Spring vs Struts

[Andres Delrotti]

hello,

Just really curious when one would use Spring Framework (Spring MVC, Spring Web) over Struts. Struts and Spring almost have the same features and advantages but I just wanna know what are the main reasons that would really make you say "well in this case, using Spring is a better choice".

Does it really boil down on the preference of developers these days? I mean like using Struts or Spring because it is the technology direction of the client or company....and really no design based reasons in choosing when to use these frameworks?

thanks

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Struts 1 has end of lifed so I assume you are talking about Spring vs Struts 2.

Struts 1 was very popular. Struts 2 is a completely different framework that happens to have the same name. There are other MVC frameworks as well. If you are using Spring for your middle/back tiers, Spring MVC makes sense to choose because the integration is very clean. Beyond that, it is mostly developer/company preference.

[Joe Ess]

Struts is intended to be an implementation of the Front Controller Pattern, thought there is a little more to it than that. Spring brings a lot more features to the table. For example, it makes it easy to "inject" a feature across an entire application. For example, say you needed to send out a log message before every DAO call. If your application were properly designed, Spring can do that. This ability to inject code also comes in handy with testing. Some developers also like to move the logic of the application out of the code and into the configuration. This is useful if you have an application that has a bunch of logical elements that are reused in different combinations and sequences. Spring makes it easy to do that. Spring also has its own security model, so if you aren't happy with the standard JEE security you have the option to use it.
That said, you can always use Spring with Struts 2, and in fact, it has a plugin to make Spring integration easy bundled with the distribution.
Rather than "developer preference", I would say you should look at the requirements of your application and see what framework (and there are many) best facilitate your building your application.

[Scott Winterbourne]

Hi Andres,

Here is a webinar put on by the Virtual Java User Group a few weeks ago. It compares various Java web frameworks including but not limited to Spring and Struts. Most reviews have some bias but as long as you focus on the facts, there is still some good information in here.

It should at least give you a good idea of what frameworks are available and in general what their strengths and weaknesses are.

Comparing Java Web Frameworks

Hope this helps.