Fast Track to Spring 4
Private Training

Course Summary

Over the years, Spring has added many new capabilities, in line with the increasing capabilities of the Java platform. As well as being current with Spring 4, this course introduces techniques for using these powerful capabilities. It includes complete coverage of the three main configuration styles: Java-based (@Configuration), annotation-based (@Component), and the traditional XML-based configuration that may still play an important role in existing and new projects. It also provides guidelines for when and how to use each one. This 3-day course starts with in-depth coverage on using the powerful capabilities of Spring’s Core module to reduce coupling and increase the flexibility, ease of maintenance, and testing of your applications. It goes on to cover many of the most important capabilities of Spring, including integrating persistence layers (e.g. Hibernate/JPA) with Spring, using Spring’s powerful Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP) to program cross-cutting concerns in a safe and maintainable way, and using Spring’s declarative transaction capabilities. It also covers integration of Spring with Java EE Web applications. This course is hands on with labs to reinforce all the important concepts. It will enable you to build working Spring applications and give you an understanding of the important concepts and technology in a very short time.

Audience
Java developers who need to work with Spring based applications.
Course Length
3 Days
Prerequisites
A good working knowledge of basic Java, JDBC, and Servlets/JSP.

Objectives

Understand the core principles of Spring, and of Dependency Injection (DI)/Inversion of Control.

Use the Spring Core module and DI to configure and wire application objects (beans) together.

Know the different types of metadata (XML, annotations/@Component, and Java Configuration/@Configuration), and how and when to use them.

Understand and use the complete capabilities of the Core module, such as lifecycle events, bean scopes, and the Spring API.

Work with the ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) module to integrate Spring with technologies such as Hibernate or JPA.

Understand and use Spring’s powerful AOP capabilities for programming cross-cutting concerns across multiple points in an application.

Learn safe and maintainable techniques for programming with AOP.

Understand and use Spring’s transaction support, including the easy-to-use Java annotation support as well as the tx/aop XML configuration elements.

Integrate Spring with Java EE Web applications.

Detailed Outline

  1. Introduction to Spring
    • Overview of Spring Technology
    • Spring vs. JEE
    • What is Spring?
    • The Spring Modules
    • The Spring Jars
    • Spring Introduction
    • The JavaTunes Online Store
    • XML Bean Definitions
    • Declaring Beans
    • Spring’s XML Schemas
    • The Spring Container
    • Working with Spring
    • Why Bother?
    • ApplicationContext Interface
    • Common Application Context
    • Specifying Configuration Files
    • A Word About Junit
    • Dependencies and Dependency Injection
    • Dependencies Between Objects
    • Dependency Inversion Principal
    • Dependency Inversion Illustrated
    • Dependency Injection Configuration
    • DI Hides Dependencies
    • Dependency Injection Reduces Coupling
  2. Configuration in Depth
    • Annotation-based Configuration
    • Annotations for Spring Configuration
    • Declaring Beans and DI with Annotations
    • Complete Declarations Using Annotations
    • Using @Inject/@Autowired
    • Enabling Annotations/ Detecting Beans
    • Wiring Strategies So Far
    • Java-based Configuration
    • Using Java-based Configuration
    • Dependency Injection
    • How does it Work?
    • Dependencies in Configuration Classes
    • Other @Bean Capabilities
    • Java-based Configuration – Pro/Con
    • Integrating Configuration Types
    • Choosing a Configuration Style
    • Importing between XML/@Configuration
    • Scanning for @Configuration Classes
    • Bean Scope and Lifecycle
    • Specifying Bean Scope
    • Bean Creation Lifecycle – Advanced Details
  3. Wiring in Depth
    • Value Injection
    • Configuring Value Properties, Property Conversions
    • Externalizing Values in Properties Files
    • Constructor Injection
    • Configuration – @Configuration and XML
    • P: and C: namespaces for XML configuration
    • Qualifiers/Domain Specific Language (DSL)
    • Limitations of Autowiring
    • Qualifiers and DSL
    • Creating and Using an Annotation-Based DSL for Bean Configuration
    • Benefits of Qualifiers for Bean Configuration
    • Profiles
    • Configuring Profiles (XML & @Configuration)
    • Activating Profiles
    • Overview of SpEL
  4. Database Access with Spring
    • Overview of Spring database support
    • Configuring a DataSource
    • Using Spring with Hibernate
    • High Level Hibernate Overview
    • SessionFactory configuration
    • Contextual Sessions and Spring Integration
    • Using Spring with JPA
    • Managing the EntityManager (EM)
    • JEE and JNDI Lookup of the EM
    • Configuration and Vendor Adaptors
    • Creating a JPA Repository/DAO Bean
  5. Aspect Oriented Programming
    • Overview of AOP
    • Crosscutting Concerns
    • AOP Basics, Aspect, Joinpoint, Advice, Pointcut
    • Spring AOP Introduction
    • Configuration – XML and @AspectJ
    • Defining an Aspect, Pointcut, and Advice
    • Pointcut Expressions and Advice
    • The execution() Designator
    • Kinds of Advice
    • Marker Annotations (Rubber Stamp AOP)
    • Issue with AOP Configuration
    • Defining an AOP Marker / Rubber Stamp
    • Advantages of Marker Annotations
    • @AspectJ Based AOP Support
    • @AspectJ Annotations Overview
    • Defining an Aspect, Pointcut, and Advice
    • Spring AOP Proxies and Self-Invocation Issues
    • Load-Time Weaving
    • Caveats of AOP
  6. Spring Transaction (TX)
    • Intro to Spring Transaction Management
    • Spring Transaction Managers
    • Spring TX Scope and Propagation
    • Spring TX Attributes
    • XML Configuration of Transactions
    • Specifying Advice, TX Attributes, and Methods
    • Linking Advice with Pointcuts
    • Benefits of XML Configuration of TX Behavior
  7. Web Applications with Spring
    • Integrating Spring with Java EE Web Apps
    • ContextLoaderListener
    • WebApplicationContext
    • Using Spring beans in Web app controller logic
  8. XML Specific Configuration
    • Collection Valued Properties – Configuring and using lists, sets, etc.
    • Additional Capabilities
    • Factory Classes and Factory Methods
    • Definition Inheritance (Parent Beans)
    • AutoWiring with XML
    • Inner Beans, Compound Names