In a typical Spring Boot application, the architecture is structured into several layers that follow the Separation of Concerns (SoC) principle. Each layer is responsible for a specific aspect of the application, making it easier to maintain, test, and scale. The basic layers in a Spring Boot application are:
1. Presentation Layer (Web Layer)
-
Purpose: This layer handles the HTTP requests and responds to the client (browser, mobile app, or another service). It is responsible for receiving input, processing user interactions, and returning responses (typically in the form of JSON, XML, or HTML).
-
Components:
@Controller
: Classes annotated with@Controller
or@RestController
handle web requests and define the endpoints (REST APIs).@RequestMapping
,@GetMapping
,@PostMapping
: Methods within the controller define the request mappings for different HTTP methods.- Views: If the application is MVC-based (i.e., returns HTML views), this layer might also contain the views (e.g., JSP, Thymeleaf).
-
Tools: Spring MVC, Thymeleaf, or REST APIs.
Example:
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@RestController @RequestMapping("/users") public class UserController { @GetMapping("/{id}") public ResponseEntity<User> getUser(@PathVariable Long id) { User user = userService.findUserById(id); return ResponseEntity.ok(user); } } |
2. Service Layer (Business Logic Layer)
- Purpose: This layer contains the business logic of the application. It processes requests from the web layer and interacts with the data layer to perform business operations. It is responsible for implementing all core functionalities like calculations, validations, and decisions.
- Components:
@Service
: Classes marked with@Service
contain the business logic and interact with the repository layer to fetch or persist data. They are typically orchestrators of the application logic.- Transaction Management: Methods in this layer can be transactional using the
@Transactional
annotation.
- Tools: Business rules and services that interact with the data layer.
Example:
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@Service public class UserService { private final UserRepository userRepository; @Autowired public UserService(UserRepository userRepository) { this.userRepository = userRepository; } public User findUserById(Long id) { return userRepository.findById(id).orElseThrow(() -> new RuntimeException("User not found")); } } |
3. Data Access Layer (Repository or Persistence Layer)
- Purpose: This layer manages the interaction with the database or any other external persistence system (e.g., file storage, external APIs). It is responsible for fetching, saving, updating, and deleting data from the data source.
- Components:
@Repository
: Classes marked with@Repository
contain methods that interact with the database (e.g., queries and CRUD operations). These are Data Access Objects (DAO) or repositories that interface with the underlying database.- Spring Data JPA: Most Spring Boot applications use Spring Data JPA to simplify data access by using repositories and automatically generated methods.
- SQL/NoSQL: Depending on the database being used (e.g., relational databases like MySQL/PostgreSQL or NoSQL databases like MongoDB).
- Tools: JPA, Hibernate, JDBC, or MongoTemplate (for MongoDB).
Example:
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@Repository public interface UserRepository extends JpaRepository<User, Long> { // Custom query methods can be defined here } |
4. Model Layer (Domain Layer)
- Purpose: This layer contains the entities or domain models of the application. These are classes that represent the core data structures of the application, which are mapped to database tables or are part of the business logic.
- Components:
- Entities: Classes annotated with
@Entity
(for JPA) or simple POJOs (Plain Old Java Objects) represent the data that flows between different layers. - DTOs (Data Transfer Objects): These are objects used to transfer data between layers, often to avoid exposing the internal structure of entities directly to the presentation layer.
- Entities: Classes annotated with
- Tools: JPA or other ORM frameworks, or simple Java classes for modeling data.
Example:
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@Entity public class User { @Id @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY) private Long id; private String name; private String email; // Getters and setters... } |
Additional Layers (Optional but Common in Large Applications)
5. Security Layer
- Purpose: This layer handles authentication and authorization. It ensures that users or systems accessing the application are properly authenticated and that they have the correct permissions to access specific resources.
- Tools: Spring Security, JWT, OAuth2.
Example:
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@Configuration public class SecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter { @Override protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception { http.authorizeRequests() .antMatchers("/admin/**").hasRole("ADMIN") .anyRequest().authenticated() .and() .httpBasic(); } } |
6. Integration Layer (External Service Communication)
- Purpose: In microservices or service-oriented architectures, this layer handles communication with external services or other microservices. It can handle HTTP requests, messaging queues, or REST API calls to external systems.
- Tools: Spring Cloud, REST templates, Feign clients, or message brokers (e.g., RabbitMQ, Kafka).
Example:
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@Service public class ExternalApiService { private final RestTemplate restTemplate; @Autowired public ExternalApiService(RestTemplate restTemplate) { this.restTemplate = restTemplate; } public String fetchDataFromExternalApi() { return restTemplate.getForObject("https://api.example.com/data", String.class); } } |
Common Spring Boot Application Architecture
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+-----------------------------+ | Presentation Layer | | (Controller) | +-----------------------------+ | v +-----------------------------+ | Service Layer | | (Business) | +-----------------------------+ | v +-----------------------------+ | Data Access Layer | | (Repository/DAO) | +-----------------------------+ | v +-----------------------------+ | Model Layer | | (Entities/DTOs) | +-----------------------------+ | v +-----------------------------+ | Database (or other | | external persistence) | +-----------------------------+ |
Summary of Layers:
- Presentation Layer: Handles client interactions, requests, and responses (
@Controller
or@RestController
). - Service Layer: Contains business logic (
@Service
), orchestrating the business workflows. - Data Access Layer: Manages data access, typically through repositories (
@Repository
). - Model Layer: Represents the data (entities or DTOs) being used throughout the application.
These layers help maintain a clean architecture and follow Separation of Concerns (SoC), making your Spring Boot application more modular, testable, and maintainable.