Java – What’s the difference between @Component, @Repository & @Service annotations in Spring

annotationsjavaspringspring-mvc

Can @Component, @Repository and @Service annotations be used interchangeably in Spring or do they provide any particular functionality besides acting as a notation device?

In other words, if I have a Service class and I change the annotation from @Service to @Component, will it still behave the same way?

Or does the annotation also influence the behavior and functionality of the class?

Best Solution

From Spring Documentation:

The @Repository annotation is a marker for any class that fulfils the role or stereotype of a repository (also known as Data Access Object or DAO). Among the uses of this marker is the automatic translation of exceptions, as described in Exception Translation.

Spring provides further stereotype annotations: @Component, @Service, and @Controller. @Component is a generic stereotype for any Spring-managed component. @Repository, @Service, and @Controller are specializations of @Component for more specific use cases (in the persistence, service, and presentation layers, respectively). Therefore, you can annotate your component classes with @Component, but, by annotating them with @Repository, @Service, or @Controller instead, your classes are more properly suited for processing by tools or associating with aspects.

For example, these stereotype annotations make ideal targets for pointcuts. @Repository, @Service, and @Controller can also carry additional semantics in future releases of the Spring Framework. Thus, if you are choosing between using @Component or @Service for your service layer, @Service is clearly the better choice. Similarly, as stated earlier, @Repository is already supported as a marker for automatic exception translation in your persistence layer.

Annotation	Meaning
`@Component`	generic stereotype for any Spring-managed component
`@Repository`	stereotype for persistence layer
`@Service`	stereotype for service layer
`@Controller`	stereotype for presentation layer (spring-mvc)

Related Solutions

Java – What are the differences between a HashMap and a Hashtable in Java

There are several differences between HashMap and Hashtable in Java:

Hashtable is synchronized, whereas HashMap is not. This makes HashMap better for non-threaded applications, as unsynchronized Objects typically perform better than synchronized ones.
Hashtable does not allow null keys or values. HashMap allows one null key and any number of null values.
One of HashMap's subclasses is LinkedHashMap, so in the event that you'd want predictable iteration order (which is insertion order by default), you could easily swap out the HashMap for a LinkedHashMap. This wouldn't be as easy if you were using Hashtable.

Since synchronization is not an issue for you, I'd recommend HashMap. If synchronization becomes an issue, you may also look at ConcurrentHashMap.

Java – the difference between public, protected, package-private and private in Java

The official tutorial may be of some use to you.

	Class	Package	Subclass (same pkg)	Subclass (diff pkg)	World
`public`	+	+	+	+	+
`protected`	+	+	+	+
no modifier	+	+	+
`private`	+

+ : accessible
blank : not accessible

Best Solution

Related Solutions

Java – What are the differences between a HashMap and a Hashtable in Java

Java – the difference between public, protected, package-private and private in Java

Related Question