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6. New Features and Enhancements in Spring Framework 4.3

Version 4.3 included a number of improvements, as described in the following sections:

6.1 Core Container Improvements

  • Core container exceptions provide richer metadata to evaluate programmatically.
  • Java 8 default methods get detected as bean property getters/setters.
  • Lazy candidate beans are not being created in case of injecting a primary bean.
  • It is no longer necessary to specify the @Autowired annotation if the target bean only defines one constructor.
  • @Configuration classes support constructor injection.
  • Any SpEL expression used to specify the condition of an @EventListener can now refer to beans (e.g. @beanName.method()).
  • Composed annotations can now override array attributes in meta-annotations with a single element of the component type of the array. For example, the String[] path attribute of @RequestMapping can be overridden with String path in a composed annotation.
  • @PersistenceContext/@PersistenceUnit selects a primary EntityManagerFactory bean if declared as such.
  • @Scheduled and @Schedules may now be used as meta-annotations to create custom composed annotations with attribute overrides.
  • @Scheduled is properly supported on beans of any scope.

6.2 Data Access Improvements

  • jdbc:initialize-database and jdbc:embedded-database support a configurable separator to be applied to each script.

6.3 Caching Improvements

Spring 4.3 allows concurrent calls on a given key to be synchronized so that the value is only computed once. This is an opt-in feature that should be enabled via the new sync attribute on @Cacheable. This features introduces a breaking change in the Cache interface as a get(Object key, Callable<T> valueLoader) method has been added.

Spring 4.3 also improves the caching abstraction as follows:

  • SpEL expressions in caches-related annotations can now refer to beans (i.e. @beanName.method()).
  • ConcurrentMapCacheManager and ConcurrentMapCache now support the serialization of cache entries via a new storeByValue attribute.
  • @Cacheable, @CacheEvict, @CachePut, and @Caching may now be used as meta-annotations to create custom composed annotations with attribute overrides.

6.4 JMS Improvements

  • @SendTo can now be specified at the class level to share a common reply destination.
  • @JmsListener and @JmsListeners may now be used as meta-annotations to create custom composed annotations with attribute overrides.

6.5 Web Improvements

  • Built-in support for HTTP HEAD and HTTP OPTIONS.

  • New @GetMapping, @PostMapping, @PutMapping, @DeleteMapping, and @PatchMapping composed annotations for @RequestMapping.

  • New @RequestScope, @SessionScope, and @ApplicationScope composed annotations for web scopes.

  • New @RestControllerAdvice annotation with combined @ControllerAdvice with @ResponseBody semantics.
  • @ResponseStatus is now supported at the class level and inherited by all methods.
  • New @SessionAttribute annotation for access to session attributes (see example).
  • New @RequestAttribute annotation for access to request attributes (see example).
  • @ModelAttribute allows preventing data binding via binding=false attribute (see reference).
  • @PathVariable may be declared as optional (for use on @ModelAttribute methods).
  • Consistent exposure of Errors and custom Throwables to MVC exception handlers.
  • Consistent charset handling in HTTP message converters, including a UTF-8 default for multipart text content.
  • Static resource handling uses the configured ContentNegotiationManager for media type determination.
  • RestTemplate and AsyncRestTemplate support strict URI variable encoding via DefaultUriTemplateHandler.
  • AsyncRestTemplate supports request interception.

6.6 WebSocket Messaging Improvements

  • @SendTo and @SendToUser can now be specified at class-level to share a common destination.

6.7 Testing Improvements

  • The JUnit support in the Spring TestContext Framework now requires JUnit 4.12 or higher.
  • New SpringRunner alias for the SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.
  • Test related annotations may now be declared on interfaces — for example, for use with test interfaces that make use of Java 8 based interface default methods.
  • An empty declaration of @ContextConfiguration can now be completely omitted if default XML files, Groovy scripts, or @Configuration classes are detected.
  • @Transactional test methods are no longer required to be public (e.g., in TestNG and JUnit 5).
  • @BeforeTransaction and @AfterTransaction methods are no longer required to be public and may now be declared on Java 8 based interface default methods.
  • The ApplicationContext cache in the Spring TestContext Framework is now bounded with a default maximum size of 32 and a least recently used eviction policy. The maximum size can be configured by setting a JVM system property or Spring property called spring.test.context.cache.maxSize.
  • New ContextCustomizer API for customizing a test ApplicationContext after bean definitions have been loaded into the context but before the context has been refreshed. Customizers can be registered globally by third parties, foregoing the need to implement a custom ContextLoader.
  • @Sql and @SqlGroup may now be used as meta-annotations to create custom composed annotations with attribute overrides.
  • ReflectionTestUtils now automatically unwraps proxies when setting or getting a field.
  • Server-side Spring MVC Test supports expectations on response headers with multiple values.
  • Server-side Spring MVC Test parses form data request content and populates request parameters.
  • Server-side Spring MVC Test supports mock-like assertions for invoked handler methods.
  • Client-side REST test support allows indicating how many times a request is expected and whether the order of declaration for expectations should be ignored (see Section 15.6.3, “Client-Side REST Tests”).
  • Client-side REST Test supports expectations for form data in the request body.

6.8 Support for new library and server generations

  • Hibernate ORM 5.2 (still supporting 4.2/4.3 and 5.0/5.1 as well, with 3.6 deprecated now)
  • Hibernate Validator 5.3 (minimum remains at 4.3)
  • Jackson 2.8 (minimum raised to Jackson 2.6+ as of Spring 4.3)
  • OkHttp 3.x (still supporting OkHttp 2.x side by side)
  • Tomcat 8.5 as well as 9.0 milestones
  • Netty 4.1
  • Undertow 1.4
  • WildFly 10.1

Furthermore, Spring Framework 4.3 embeds the updated ASM 5.1, CGLIB 3.2.4, and Objenesis 2.4 in spring-core.jar.