Spring MVC Flow Diagram | Spring MVC Execution Flow Diagram

Master Java and Spring with Ram N Java!

Level up your backend development skills. Subscribe now for easy-to-follow guides and architectural deep dives!

Subscribe to YouTube Channel

What is the Spring MVC Architecture?

The Spring Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework is designed around a central servlet called the DispatcherServlet. It handles incoming HTTP requests, coordinates with application components, and dispatches responses back to the client.

Understanding the exact request execution lifecycle is essential for building, debugging, and optimizing Spring web applications.

Core Components of Spring MVC

The framework breaks responsibilities into dedicated components:

• DispatcherServlet (Front Controller): Receives every incoming request and orchestrates the entire request-handling pipeline.
• HandlerMapping: Determines which Controller is mapped to handle a specific request URL.
• Controller: Processes user input, executes business logic via service layers, and populates data into a Model.
• ModelAndView: Holds both model data and the logical view name returned by the controller.
• ViewResolver: Resolves the logical view name (such as "home") into an actual view template (such as /WEB-INF/views/home.jsp).
• View: Renders the final HTML response using the model data.

Step-by-Step Spring MVC Execution Flow

1. Request Interception: The browser sends an HTTP request, intercepted by the DispatcherServlet.
2. Handler Lookup: The DispatcherServlet consults the HandlerMapping to find the matching Controller.
3. Controller Execution: The selected Controller executes business methods and returns a ModelAndView object.
4. View Resolution: The DispatcherServlet passes the logical view name to the ViewResolver to locate the template.
5. Rendering & Response: The View renders the model data, and the final response is delivered back to the client's browser.

Explore More Spring Tutorials

Deepen your Spring Framework knowledge with these related lessons from Ram N Java:

• How to Create Spring Hello World Project using Maven? | Spring Tutorial | Spring basics
• Understanding Spring Bean Life Cycle with BeanPostProcessor | Spring Tutorial
• Spring Boot: The @ConfigurationProperties You Should Know