What is DispatcherServlet, and what role does it play in Spring MVC? | Interview Question | TechyTalkWithDev

Spring Boot Interview Questions

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What is DispatcherServlet, and what role does it play in Spring MVC?

What is the difference between @Controller and @RestController?

What is the difference between @PathVariable, @RequestParam, and @RequestBody?

How does content negotiation work in Spring MVC?

What is the purpose of ResponseEntity, and when should you use it over a plain return type?

What is a HandlerInterceptor, and how does it differ from a Servlet Filter?

What is the purpose of @RequestMapping's `consumes` and `produces` attributes?

How does Spring Boot's default JSON serialization handle a field that should never appear in the API response, like a password hash?

What is HATEOAS, and how does Spring HATEOAS support it?

How does traditional server-rendered Spring MVC (using a ViewResolver) differ from building a REST API with @RestController?

What is RestClient (introduced in Spring 6.1), and how does it compare to RestTemplate and WebClient?

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Question 78 of 254

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What is DispatcherServlet, and what role does it play in Spring MVC?

Spring MVC & REST APIs

DispatcherServlet is the single front-controller servlet that receives every incoming HTTP request for a Spring MVC application. It delegates to HandlerMappings to find the right controller method for the request, invokes it (via a HandlerAdapter), passes the result to the appropriate view resolution or message conversion, and writes the final response — centralizing request routing so individual controllers never deal with raw servlet plumbing.

Intermediate5 min

AccentureCapgeminiCognizantOracleIBMAmazon

#DispatcherServlet

Every Controller Method Is Reached Through the Same Front Door

The front-controller pattern means cross-cutting request handling — exception translation via @ControllerAdvice, common interceptors, content negotiation — only needs to be implemented once at the DispatcherServlet level rather than duplicated inside every individual controller, which is what makes @ExceptionHandler and HandlerInterceptor apply uniformly across an entire application.

Request → DispatcherServlet → HandlerMapping finds the controller → HandlerAdapter invokes it → response written