditions.

Lastly, @Bean annotation indicates that a particular method is going to produce spring managed bean so that it can be looked up later from BeanFactory or ApplicationContext for autowiring or manual lookup purposes. Thus these four important beans lifecycle methods help ensure proper functioning and management of beans in an efficient manner for web applications developed with Spring MVC framework. 

ORM integration modules are essential components of the Spring MVC framework. ORM stands for object-relational mapping and refers to the process of mapping objects in code to data stored in a database. This is often done with frameworks such as Hibernate, JPA, or iBatis which automate many of the tedious aspects involved in creating database applications.

Spring MVC has a number of integration modules that allow developers to easily integrate their own ORM implementation into their projects. These modules provide common functionality like creating sessions, generating and executing queries, and so on.

They also take care of keeping all the configurations in sync with each other, making it easy for developers to use different databases without having to constantly update their code. With these helpful ORM integration modules, developers are able to quickly get started building dynamic web applications with the power of the Spring MVC framework. 

Cross-cutting concerns and concerns in Spring AOP are terms used to describe aspects of code that can be applied to multiple classes or components. For example, a good example of a cross-cutting concern would be logging, which is useful for tracking every action within an application. When such functionality is implemented as a stand-alone feature, it has to be repeated across various classes and components even if the core business logic behind it remains the same.

To avoid this problem, Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP) allows developers to be concerned about establishing these common functionalities once and then set up a pointcut abstraction. This then makes it easy for these common functions to act upon all relevant classes at the same time without having to repeat the core logic each time.

Spring AOP provides this type of solution for enterprise applications, making it possible for developers using Spring Framework to write clean modular code with consistent design abstractions where convenient cross cutting concerns logically fit in without compromising system architecture.

Annotation-based container configuration is a type of dependency injection (DI) used in applications that utilize the Spring MVC framework. It allows developers to reduce boilerplate code and optimize development time by configuring components directly from annotations. For example, an @Component annotation can be used to register a bean in the DI container, while an @Autowired annotation can be used for internal member injection.

This annotation-driven approach gives conceptual clarity to application internals and removes the need to create boilerplate XML-based configuration files. This helps reduce complexity and makes projects more maintainable in the long run.

Annotation-based container configuration is one of the key features of Spring MVC that makes it such a popular platform for developing web applications. Moreover, this approach also makes it easier for developers to quickly spin up new projects without having to manually configure DI containers every time.  

The Spring @Required annotation is a powerful tool for streamlining coding and development when working with the Spring MVC framework. By applying this annotation to certain methods, class fields or parameters, developers can drastically reduce the amount of time spent explicitly checking whether certain mandatory elements are present. In plain terms, using a required annotation tells the application that a particular item is defined as essential and must be included in order for the method or construct to function correctly, without the developer having to explicitly code any validation logic.

This saves time, increases accuracy and allows more attention potential to be dedicated to other more specific areas of your project. Additionally, @Required annotations work in conjunction with other core Spring MVC annotations like @Autowired so you can ensure that all wired up dependencies have been properly initialized prior to managing any requests.

All in all, @Required makes it simple and straightforward to incorporate validation into your MVC application with minimal effort on the part of the developer.  And by doing so, overall productivity is improved so that your team can deliver high quality applications at an accelerated pace.

Configuration metadata refers to the information needed by the Spring container to configure beans and manage their lifecycle. It can be provided in several different ways, each with their own benefits and drawbacks. XML-based configuration files are one of the most common methods used, providing a way to declare the dependencies between components and create hierarchies of beans.  

Annotations are also common, allowing developers to indicate the configuration of classes directly within their code. Java configuration is another method that is becoming increasingly popular, allowing users to easily create bean definitions separate from the implementation code.  

Moreover, external properties files provide yet another way for users to provide configuration metadata, offering an easy way for values like server names or port numbers to be changed without needing to recompile or interpret complex XML documents. All of these different methods work together to give developers flexibility and control when configuring the Spring Container. 

Spring MVC stands for Model-View-Controller and provides a rich library of components that developers can use to create Java web applications. To use Spring MVC, you need to include spring-mvc.jar in your project’s classpath. On the other hand, Spring Core is an umbrella framework that provides fundamental support for developing Java/Java EE applications and provides integration with many other frameworks and technologies, such as JDBC and JMS.

It does not include any specific components from the MVC architecture; instead, it provides foundational infrastructure that makes the development of Java web applications more straightforward and consistent. To summarize, while you do need spring-mvc.jar in your classpath if you want to work with Spring MVC, Spring Core itself is not part of this dependency and should be treated as a separate entity within your application's dependencies list. 

Spring and Struts can be integrated in several ways. At their core, these two technologies are based on the same principle of Model-View-Controller architecture, but they achieve it with different methodologies. In order to integrate Spring and Struts, the most obvious solution is to use an adapter class that implements both frameworks. The adapter acts as a bridge between the two, allowing them to communicate with one another.

For example, when a request is made from a Struts application via an HTTP POST or GET request, it can then be handled by the appropriate controller defined in Spring MVC. This integration allows for increased efficiency, validation capabilities and better control over the mapping of request controllers. In addition, it grants developers greater flexibility in how their applications are structured.

By integrating Struts and Spring MVC through an adapter class, developers can take advantage of all the features offered by each framework while maintaining compatibility with both technologies. This integration results in applications that are faster and more reliable while providing end users with a smoother experience overall.

The concept of inner bean has revolutionized the industry for Java developers, providing them with more flexibility when it comes to Spring MVC applications. An inner bean is essentially a bean that exists within another bean definition and can be configured from within this definition. This allows a programmer to configure different beans in different ways and provides the means to create specialized implementations of beans that are specific to the application being built. As helpful as this feature may be, it does have its drawbacks.

For one, configuring complex objects with an inner bean requires extra time, effort and maintenance as each object is nested inside another bean definition. In addition, since an inner bean is isolated from other beans in the context, sharing state between beans becomes very difficult or impossible if using multiple instances of the same inside-bean definitions. 

Finally, tying together a set of tightly coupled objects with multiple layers of nesting can lead to confusion and difficulty debugging functionality that relies on those components. Although it can take additional effort to properly utilize inner beans during configuration, learning how to incorporate them into Spring MVC applications can provide significant benefits in terms of application complexity and extensibility in the future

The @RequestMapping annotation is an important tool for configuring incoming server requests in Spring MVC applications. It maps a specific URL or URLs to a method that will handle the request. In this way, it acts as the "traffic cop" of the application, routing high-level requests to low-level functions and endpoint handlers. For example, you might have one @RequestMapping method set up to handle all requests for books beginning with a certain letter, and another @RequestMapping annotated method for handling individual book information responses.

Each method requires different parameters and return types, but they are handled through one parent mapping annotation.@RequestMapping also allows developers to define parameters in the request so as to better filter out unneeded results or display alternate content based on parameters such as language selection or client type. This makes them more dynamic and easier to manage than traditional URI requests.

By utilizing @RequestMapping annotations in your application, you can customize how users access your data quickly and securely by matching specific requests with designated functionality from your back-end code. This type of flexibility makes it an essential element in any Spring MVC applicatio

When an application is given an HTTP request, the request first goes to a front controller servlet known as the Dispatcher servlet. This servlet retrieves any relevant data from the request and passes it on to the appropriate part of the MVC application. For example, if a controller class is specified in the request's URL, then the DispatcherServlet will create an instance of that controller class and pass on the data. The controller is then responsible for processing the data and returning an appropriate response.

Usually, this response takes the form of a model object that contains all of the necessary information to render a view page; however, depending on your specific implementation, it may instead redirect to another URL or simply return no output at all. Once a response has been generated by the Controller, control is returned back to DispatcherServlet which uses views to render it in an HTML formattable by web browsers.

As you can see, Spring MVC provides developers with a clear pattern by which they can develop their applications while still keeping everything code-based and highly configurable. In this way, Spring MVC enables developers to rapidly build complex web applications with minimal effort.. 

JDBC has long been a mainstay of database access, but it can be somewhat cumbersome to use. Luckily, the Spring Framework provides an easier way of accessing databases through its JDBC support. By using the built-in DAO classes, developers are able to make connections and execute queries with no manual coding necessary.

Additionally, Spring offers connection pooling, which optimizes the number of connections by reusing them across requests and reducing overhead. This makes it much more efficient than writing your own custom code for each connection.

Finally, Spring integrates seamlessly with JDBCTransactionManager or JtaTransactionManager to implement transactions within a data layer. In short, if you're looking for an easier and more efficient way of interacting with databases via JDBC, then leveraging the features provided by Spring is your best bet. Not only will it help save time and resources, but it will also give your applications the type of consistency that comes from utilizing well-tested components like the ones included in the Spring Framework.

PreparedStatementCreator is a utility class provided by Spring Framework that helps developers to easily construct prepared statements. A PreparedStatementCreator consists of two parts - a PreparedStatementSetter which is used to specify the SQL parameters and an associated PreparedStatementCreatorFactory which functions as a factory to create the PreparedStatement object.

It is often used in conjunction with the Spring JDBCTemplate class, where the former specifies how to convert values into parameters while the latter executes queries and maps results back. For applications that frequently execute similar queries, using this pattern can be very useful as it eliminates the need of manually constructing complex SQL statements.

Moreover, when dealing with Change Data Capture (CDC) for complex data sources like MongoDB or other NoSQL databases, using a PreparedStatementCreator helper makes writing custom code much easier than using raw SQL. Overall, the use of this class can significantly reduce development time and lead to improved developer efficiency and code readability.

Therefore, being able to answer questions about PreparedStatmentCreator or other related classes can be important for anyone interviewing for a job involving working with Spring MVC framework. 

Spring-Hibernate integration is the combination of two popular frameworks that allow developers to create robust application architectures. In this integration, Spring provides the infrastructure while Hibernate simplifies database access and object-relational mapping. Let’s consider an example that shows how these two frameworks work together. Say a developer is building a web-based data CRUD application.

To deliver the desired functionality, they can use Spring for creating an easy-to-maintain application structure as well as managing transactions, security, and exception handling. Meanwhile, Hibernate can help them carry out operations on the database like creating tables and columns, insertion and retrieval of records, etc., using Object Relational Mapping (ORM) techniques.

Lastly, since Spring provides both flexibility and scalability to applications built with it, users will benefit from a reliable experience no matter what their usage demands are. In this way, we can see how effective integration of Spring and Hibernate enhances user experiences via a simple yet powerful architecture. 

The @ResponseBody annotation is a powerful tool for developers using Spring MVC. This annotation provides a convenient way to map server-side models to client-side views, allowing view components to be automatically populated with data from the model. When applied to response handlers, the @ResponseBody annotation instructs the handler method to write the data returned directly as an HTTP response body, instead of selecting a view name or redirecting elsewhere.  

By automatically writing responses back in the proper REST format (e.g., JSON or XML), the annotation can significantly simplify and speed up developing certain types of applications. Furthermore, it allows complex business logic to be encapsulated behind a single, simple API call while still providing maximum flexibility when mapping endpoints to views and output formats. All in all, @ResponseBody makes it easier for developers to develop RESTful applications in Spring MVC that deliver fast and productive results. 

Spring MVC applications often require additional configuration files, depending on the specific needs of the application. These files typically contain information necessary to establish and configure most of the components in the application. A common example is a Servlet configuration file, which describes how to map different URL paths to servlets, filters and other components.

Further, the application may need Java-based configuration for bean mappings or security constraints. The application can also specify property files for defining values needed by various services during runtime. Finally, deployment descriptor XML files are necessary for declaring Struts action classes and other related information about the deployed environment. Although all of these configurations may seem complex at first glance, they are all needed in order to define correctly each part of the Spring MVC application.

However, once configured correctly an Spring MVC application behaves reliably in any environment without any manual changes or prompts from users. Thus, when answering a Spring MVC interview question about what additional configurations an application needs it is important to consider all those mentioned above along with any other requirements specified by your project team's guidelines.