Art of Software Reuse

Spring MVC interceptors (learn more about interceptor design pattern here) can be used to plug in functionality that needs to be executed as part of handling a request. These interceptors can be an ideal place to reuse functionality that is applicable for non-web application related scenarios. Interceptors can be used to execute horizontal, cross cutting concerns – e.g. security, metrics, logging, etc. If you have an existing component that was developed for a command-line application or a JMS event handler and need to reuse it in a web app, an interceptor would be an ideal choice.

Here is an example implementation for a a Spring Interceptor extending the HandlerInterceptorAdapter:

package com.yourapp.learn;

import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.handler.HandlerInterceptorAdapter;

public class LoginInterceptor extends HandlerInterceptorAdapter {

 @Override
 public boolean preHandle(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response,
 Object handler) throws Exception {

 Boolean userAuthenticated = (Boolean)request.getSession().getAttribute("userAuthenticated");

 if (userAuthenticated) {
    return true;
 } else {
    return false;
 }

 }
}

This interceptor simply checks to see if the user is authenticated by looking for a session attribute. If the result is true, the request is processed further.
Here is an example bean definition fragment for utilizing the above:

<bean id="testInterceptor" />

<bean id="testSimpleUrlHandlerMapping"
 class="org.springframework.web.servlet.handler.SimpleUrlHandlerMapping">

<property name="interceptors">
 <list>
 <ref bean="testInterceptor"/>
 </list>
</property>

 <property name="mappings">
 <props>
 <prop key="/test">someController</prop>
 </props>
 </property>
</bean>

The actual logic can be in another component that is leveraged in the interceptor. The component itself could be reused across several apps. If such a component isn’t available, you can refactor existing logic to carve out the common functionality.