Why use a service layer instead of a helper class for spring controllers?

Question

In my experience this is how ive seen spring controllers used : Define a spring controller which returns a value of some type to presentation layer. The controller request mapping method calls a service layer. The service layer itself consists of an interface and implementation. The service interface always contains just one method so its not really polymorphic as it keeps 'one form' consistently. The service implementation may access data of some kind, perhaps from a DAO and returns it the controller. The controller may amend this data slightly before returning its returned to the presentation layer.

What is this point of having an interface in this case ? Ive never encountered a spring service implementation called from multiple controllers, so why the interface ?

Does it not make more sense to use a helper controller class which performs the actions of the service implementation ?

Answer 1

Using Service layer is beneficial because it allows good logical separation of business logic from controller tasks. In Service class you can encapsulate business logic related to certain aspect like PaymentService . In PaymentService you can implement various methods like cardPayment(), paypalPayment(), refund() . Different controllers will be using the one single service. Moreover, service layer is also convenient for code reuse.

Using interfaces is convenient if you decide later to use some AOP features, add some logic (logging for example), in between of controller and service without changing it's code.

Answer 2

You're right - a service interface tends to be use-case specific, however there are still a few good reasons to create an interface:

• Its just good practice. Eg it allows swapping in a new implementation of the service. There's really no cost or negative impact to extract an interface via the IDE.
• Allows the use of DynamicProxies for transaction management, security concerns etc. Dynamic proxies are faster than cglib proxies, and they don't require a default constructor. . . Also, in the past, proxies on concrete objects could sometimes be flaky, but DynamicProxies are so simple there's little room for something to go wrong.
• As Luke Taylor mentioned, it simplifies testing.

Answer 3

One good reason to use an interface is for testing. If you want to test your controllers in isolation, then using an interface makes most sense for mocking or stubbing.

Answer 4

I think an interface is a good idea because it lets you keep the business logic in the implementation and not worry about how you expose it remotely. You can make the interface a REST or SOAP service, an EJB, or anything else you'd like. Getting data in and out doesn't change the business logic. And it keeps it totally separate from the controller. You might use that service outside the web tier.