From Node.

js to Java Spring Boot:

A Comprehensive Beginner’s Guide
to Building an Enterprise Banking
Application
Introduction: From JavaScript to Java

Transitioning from a Node.js environment to Java Spring and Spring Boot can feel
like moving from one world to another. In Node.js (with frameworks like Express),
you're used to an unopinionated, flexible approach where you manually set up your
server, define routes, and handle middleware. In contrast, Spring Boot provides a
structured, convention-over-configuration environment. A lot of the heavy lifting
(like server setup, dependency management, security, etc.) is handled by the
framework. This guide will help you, a beginner Java developer coming from Node.js,
get comfortable with Spring and Spring Boot by walking through the development of
an enterprise-level banking application.

We will cover everything from core Spring concepts (like Dependency Injection and
IoC) to building REST APIs, accessing databases with Spring Data JPA, adding security
with Spring Security, organizing your project structure, externalizing configuration,
deploying to a JBoss EAP 7.4 server as a WAR, and implementing enterprise features
like transactions, logging, and testing. Practical examples (with code snippets for
features like user registration, account creation, and transactions) will illustrate each
concept. By the end, you should have a solid roadmap for building robust Java
applications with Spring Boot, even if your background is in Node.js.

(Throughout this guide, we’ll use clear section headers, short paragraphs, bullet points,
and code examples to make it easy to follow. Let’s dive in!)

1. Core Spring Concepts

Before jumping into Spring Boot, it’s crucial to understand some core Spring
Framework concepts. These are the foundation upon which Spring Boot builds its
magic. Key concepts include Dependency Injection (DI), Inversion of Control (IoC),
Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), and the Spring Bean Lifecycle. Don’t worry if
these sound like buzzwords – we’ll break each down with simple explanations and
analogies (especially comparing to patterns you might have seen in Node.js).

1.1 Dependency Injection (DI) and Inversion of Control (IoC)

Inversion of Control (IoC) is a principle where the control of object creation and
dependency management is inverted from the programmer to the framework. In
Spring, rather than your code manually instantiating classes and managing
dependencies, the Spring container does this for you. You simply declare the
dependencies your class needs, and Spring injects them when needed – this is known
as Dependency Injection (DI).

In Node.js, you might achieve something similar by using modules or passing objects
around. For example, with Express you might pass your database client to route
handlers. In Spring, you don't pass them manually; you declare your components and
their dependencies, and Spring wires them together.

How DI works in Spring: You create classes annotated with @Component or

related stereotypes like @Service , @Repository , @Controller . These become
beans managed by Spring. If one bean needs another, you can mark it with
@Autowired (or inject via constructor), and Spring will automatically find the

needed bean and inject it. This is typically done at startup when the
ApplicationContext (Spring's IoC container) is initializing.

IoC Container: Spring’s IoC container (like ApplicationContext ) is responsible

for instantiating, configuring, and assembling these beans. Essentially, your code
hands over control to Spring to manage object creation. This inversion
(framework in control, rather than your code) is what gives IoC its name.

Code Example – Dependency Injection: Let’s say in our banking app we have a
service to handle accounts and a repository to interact with the database. In Spring, it
might look like this:

java
// Mark this as a Service (business logic layer)
@Service
public class AccountService {

// Inject the AccountRepository (data access layer)

private final AccountRepository accountRepo;

// Constructor injection (recommended over field injection)

public AccountService(AccountRepository accountRepo) {
this.accountRepo = accountRepo;
}

public Account openNewAccount(Account account) {

// business logic (e.g., initializations)
account.setOpenedDate(LocalDate.now());
return accountRepo.save(account); // Save to DB
}
}

java

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// Repository layer using Spring Data JPA
@Repository
public interface AccountRepository extends JpaRepository<Account, Long> {
// Spring will auto-implement basic CRUD methods
// You can define custom queries if needed
}

java Copy code

// Controller layer to handle HTTP requests (presentation layer)

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/accounts")
public class AccountController {

private final AccountService accountService;

// Spring injects AccountService here

public AccountController(AccountService accountService) {
this.accountService = accountService;
}
 @PostMapping("/open")
public ResponseEntity<Account> openAccount(@RequestBody Account account)
Account created = accountService.openNewAccount(account);
return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.CREATED).body(created);
}
}

In the code above, notice we never call new AccountService(...) or new

AccountRepository(...) . Spring Boot does that behind the scenes. When the
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application starts, Spring will:

Create an AccountRepository bean (because of Spring Data JPA magic – more

on that later).

Create an AccountService bean and inject the repository into it (because of the
constructor parameter).

Create an AccountController bean and inject the service into it.

This
 is Dependency Injection in action. It makes testing easier (you can provide 

mocks of AccountRepository to AccountService if needed), and your classes are

loosely coupled (the service doesn’t need to know how to create a repository, it just
needs one).

IoC/DI Summary: You declare what you need, and the framework provides it. This
leads to cleaner code and a clear separation of concerns, which is especially useful
in large enterprise apps.

1.2 Spring Beans and Lifecycle

Any object that Spring manages is called a bean. Beans are created, wired, and
managed by Spring's IoC container. Understanding the bean lifecycle can be helpful
for advanced scenarios:

Bean Instantiation: Spring instantiates the bean (e.g., calls the constructor).

Dependency Injection: Spring injects required dependencies into the bean (via
constructor or setters).
 Initialization: If the bean implements certain interfaces or has specific
annotations, Spring gives it a chance to do initialization logic. For example,
implementing InitializingBean and its afterPropertiesSet() method, or
simply annotating a method with @PostConstruct for a callback after injection.

Bean is Ready to Use: At this point, the bean can handle requests (e.g., your
controllers can now receive HTTP calls, services can execute logic, etc.).

Destruction: When the application is shutting down, Spring will call destruction
callbacks. For example, DisposableBean interface's destroy() method, or
methods annotated with @PreDestroy . This is where you release resources (close
DB connections, etc.).

For most cases, you don't need to intervene in the bean lifecycle manually – Spring
Boot auto-configuration will handle resources. But if you need custom init/destroy
logic, you can use the above hooks.

Analogy for Node.js devs: Consider how in Node you might set up a connection pool
when the server starts and tear it down when shutting down – in Spring, you could do
that in a bean's @PostConstruct and @PreDestroy methods, respectively, but often
Spring Boot starters manage these (for instance, an HikariCP connection pool for a
DataSource is started and closed automatically by Spring Boot).

1.3 Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP)

Aspect-Oriented Programming is a paradigm that complements OOP by allowing

you to inject behavior around methods without modifying their actual code. It’s used
to handle cross-cutting concerns – aspects of the program that affect multiple
unrelated classes, such as logging, security, auditing, or transaction management​
stackoverflow.com .

Spring AOP allows you to define an Aspect (a class annotated with @Aspect ) that
contains advice (methods) which run at certain join points (like before a method
execution, after a method returns, or around a method call). In enterprise apps, AOP is
often used for:

Logging: e.g., log every time a service method is called and its execution time.

Security: e.g., check permissions before executing methods (though Spring

Security provides declarative ways which under the hood use AOP).
 Transaction Management: Spring’s @Transactional is actually powered by AOP
proxies that start and commit/rollback transactions around your methods.

Performance Monitoring: e.g., gather metrics whenever certain methods are

executed.

Code Example – Logging Aspect: As an example, let's create an aspect to log method
execution of service methods:

java

Aspect
Component
ublic class LoggingAspect {

// Pointcut expression targeting all methods in classes annotated with @Servi

@Around("within(@org.springframework.stereotype.Service *)")
public Object logServiceMethods(ProceedingJoinPoint joinPoint) throws Throwab
long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
String methodName = joinPoint.getSignature().toShortString();
try {
System.out.println("Entering " + methodName);
Object result = joinPoint.proceed(); // execute the actual method
return result;
} finally {
long timeTaken = System.currentTimeMillis() - start;
System.out.println("Exiting " + methodName + ", time taken: " + timeT
}
}

 

In this snippet:

@Aspect marks this class as an aspect.

The @Around advice with pointcut Copy code

within(@org.springframework.stereotype.Service *) means "apply this advice

to any method in any class annotated with @Service". So, all service methods will
be wrapped with this logging.

We log before and after the method runs (capturing time taken). The
joinPoint.proceed() actually calls the target method.
You can see how this is like "middleware" in Express – you didn't change the service
methods themselves; instead, the aspect intercepts the call. If you're familiar with
Express, think of it like applying a middleware function that runs around your route
handler: AOP is a bit like that but more powerful and declarative.

Spring Boot will auto-enable AOP if you have the dependency (spring-boot-starter-
aop) in your project. In many cases, you might not write custom aspects initially, but
it’s good to understand because a lot of Spring's magic (e.g., transactions, security)
uses proxies and AOP under the hood.

1.4 Recap: Why These Concepts Matter

Dependency Injection/IoC: Encourages loose coupling. Instead of wiring up
components manually (which can become messy in large apps), Spring does it for
you. This is similar to how frameworks in Node can manage aspects of your app
(like how Next.js might manage routing for you).

AOP: Cleanly address cross-cutting concerns. In a banking app, you’ll likely need
consistent logging, security checks, and transaction boundaries across methods –
AOP allows implementing these without duplicating code everywhere.

Bean Lifecycle: Usually managed for you, but hooks are available for resource
management (important for enterprise apps, e.g., closing connections).

With these fundamentals in mind, let's move to Spring Boot, which builds on Spring
Framework to make our lives even easier.

2. Spring Boot Introduction

Spring Boot is an opinionated framework that simplifies Spring development. It auto-
configures a lot of things for you, provides starter dependencies to get the right
libraries on classpath, and can run standalone (with an embedded server) or be
deployed as a traditional WAR. Essentially, Spring Boot takes the "heavy lifting" of
configuring a Spring application and does it automatically, following convention over
configuration.

For someone coming from Node.js, think of Spring Boot as analogous to a robust CLI
or toolkit that sets up an Express server with sensible defaults, a connected database,
and security middleware without you writing it all from scratch. Let’s break down the
key features:

2.1 Auto-Configuration

Spring Boot’s auto-configuration is magic that detects what’s on the classpath and
what properties are set, then configures parts of the application for you. For example:

If you include spring-boot-starter-web , Spring Boot sees Tomcat (the

embedded web server) and Spring MVC on the classpath. It then auto-
configures:

An embedded Tomcat server.

A DispatcherServlet (the main servlet that dispatches web requests to your

controllers).

Default configurations for error handling, static content, JSON converters

(Jackson), etc.

If you include spring-boot-starter-data-jpa and, say, the MySQL driver, Spring

Boot:

Auto-configures a DataSource (database connection) for MySQL, using

properties from application.properties (like URL, username, password).

Sets up a EntityManagerFactory and TransactionManager for JPA (with

Hibernate as the provider).

If H2 (in-memory DB) is also on classpath and no URL is set, it might default

to an in-memory database for quick testing.
This auto-configuration is smart but also conditional – it often backs off if you
provide your own beans. For instance, if you define your own UserDetailsService for
security, Spring Boot won’t create the default one.

Why is this useful? Without Boot, you'd have to write a lot of XML or Java config to
set these up. Boot handles 80% of typical configuration, so you only focus on your
business logic.

2.2 Starter Dependencies (Starters)

Spring Boot uses a concept of starter POMs – basically, a bunch of convenient

dependency descriptors that you include to get a suite of related libraries. Each
starter is like a bundle of dependencies to support a particular feature.

Common Spring Boot starters you’ll use in a banking app:

spring-boot-starter-web: Includes Spring MVC and Tomcat (for building REST

APIs).

spring-boot-starter-data-jpa: Includes Spring Data JPA and Hibernate (for

database access with ORM).

spring-boot-starter-security: Includes Spring Security (for

authentication/authorization).

spring-boot-starter-test: Includes JUnit, Spring Test, Mockito, AssertJ, etc. (for

testing).

spring-boot-starter-aop: Includes Spring AOP (if you plan to use AspectJ

aspects).

There are many others (for JDBC, websockets, mail, etc.), but the above are likely
for a banking app.

Including a starter in pom.xml (for Maven) or build.gradle (for Gradle) pulls in all
those libraries with compatible versions. This saves you from version conflicts and
having to list dozens of individual dependencies.

Example (Maven pom.xml fragment):

xml
 <dependencies>
<!-- Web and REST -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- JPA and Hibernate -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- Security -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-security</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- Testing (JUnit, Mockito, etc.) -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<!-- If deploying as WAR to JBoss, you might also add JBoss specific depe
</dependencies>

 

Spring Boot also manages the versions of these dependencies via a "Bill of Materials
(BOM)", so using the parent spring-boot-starter-parent in Maven or the Spring
Boot Gradle plugin ensures all the library versions are compatible. Copy code

2.3 Spring Boot CLI (Optional)

The Spring Boot CLI is a command-line tool that lets you run Spring scripts written in
Groovy. This is more of a quick prototyping tool – you can write a Groovy script with
Spring-like code (leveraging Boot auto-config) and run it directly.

For example, with Spring Boot CLI, you could write a one-file web server:

groovy

@RestController
class HelloController {
 @GetMapping("/")
String hello() {
"Hello World"
}
}

If you save that as app.groovy , you can run spring run app.groovy and it Copy
will start
code a

server on port 8080 serving "Hello World". It automatically knew to bring up an

embedded Tomcat and all just from the presence of @RestController .

For our purposes (building a full application), you probably won’t use the CLI. But it’s
good to know it exists. Most of our work will be in a typical Java project structure, not
groovy scripts.

2.4 Running Spring Boot Apps

By default, Spring Boot applications run as a standalone jar with an embedded server:

If you use Maven, running mvn spring-boot:run or running the main class
directly will start the application.

The main class is annotated with @SpringBootApplication , which triggers

component scanning and auto-configuration.

For example, the entry point of our banking app might look like:

java

@SpringBootApplication
public class BankingApplication {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(BankingApplication.class, args);
}
}

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Running this (via IDE or command line) starts the app on an embedded Tomcat
(listening on port 8080 by default) with all the controllers, services, etc., up and
running.

However, since our goal is to eventually deploy on JBoss EAP (which is an application
server with its own web container), we will later package the app as a WAR. But during
development, you can still run it as a normal Spring Boot app (makes for quick
testing).

Now that Spring Boot is set up, let's get into building features of our banking
application.

3. Developing REST APIs with Spring MVC

For an enterprise banking application, you'll likely build a bunch of RESTful APIs – for
user management, account management, performing transactions, viewing
statements, etc. In Spring, the module that deals with web requests (HTTP) is Spring
MVC (Model-View-Controller). Spring MVC is included when you add the Web starter.

In Spring Boot, creating a REST API is straightforward:

Use @RestController to mark a class as a RESTful controller (meaning return

values are serialized directly to JSON/XML responses, rather than rendering
views).

Use request mapping annotations like @GetMapping , @PostMapping ,

@PutMapping , etc., on methods to map URL paths and HTTP verbs to handler
methods.

Use @RequestBody to indicate a method parameter should be bound from the

body of an HTTP request (and converted from JSON to a Java object).

Use @PathVariable or @RequestParam to extract values from the URL path or

query parameters, respectively.

The response can be the return value (e.g., a Java object or collection, which
Spring will auto-convert to JSON using Jackson), or you can return a
ResponseEntity for more control (to set HTTP status or headers).

3.1 Example: User Registration Endpoint

Let's walk through a user registration example in our banking app:

POST /api/users/register : accepts user details and creates a new user

(perhaps an account holder).

java

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/users") // base URL for all endpoints in this controll
public class UserController {

private final UserService userService;

// Constructor injection of the service

public UserController(UserService userService) {
this.userService = userService;
}

// DTO (Data Transfer Object) for registration, could be an entity or sep

@PostMapping("/register")
public ResponseEntity<User> registerUser(@RequestBody @Valid User newUser
// @Valid will trigger bean validation on the User object (more on th
User created = userService.registerUser(newUser);
return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.CREATED).body(created);
}

@GetMapping("/{id}")
public ResponseEntity<User> getUserById(@PathVariable Long id) {
return userService.findById(id)
.map(user -> ResponseEntity.ok(user))
.orElse(ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND).build());
}
}

 

A few things to note for beginners:

@RequestMapping("/api/users") at class level prefixes all endpoints. So the

methods become /api/users/register and /api/users/{id} .

@PostMapping("/register") is a shorthand for @RequestMapping(method=POST,

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value="/register") .
 We use @RequestBody to indicate the user data comes in the request JSON body.
Spring will use Jackson to bind it to a User object.

@Valid triggers validation on the User object (which should have annotations

like @NotNull on fields for validation to enforce, e.g., password not null, email
format, etc.).

We return a ResponseEntity with status 201 Created for the new user, including
the saved user object in the body (which will be converted to JSON).

The getUserById endpoint shows usage of @PathVariable to grab the {id}

part of the URL. It calls a service to find the user. If found, return 200 OK with
user, otherwise 404 Not Found.

For a Node.js dev: This is similar to setting up an Express route for /api/users/:id .
The concepts map closely:

Controller class ~ similar role as an Express route handler file.

@GetMapping , etc. ~ similar to app.get('/api/users/:id', handler) .

Instead of manually sending JSON or setting status, we use ResponseEntity or let

the framework handle it by returning objects (Spring by default returns 200 if you
return an object, unless it's an Optional empty or you throw an exception).

JSON Serialization: Spring Boot includes Jackson by default. Our User object can be
a simple POJO with fields, getters/setters. It will be serialized to JSON for responses,
and incoming JSON will be deserialized to User . You can customize this (e.g., use
@JsonProperty if needed, or other serializers) but out-of-the-box it just works.

Error Handling: By default, Spring will handle errors by returning a reasonable JSON
error response if something goes wrong (for example, if validation fails, it returns a
400 with details by default). You can customize global error handling with
@ControllerAdvice , which we will discuss under enterprise features.

3.2 Example: Account and Transaction Endpoints

Our banking app will have accounts and transactions:

We might have an AccountController for account-related operations (opening

account already shown earlier in AccountController snippet; maybe an endpoint
to get account balance, etc.).
 We might have a TransactionController for money transfers, etc.

AccountController (additional endpoints):

java

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/accounts")
public class AccountController {
// ... (AccountService injected as shown earlier)

@GetMapping("/{id}")
public ResponseEntity<Account> getAccount(@PathVariable Long id) {
return accountService.findAccount(id)
.map(ResponseEntity::ok)
.orElse(ResponseEntity.notFound().build());
}

@PostMapping("/{id}/transfer")
public ResponseEntity<String> transferMoney(
@PathVariable Long id,
@RequestParam Long targetAccountId,
@RequestParam BigDecimal amount) {
try {
accountService.transfer(id, targetAccountId, amount);
return ResponseEntity.ok("Transfer successful");
} catch (InsufficientFundsException e) {
return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST).body("Transf
}
}
}

 

In transferMoney :

We accept source account id from path, target account and amount as request
parameters (in a real API, you might prefer a JSON body for this, but for simplicity
using query params is fine).
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The service method transfer will handle the business logic and possibly throw a
custom exception if something is wrong (like insufficient funds).
 We catch that exception to return a 400 Bad Request with a message.
(Alternatively, we could let it throw and handle via global exception handler.)

Key takeaways for Spring MVC:

Routing: Handled by annotations instead of a routing table.

Data Binding: Powerful binding from JSON to objects and from URL params to
method params.

HTTP Response: Can be controlled with ResponseEntity or by throwing

exceptions.

At this point, we have basic controllers. They are thin – they mostly delegate to
services. The bulk of our logic will be in the Service layer, which we will implement
with help of Spring Data JPA and transactions.

4. Data Persistence with Spring Data JPA and

Hibernate

Most banking applications are backed by a relational database (Oracle, PostgreSQL,

MySQL, etc.) for reliable storage of accounts, transactions, users, etc. Spring Data JPA
is a Spring module that greatly simplifies database access by providing a high-level
abstraction over Hibernate (JPA). JPA stands for Java Persistence API – a specification
for ORM (Object-Relational Mapping), and Hibernate is the most popular
implementation of JPA.

In practical terms:

You define entity classes in Java that map to database tables (using annotations
like @Entity , @Table , @Column , etc.).

You create repository interfaces that extend Spring Data JPA interfaces (like
JpaRepository ) which provide CRUD operations and query derivation.

Spring (through Hibernate) will handle generating SQL, executing it, and
mapping result sets to your objects.

This is somewhat analogous to using an ORM in Node.js like Sequelize or

TypeORM. The difference is Spring Data JPA can create the DAO/repository
implementations for you at runtime.
4.1 Configuring the Database

First, in application.properties (or application.yml if you prefer YAML), you will

specify database connection properties. For example, if we use a PostgreSQL database
for production (and maybe H2 in-memory for dev tests):

properties

# Database Configuration
spring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/bankdb
spring.datasource.username=dbuser
spring.datasource.password=dbpass
spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.postgresql.Driver

# JPA and Hibernate Configuration

spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update
spring.jpa.show-sql=true
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.format_sql=true

What these do:

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spring.datasource.* : standard way to configure a JDBC DataSource. Spring

Boot will create a DataSource bean for us.

ddl-auto=update : This tells Hibernate to auto-create or update the database

schema to match our entities on startup. In dev, update or create-drop is

useful. In production, usually this is disabled or set to validate (so that you
don't accidentally modify the schema automatically).

show-sql=true : Just logs the SQL being executed to the console (helpful for

debugging).

(Alternatively, you could configure these via YAML if preferred, e.g.,

yaml

spring:
datasource:
url: jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/bankdb
username: dbuser
password: dbpass
jpa:
hibernate:
ddl-auto: update
 show-sql: true
properties:
hibernate.format_sql: true
```)

If deploying to JBoss EAP, you might not want Spring Boot to manage the DataSource
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at all – you might use a JBoss-managed DataSource (configured in standalone-
full.xml as shown in a snippet earlier). In that case, you would use

spring.datasource.jndi-name to point Spring to the app server’s DataSource. But

let's not get ahead; we'll discuss JBoss specifics in the deployment section.

4.2 Defining JPA Entities

Let's define some entity classes for our banking app:

User (or Customer) – who owns accounts.

Account – representing a bank account.

Transaction – representing money movements between accounts.

Simple example of an Account entity:

java

@Entity // Marks this as a JPA entity (table in the database)

@Table(name = "accounts") // Optional: specify table name if different
public class Account {

@Id @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)

private Long id; // primary key

@ManyToOne // Many accounts can belong to one User

@JoinColumn(name = "user_id") // foreign key column
private User owner;

private String accountType; // e.g., "SAVINGS" or "CHECKING"

private BigDecimal balance;

private LocalDate openedDate;

// Getters and Setters ...

 // (Omitted for brevity, but you need them for JPA or use Lombok @Data to
}

And User entity might look like:

java

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@Entity
@Table(name = "users")
public class User {
@Id @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
private Long id;
private String name;
private String email;
private String password; // (hashed password in real-world)

@OneToMany(mappedBy = "owner")
private List<Account> accounts = new ArrayList<>();
// ... constructors, getters, setters
}

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And Transaction entity:

java Copy code

@Entity
@Table(name = "transactions")
public class Transaction {
@Id @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
private Long id;
private BigDecimal amount;
private LocalDateTime timestamp;
private String type; // e.g., "TRANSFER", "DEPOSIT", etc.

@ManyToOne
@JoinColumn(name = "from_account_id")
private Account fromAccount;

@ManyToOne
@JoinColumn(name = "to_account_id")
private Account toAccount;
 // ... getters/setters
}

These are simple representations. Spring Data JPA will inspect these at startup. With
ddl-auto=update , if tables don't exist, Hibernate will create tables named accounts,
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users, transactions with appropriate columns and relationships.

4.3 Spring Data JPA Repositories

Instead of writing DAO classes with SQL or using JDBCTemplate, we use Spring Data
JPA repositories:

java

@Repository
public interface UserRepository extends JpaRepository<User, Long> {
// JpaRepository provides CRUD and more out of the box
// You can add custom query methods, for example:
Optional<User> findByEmail(String email);
}

java Copy code

@Repository
public interface AccountRepository extends JpaRepository<Account, Long> {
List<Account> findByOwnerId(Long userId);
// This will auto-generate a query like "select * from accounts where own
}

 

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java

@Repository
public interface TransactionRepository extends JpaRepository<Transaction, Lon
List<Transaction> findByFromAccountIdOrToAccountId(Long fromId, Long toId
// Finds all transactions where given account is either source or destina
}

 

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Spring Data JPA interprets method names to derive queries (this is called query
method derivation). Alternatively, you can use @Query annotation for custom
JPQL/SQL queries if needed, but often method naming suffices for simple queries.

Now we can inject these repositories into our service layer and use them. For
example, the AccountService.transfer(...) might be implemented like:

java

@Service
public class AccountService {
private final AccountRepository accountRepo;
private final TransactionRepository txnRepo;

public AccountService(AccountRepository accountRepo, TransactionRepositor

this.accountRepo = accountRepo;
this.txnRepo = txnRepo;
}

// ... other methods

@Transactional // Important: make this method transactional

public void transfer(Long fromAccountId, Long toAccountId, BigDecimal amo
Account from = accountRepo.findById(fromAccountId)
.orElseThrow(() -> new IllegalArgumentException("Source accou
Account to = accountRepo.findById(toAccountId)
.orElseThrow(() -> new IllegalArgumentException("Target accou

if (from.getBalance().compareTo(amount) < 0) {
throw new InsufficientFundsException("Not enough balance in sourc
}
// Deduct from source
from.setBalance(from.getBalance().subtract(amount));
// Add to target
to.setBalance(to.getBalance().add(amount));
// Save updates
accountRepo.save(from);
accountRepo.save(to);

// Record the transaction

Transaction txn = new Transaction();
txn.setFromAccount(from);
 txn.setToAccount(to);
txn.setAmount(amount);
txn.setTimestamp(LocalDateTime.now());
txn.setType("TRANSFER");
txnRepo.save(txn);
// If any exception is thrown after @Transactional, the whole transac
}
}

A few critical points here:

We annotated transfer() with @Transactional . This is a Spring annotation that

tells the framework to wrap this method in a database transaction​ medium.com . That
means if any runtime exception occurs within the method (or any called
methods), Spring will roll back the transaction, undoing any changes to the
database. In our case, if the source account doesn't have enough money and we
throw InsufficientFundsException (a runtime exception), neither account’s
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balance will be changed and no transaction record will be saved (because of
rollback).

If the method completes successfully, Spring will commit the transaction at the
end of the method. Both account updates and the transaction insert will commit
as one unit (atomic operation).

Without Spring, you'd have to manually begin a transaction, commit or rollback

on exception, etc. Spring AOP does this via proxies automatically when you use
@Transactional – it's one of those cross-cutting concerns being handled for

you.

In Node with something like an SQL library, you might start a transaction and
then commit/rollback in code; here it’s declarative.

Lazy Loading and Fetching: One thing to be mindful of – by default, relationships

( @ManyToOne , @OneToMany ) are LAZY loaded in JPA. That means, for example, if you
fetch an Account, the owner field (User) is not loaded from DB until you access it.
Same with collections like user.getAccounts() . This can lead to the infamous N+1
query problem or LazyInitializationException if you try to access a lazy field
outside of a transaction. Best practices:

Use DTOs to send data to the front-end instead of entities, to avoid needing lazy
data in the view layer.
 
 Or configure eager loading if it makes sense (e.g., @ManyToOne(fetch=EAGER) for
owner, if you always need the owner with account).

Spring Data JPA also allows you to write queries with JOIN FETCH to fetch
relationships if needed.

For brevity, we'll not dive too deep into JPA nuances, but do be aware it's a powerful
tool that has its own learning curve. It is, however, extremely productive once you get
the hang of it, just like an ORM in Node.

4.4 Database Migrations (Optional)

In enterprise apps, instead of using hibernate.ddl-auto , many teams prefer using a

migration tool like Flyway or Liquibase to manage database schema changes. With
such tools, you'd have versioned SQL scripts to create/alter tables, and they'd run on
application startup to ensure the DB schema is up-to-date.

For a beginner, this might be out of scope, but keep in mind as you grow: trusting
Hibernate to auto-create your schema is convenient initially, but explicit migrations
are safer for production.

4.5 Recap: Data Layer Best Practices

Use Service layer methods (with @Transactional ) to implement business logic
that involves data modifications.

Keep transactions as short as possible (transactional method should only do

what's needed within a transaction).

Use repositories for data access – don't directly use EntityManager unless you
need a custom query not supported by method naming.

The JpaRepository gives you a bunch for free: save , findById , findAll ,
delete , etc. Utilize those.

Test your repository methods with real or in-memory DB to ensure they work as
expected (we'll cover testing later).

Now that we have data persistence covered, let's move to securing the application.

5. Securing the Application with Spring Security

Security is a major concern for banking applications. Spring Security is a powerful and
flexible framework for authentication and authorization in Java applications. When
you include spring-boot-starter-security , a couple of things happen by default:

Your application is secured with HTTP Basic auth by default (it will generate a
default user with a random password on startup, which you will see in console
logs, just for initial testing).

All endpoints are secured such that any request requires authentication.

Of course, you'll configure it to use your own users, roles, and rules. Spring Security
can handle a variety of authentication mechanisms: in-memory users (for testing),
database-backed users (with JDBC or JPA), LDAP, OAuth2, JWT for APIs, etc. We’ll
focus on the basics:

Setting up an in-memory user (just to quickly protect our endpoints).

Understanding the WebSecurityConfigurer to specify which URLs are secured

and how.

5.1 Security Configuration

In Spring Boot (pre 2.7 / Spring Security 5.7), you would typically extend
WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter and override configure methods. In newer versions,

they encourage a component-based security config (beans of type

SecurityFilterChain ). To keep it simple (and since many tutorials still use it), we'll

show the WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter style:

java

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.authentication.builders
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.builders.HttpSecuri
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.configuration.Enabl
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.configuration.WebSe

@Configuration
@EnableWebSecurity // enables Spring Security filters
public class SecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {

@Override
protected void configure(AuthenticationManagerBuilder auth) throws Except
 // Define an in-memory user for simplicity
auth.inMemoryAuthentication()
.withUser("admin").password("{noop}admin123").roles("ADMIN")
.and()
.withUser("user").password("{noop}user123").roles("USER");
// {noop} indicates plain text password (NoOpPasswordEncoder). In rea
}

@Override
protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
http.csrf().disable() // disable CSRF for simplicity in REST (enable
.authorizeRequests()
.antMatchers("/api/accounts/**").hasRole("USER") // only log
.antMatchers("/api/admin/**").hasRole("ADMIN") // hypothet
.anyRequest().authenticated() // all requests need authentic
.and()
.httpBasic(); // use HTTP Basic authentication (username/passwor
}
}

Let's break this down:

configure(AuthenticationManagerBuilder) : we're adding two users in memory,

one admin and one user, with roles. Passwords are prefixed with {noop} which is
a way to tell Spring Security "don't hash, use plain text" – this is only for example
purposes. In production, you'd store hashed passwords (and maybe not in
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memory at all, but in a DB or use an external identity provider).

configure(HttpSecurity) : This defines which paths are secured and how.

We disabled CSRF for simplicity because for stateless REST APIs (especially
those not using cookies for auth), CSRF protection isn't usually needed.
 (CSRF is more for web apps with sessions.) 

We restrict /api/accounts/** to users with role USER . In Spring Security,

hasRole("USER") actually looks for ROLE_USER authority under the hood

(Spring automatically prefixes "ROLE_").

We restrict any /api/admin/** endpoints to ADMIN role.

All other requests require authentication ( .anyRequest().authenticated() ).

 We use .httpBasic() to enable basic auth. This means clients must send an
Authorization header with a base64 encoded user:pass. Browsers will show a
login dialog by default when they get a 401 from a Basic auth protected
endpoint.

Alternatively, we could use .formLogin() to have a login page if this were a

web app with UI. But for pure REST back-end, basic or bearer token (JWT) is
common. Basic is okay for initial development or internal use, but for a real
app you might implement JWT tokens for stateless auth in a REST API.

When this config is in place:

The endpoints we created earlier (e.g., /api/accounts/open ,

/api/users/register ) will all require authentication. If not provided, Spring

Security will respond with 401 Unauthorized.

If correct credentials are provided, the request goes through.

The roles (authorities) will be available via Spring Security's context. You can
access the logged-in user or role in controller methods if needed (for example, to
get the username of the current principal, you can use
SecurityContextHolder.getContext().getAuthentication() or simply add a

method param Principal principal in the controller to get the name).

Note on password encoding: Spring Security by default expects passwords to be

encoded. In our in-memory example, we used {noop} to indicate a NoOp (no
encoding). If you were loading users from a database, you would store hashed
passwords (e.g., BCrypt hash) and configure a PasswordEncoder. This is an important
detail but beyond the "beginner" scope – just know storing plain passwords is a no-
go in real apps.

5.2 Method-Level Security (Optional)

Spring Security also allows protecting methods at the service layer using annotations
like @PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')") on methods, if you enable method security
( @EnableGlobalMethodSecurity ). For example, you could annotate transfer()
method in service with @PreAuthorize("hasRole('USER')") to ensure only users can
perform it (though typically the web layer already filtered it).

For a beginner, it's fine to stick to URL-based security (as shown in the config above).
It's more visual and straightforward.

5.3 Authentication vs Authorization

Authentication: verifying the identity of a user (e.g., login). In our example, Basic
Auth + in-memory user list is one way. In a real app, you'd authenticate against
users stored in the database (perhaps using Spring Security's JDBC
UserDetailsManager or a custom service).

Authorization: deciding if an authenticated user has permission to do something

(e.g., access an endpoint or perform an action). We demonstrated this via roles
(USER, ADMIN). You can also use expressions like checking if the user is accessing
their own resource, etc.

Example: If we wanted to ensure that a user can only fetch their own account, and not
someone else’s, we might need to include user info in the token or session and then
verify in the controller or service that the account.owner.id == currentUser.id . That
could be done via a security check or manually in code. Spring Security can integrate
with method security to do things like @PreAuthorize("#id == principal.id or
hasRole('ADMIN')") – where #id is a method param and principal is the logged-

in user. But that might be too deep for now.

5.4 Security in JBoss EAP

When deploying to a container like JBoss, sometimes you can offload security to the
container (container-managed security, e.g., using JAAS or Elytron in JBoss). However,
using Spring Security within your app works just as well in a WAR on JBoss. You might
just have to be careful to not include conflicting libs. For instance, JBoss EAP might
have its own security subsystem, but our app is self-contained with Spring Security.

In our case, since we plan to deploy on JBoss, ensure spring-boot-starter-security

is in our WAR, and we might need to include an appropriate adapter if we want to
integrate with JBoss security domains (but let's assume our app handles security
internally).

Summary: Spring Security provides a declarative way to secure your application. For a
banking app:

Use it to secure all sensitive endpoints.

Use roles (and possibly finer-grained authorities/permissions) to restrict actions

(like only admin can create new bank products, only account owner can view
their account, etc.).

Eventually integrate with a user store (like our User entities or an LDAP) rather
than in-memory.

At this point, we have a functional service with web, data, and security layers. Now
let's talk about how to structure the project and configuration, and then deployment.

6. Spring Boot Project Structure and Layered

Architecture

Maintaining a clean project structure is key to manageability, especially in large

enterprise projects. Spring (and Java projects in general) tend to follow a layered
architecture:

Controller (Web layer): Handles HTTP requests, validation, and orchestrates calls
to services. (In a traditional MVC, this might return views; in REST, returns data.)

Service (Business layer): Contains business logic, rules, and coordinates data
from multiple sources or APIs. It’s where “what the system actually does” is
implemented.
 Repository/DAO (Data layer): Responsible for data access, usually interacting
with the database (could also call external services or APIs if treating them as
data sources).

Model/Domain: The domain objects (entities, or DTOs, etc.) that are used across
these layers.

Spring Boot doesn't enforce a package structure, but by convention and for
component scanning:

The main application class (with @SpringBootApplication ) is typically at the root

of the project package (e.g., com.mybank.app.BankingApplication ). This
annotation triggers scanning of its package and sub-packages for Spring
components.

So you often structure packages like:

com.mybank.app.controller

com.mybank.app.service

com.mybank.app.repository

com.mybank.app.model (or entity or domain )

com.mybank.app.config (for config classes like SecurityConfig)

etc.

This way, @SpringBootApplication sitting in com.mybank.app will find all

@RestController , @Service , @Repository , etc., in those subpackages automatically.

Folder structure (Maven standard):

swift

src/main/java
com.mybank.app
BankingApplication.java (main class)
controller/
UserController.java
AccountController.java
service/
UserService.java
AccountService.java
repository/
 UserRepository.java
AccountRepository.java
model/
User.java
Account.java
Transaction.java
config/
SecurityConfig.java
WebConfig.java (if any Web MVC config)
etc...
src/main/resources
application.properties
(or application.yml)
static/ (for static web assets if any, e.g., images, html)
templates/ (if using Thymeleaf or other templating, not in our REST c
log4j2.xml or other config (if custom logging config needed)
src/test/java
(parallel packages for test classes)

This is just an example. You can adjust as needed (some might separate domain for
JPA entities vs dto for web DTOs, etc.). The key is separation of concerns:

Controllers should only contain web concerns (HTTP, request/response, maybe

mapping DTOs to entities).

Services contain logic and are oblivious to HTTP or JSON (they just takeCopy
andcode
return Java objects, throw exceptions).

Repositories only deal with persistence and are oblivious to who calls them.
 
This separation also aids in testing (you can test services without the web layer,
etc.).

Analogy for Node: In Node, you might have separated route handlers, business logic
modules, and data access (like using models or query builders). The principle is the
same, though Node doesn't enforce it as strictly. In Java, because of strong typing and
the use of interfaces, it’s easier to enforce and benefit from this layering.

6.1 The application.properties and application.yml

We already touched on configuration properties for the database. Spring Boot’s

configuration is extremely flexible:
 By default, it looks for a file named application.properties or
application.yml in the classpath (in src/main/resources ).

You can have profiles (e.g., application-dev.properties , application-

prod.properties etc.) and activate a profile via spring.profiles.active .

You can also override properties via environment variables or command-line

arguments, which is great for not hardcoding secrets in the jar.

Common configurations in a Spring Boot app for a banking system might include:

Server settings: e.g., server.port=8081 if you want a different port.

Database settings: as we did above.

Logging: e.g., logging.level.com.mybank.app=DEBUG to enable debug logs for

your app packages, or logging.file.name=app.log to log to a file.

Security: if using OAuth or something, you’d put client IDs, etc., here.

External service endpoints: e.g., if the banking app calls an external credit check
API, you could put the URL in properties.

Example application.properties :

properties

server.port=8080

# --- Database ---

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://dbhost:5432/bankdb
spring.datasource.username=bankapp
spring.datasource.password=secret

spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=validate # Ensure schema matches, but don't c

spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDiale

# --- Logging ---

logging.level.root=INFO
logging.level.com.mybank.app=DEBUG # show debug logs for our app
# logging.file.name=bankapp.log # uncomment to log to file
 # --- Other ---
spring.jackson.date-format=yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss # example of setting JSON da

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The above is just illustrative. In YAML, the same would be structured in nested
indentation.

Externalized Config: Spring Boot lets you keep application.properties inside the
jar, but you can override by placing a file outside. For example, when running on
JBoss, you could supply system properties or use JBoss's mechanisms to provide
these values. If certain secrets should not be packaged, you might not include them in
the jar at all, and instead supply via env vars (Spring Boot will read
SPRING_DATASOURCE_URL env var if present, for instance, as an override).

There’s also the Spring Cloud Config for managing config centrally, but that's beyond
our scope.

6.2 Environment-Specific Config

It's common to have different configs for dev, test, prod:

 Use application-dev.properties and application-prod.properties . 

Set spring.profiles.active=dev (perhaps in your IDE or as an env var) for

development (which might use an H2 in-memory or a local DB, and some sample
data).

For prod, set spring.profiles.active=prod on the server environment, and

properties like real DB credentials and any performance tuning settings in
application-prod.properties .

This way, you don't need to rebuild the app for different environments, just change
profile or external config.

6.3 standalone-full.xml and ib.xml in JBoss

We will talk more in the deployment section, but since it's part of "configuration", let's
briefly explain:
 standalone-full.xml: This is the JBoss EAP server configuration file when running
in standalone mode with the "full" profile. The "full" profile includes all
subsystems (e.g., JCA, JMS, EJB, etc.), which might be needed for an enterprise
app. By default, JBoss might use standalone.xml (a lighter profile) unless you
specify the full one. If your app needs messaging (JMS) or other EE features
provided by "full", you should start JBoss with the full config. You can do this by
launching JBoss with -c standalone-full.xml or --server-config=standalone-
full.xml . We'll detail deployment steps soon.

ib.xml: The question specifically asks "explain what ib.xml is and how it's used".
This is a bit cryptic as ib.xml is not a standard JBoss or Spring config name that
rings a bell. It could be something specific to the context (perhaps "IB" stands for
"Internet Banking" or some custom config file for the banking application, or an
IBM integration file, etc.).

Given general knowledge, one angle: In enterprise environments, sometimes an ibm-

web-ext.xml or ibm-web-bnd.xml are used for IBM WebSphere deployments. But for

JBoss EAP, there's jboss-web.xml for context-root or JNDI bindings. ib.xml might
be something like a resource adapter config for an Integration Broker (IB) or maybe
shorthand for an internal banking config.

If ib.xml is a specific config file for your application or environment:

It likely contains some configuration that the application needs at runtime,

possibly loaded by Spring or JBoss.

For example, it might define certain beans or settings. If it's meant to be placed
in JBoss, maybe it’s an external config JBoss picks up.

Without more context, one could guess it’s an additional XML that needs to be
included in the deployment (maybe something to do with JMS or an external
resource).

It's important to know that any *.xml placed in the WEB-INF of a WAR (like
jboss-web.xml , web.xml , etc.) can influence deployment. If ib.xml is

something like that, ensure it's in the correct location and properly referenced.
Possibility: Could "ib.xml" refer to a JBoss login module config or a custom subsystem
config? Or maybe "IronBank" if the environment is DoD (Iron Bank is a container
registry, but they might have a config file? Unlikely to be called ib.xml though).

For completeness, let's phrase a general explanation:

" ib.xml might refer to a specific configuration file used in your banking
application deployment. For example, if ib stands for 'Internet Banking', the
ib.xml might contain configuration for that module. In a JBoss context, if this file

needs to be used, you'd include it in the deployment and possibly reference it in the
standalone-full.xml or via a JNDI resource. Without specific details, the general

approach is: Place ib.xml in the appropriate location (perhaps in the classpath or
JBOSS config directory) and ensure the application or server knows to load it. It
could be loaded by Spring as a Spring config XML (if you use @ImportResource in
your Spring Boot app to import an old-style XML bean config), or it could be
something JBoss picks up."

If we consider a scenario: maybe ib.xml is a Spring configuration XML file (some

projects still use XML for Spring config). In Spring Boot, you typically use Java-based
config and annotations, but if migrating from older Java EE app, they might have an
XML config. If so:

You can place ib.xml in src/main/resources and use

@ImportResource("classpath:ib.xml") in a configuration class to have Spring

load it (this is how you mix XML config with Boot).

Or if it's JBoss-specific, maybe it's meant to go in

JBOSS_HOME/standalone/deployments/yourapp.war/WEB-INF/ib.xml and some

subsystem reads it.

Since we can't be sure, I'll explain it in a way that covers the bases, focusing that you
either load it as part of Spring config or JBoss config.

Now, let's move to actually deploying our application to JBoss EAP as a WAR, which
will tie together some of these config points.

7. Packaging and Deploying to JBoss EAP 7.4

(WAR Deployment)
Spring Boot applications by default run standalone (jar with embedded Tomcat). But
enterprise environments (like many banks) often use application servers such as Red
Hat JBoss EAP (Enterprise Application Platform) for deployment. JBoss EAP 7.4 is a
Java EE application server (based on WildFly) where you typically deploy WAR or EAR
files.

We need to adjust our Spring Boot app to be deployable to JBoss:

1. Package as WAR: In Maven pom.xml , set <packaging>war</packaging> (instead

of jar). This will produce a WAR file.

2. Provide a Servlet initializer: Spring Boot needs a hook to start in a WAR. This is
done by extending SpringBootServletInitializer .

3. Exclude embedded Tomcat: Because JBoss has its own web container (Undertow
or JBoss Web), we should not include the embedded Tomcat jars. If you use
spring-boot-starter-web , Spring Boot will include Tomcat by default. We can

exclude it or mark it provided.

4. JBoss specific deployment descriptors: Optionally, add a jboss-web.xml if you

need to specify things like context root or JNDI bindings specific to JBoss.

Let's go step by step:

7.1 SpringBootServletInitializer

Create a class (or use your main class) to extend SpringBootServletInitializer and
override configure :

java

@SpringBootApplication
public class BankingApplication extends SpringBootServletInitializer { // ex

public static void main(String[] args) {

SpringApplication.run(BankingApplication.class, args);
}

// This is invoked when the WAR is deployed to an external server

@Override
protected SpringApplicationBuilder configure(SpringApplicationBuilder bui
return builder.sources(BankingApplication.class);
 }
}

This tells Spring Boot how to start when the application is launched by a servlet
container. Essentially, JBoss will create a servlet (Spring's DispatcherServlet) via
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code

initializer and run our app.

7.2 Pom.xml adjustments

xml

<project>
...
<packaging>war</packaging>
 ... 

<dependencies>
<!-- (your starters) -->
<!-- Exclude embedded Tomcat since we'll deploy on JBoss -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-tomcat</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
<!-- Add servlet API as provided, since JBoss provides it -->
<dependency>
<groupId>jakarta.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>jakarta.servlet-api</artifactId>
<scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>
<!-- JBoss might have Java EE APIs; ensure any such APIs (JPA, JSTL, etc.
<!-- ... other dependencies ... -->
</dependencies>
</project>

 
We exclude Tomcat because JBoss will use its own Undertow or JBossWeb. If you
don't, it might conflict or unnecessarily inflate your WAR.
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Marking jakarta.servlet-api (or javax.servlet-api if Java EE 8) as provided ensures
you compile against the API but don't package it (the app server has it).

Similarly, JBoss EAP provides many Java EE APIs (JPA, JMS, JSON-B, etc.), but bringing
your own usually is okay because Spring Boot has its own versions. Red Hat does have
some documentation on running Spring Boot on JBoss – sometimes you have to be
careful with logging jars, etc. For example, JBoss uses JBoss Logging, and Spring Boot
uses Logback. Typically, shading logs is fine, but there's a known issue: you might
need to add org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-logging as provided
to avoid conflict with JBoss logging. Alternatively, use JBoss's logging by adding a
logging config. For brevity, let's assume no conflict; if there is, a quick solution is to
remove the Boot logging and rely on JBoss logging subsystem (so your logs go to
server log). But that's a detail one can troubleshoot if needed.

7.3 Deploying the WAR to JBoss

Once you build the WAR ( mvn clean package ), you will get
bankingapplication.war (or whatever name).

Copy this WAR to JBoss EAP’s deployment directory:

JBOSS_HOME/standalone/deployments/ .

Alternatively, use the JBoss CLI: jboss-cli.sh -c --command="deploy

/path/to/bankingapplication.war" .

Or use the admin console (a web UI) to upload the WAR.

Ensure JBoss is running with the proper configuration. We want standalone-

full.xml since our app might use full EE features (like JMS if we had or advanced

security). To do that, start JBoss with:

bash

$JBOSS_HOME/bin/standalone.sh -c standalone-full.xml
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 This will load the standalone-full.xml config. The difference between
standalone.xml and standalone-full.xml is that the latter includes additional

subsystems configured (like JMS messaging, JCA connectors, etc.)​ stackoverflow.com . If

your app just uses web and JPA, even standalone.xml might suffice since JPA
and web are part of web profile. But if you ever need JMS or EJB, full profile is
needed.

When JBoss deploys the WAR, you should see logs indicating it picked it up and
started Spring. If everything is configured right, you’ll see Spring Boot logs in the
server console and a message like "Started BankingApplication in X seconds".

Accessing the app:

By default, the context root of the WAR will be the WAR filename (minus .war). So
if your war is bankingapplication.war , the URL might be
http://localhost:8080/bankingapplication/api/users for the user endpoints.

If you want a different context root (say you want it at / or /api directly), you
can specify a jboss-web.xml :

xml

<!-- src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/jboss-web.xml -->

<jboss-web>
<context-root>/</context-root>
</jboss-web>

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The above would deploy the WAR at root context (so /api/users directly off
host). Or if you want, say, /bank as context, do <context-root>/bank</context-
root> .

Another thing: If you rely on JBoss for a DataSource (instead of letting Spring
Boot create one), you'll need to configure that in JBoss (in standalone-full.xml
under <datasources> ). Then in your Spring Boot application.properties ,
instead of URL/username, you’d use:

ini

spring.datasource.jndi-name=java:jboss/datasources/YourDSName
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 to tell Spring to look up the JNDI DataSource. This way, the app server manages
the DB connections (common in enterprise setups). The StackOverflow snippet
we saw earlier is an example of a datasource config in standalone.xml.

7.4 What is ib.xml and How to Use It?

Now to the mysterious ib.xml : Given the deployment context, let's assume ib.xml
is a custom config file for the banking application or some resource:

It might be related to messaging or resource adapters. For example, if the

banking system integrates with an IBM MQ (message queue), sometimes
resource adapter configurations are provided via XML. IBM MQ has a resource
adapter RAR and often an ibm-mq.xml or similar could be used.

Or ib.xml might be an "Internet Banking" configuration file that the app uses
internally.

Usage:

If ib.xml is meant to be on the server: You would place it in the JBoss

configuration (perhaps in standalone/configuration directory) and reference it
via the standalone-full.xml. For example, some might include an XML fragment
for an external messaging queue or some custom subsystem. The snippet we saw
about IBM MQ integration on JBoss shows adding config in standalone.xml
directly rather than separate file.

If ib.xml is a Spring config file: Include it in the WAR (perhaps under WEB-
INF/classes i.e., in src/main/resources ). Then import it in your Spring Boot

application. For instance, if ib.xml contains bean definitions, you can use:

java

@SpringBootApplication
@ImportResource("classpath:ib.xml")
public class BankingApplication extends SpringBootServletInitializer { ..

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This will load those bean definitions. This is useful if migrating some legacy XML
config into a Boot app without rewriting it in Java config.
 If ib.xml contains environment-specific settings or references (like endpoints of
other systems), you might just treat it as a resource file and have your code read
it (e.g., parse an XML of configurations). Not common if you can use properties,
but possible.

Without exact info, we should explain it as "some additional configuration that likely
needs to be deployed along with the app and referenced appropriately." Perhaps
highlight that the usage will depend on what it contains:

e.g., if it defines JMS queues, JBoss might auto-deploy any *-jms.xml files
placed in deployments (WildFly has that feature: any file named something-
jms.xml with JMS definitions gets processed). If ib.xml fits such pattern, maybe

it's deploying an "integration beans" or something.

To avoid confusion, let's assume ib.xml stands for "Internet Banking configuration"
and say:

It might include configurations or context specific to the banking domain that

needs to be loaded.

We ensure to place it either in the classpath or configure JBoss to load it. Possibly
by adding an entry in standalone-full.xml like:

xml

<system-properties>
<property name="some.ib.config" value="${jboss.server.config.dir}/ib.
</system-properties>

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and then your app reads system property "some.ib.config". This is speculative,
but it's a pattern for external configs.

In summary for ib.xml: Explain it's an XML file used for configuration. The steps to
use it typically:

Make sure it’s accessible (on classpath or file path).

If Spring-managed, import it.

If JBoss-managed (like a module config or resource adapter), put it in the right

place and reference via JBoss config.
7.5 Verifying Deployment on JBoss

Once deployed:

You should test the endpoints, e.g., using curl or Postman:

bash

curl -u user:user123 http://localhost:8080/bankingapplication/api/account

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(since security is basic auth with those in-memory users).

Check JBoss logs for any issues. Common issues could be:

Classloading problems (like a library conflict).

Datasource JNDI not found (if we misconfigured JNDI name).

Spring Boot Actuator (if included) sometimes conflicts with JBoss

management context if not configured.

Logging duplication.

If something like logging doesn't show up because of a conflict (JBoss uses JBoss
LogManager), one trick is to create a file jboss-deployment-structure.xml in WEB-
INF to prevent JBoss from ignoring your Logback. But that might be too deep; I'll skip

unless needed.

Conclusion on deployment: Packaging as WAR and deploying to JBoss EAP allows

your Spring Boot app to run in a Java EE container. We explained how to do it and
noted the usage of standalone-full.xml (to ensure all needed subsystems are
active) and the possible role of ib.xml as an external config.

8. Enterprise Features and Best Practices

Now that we have a running app, let's cover some enterprise-level concerns beyond
the basic functionality: transaction management, exception handling, logging,
validation, and testing. These ensure that our application is robust, maintainable, and
of production quality.

8.1 Transaction Management

We already saw how Spring’s @Transactional can manage database transactions in
the service layer. Some important points and best practices:

By default, Spring will rollback transactions for unchecked exceptions

(RuntimeException or Error). It will not rollback for checked exceptions
(Exception) unless you configure it. This is configurable via the annotation (e.g.,
@Transactional(rollbackFor = Exception.class) to also rollback on checked

exceptions).

In a banking app, you want atomicity for things like transfers. Using
@Transactional on those methods ensures that if something fails in the middle,

you don't end up with half-completed operations (money deducted but not
credited, etc.).

If you have multiple transactional operations that need to be orchestrated, you

can use Propagation settings. For instance, REQUIRES_NEW to start a new
transaction within an existing one, etc. This is advanced but available.

Distributed Transactions: Sometimes, banks use distributed transactions (two-

phase commit across systems). Spring supports JTA for distributed Tx, but using it
with multiple data sources or external transaction managers (like IBM MQ) can be
complex. JBoss as an app server can manage JTA transactions. If your app just
sticks to one database, you're usually fine with Spring's single resource local
transactions.

Pitfall: Only Spring-managed calls trigger the proxy. If you call a private or same-
class method from inside a class, the @Transactional on that method won't take
effect (because Spring AOP proxies work on the public interface by default). So ensure
that transactional methods are public (or invoked from another bean). This is a
common gotcha.

8.2 Exception Handling

We want to handle exceptions gracefully, especially in a REST API. Spring provides

ways to do global exception handling:

@ControllerAdvice classes can catch exceptions thrown by any controller and

handle them, returning meaningful responses.

 For example, we might handle MethodArgumentNotValidException (when
validation fails) and return a nice JSON with errors, or handle our custom
InsufficientFundsException globally.

Example Global Exception Handler:

java

@RestControllerAdvice // combination of @ControllerAdvice + @ResponseBody

public class GlobalExceptionHandler {

@ExceptionHandler(InsufficientFundsException.class)
public ResponseEntity<String> handleInsufficientFunds(InsufficientFundsEx
return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST)
.body("Transaction failed: " + ex.getMessage());
}

@ExceptionHandler(MethodArgumentNotValidException.class)
public ResponseEntity<List<String>> handleValidationErrors(MethodArgument
List<String> errors = ex.getBindingResult().getFieldErrors().stream()
.map(err -> err.getField() + ": " + err.getDe
.collect(Collectors.toList());
return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST).body(errors);
}

// general fallback
@ExceptionHandler(Exception.class)
public ResponseEntity<String> handleGeneralError(Exception ex) {
// Log the exception
ex.printStackTrace();
return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)
.body("An unexpected error occurred");
}
}

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This class will intercept exceptions and produce suitable HTTP responses:

If a service throws InsufficientFundsException , instead of returning 500, the

advice catches it and returns 400 with a message.

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 If validation fails on a request body ( @Valid triggers a
MethodArgumentNotValidException ), we gather all field error messages and

return 400 with a list of errors. (E.g., ["password: must not be empty", "email: not
a valid email"]).

A generic handler catches any other exceptions to prevent leaking internal errors
to clients (but logs them for developers).

This is analogous to having global error middleware in Express that catches errors and
sends a response.

8.3 Logging

Logging is critical in an enterprise app for audit and debugging. Spring Boot's default
logging uses Logback with an SLF4J facade (so in our code, we typically use
LoggerFactory.getLogger(...) to get a logger).

Setting up a logger in each class:

java

private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(AccountService.c

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Then use logger.info("...") , logger.debug("...") , etc. Instead of

System.out.println , which is not ideal for production.

We can configure logging via application.properties as shown (to set log levels).
For a banking app, you might have:

INFO level for normal operations.

DEBUG level for development to trace issues.

Perhaps auditing logs for transactions.

If you need a special log (like an audit log for all transactions above a certain amount),
you can even configure Logback with multiple appenders and use a separate logger
name for that.

In JBoss: When running in JBoss, the logging might go to the server's logs. If you
include Logback, it might output to console, which JBoss console captures. It's fine to
rely on that. Or integrate with JBoss Logging by adding a JBoss LogManager config –
but not required unless you face issues.

Best Practice: externalize log configuration. Spring Boot will pick up logback-
spring.xml or log4j2.xml from the classpath if you want to deeply customize

logging (like log rotation, patterns, etc.).

8.4 Bean Validation

We saw usage of @Valid in controller and annotations like @NotNull . Spring Boot
automatically includes JSR 380 (Bean Validation, often Hibernate Validator) if on the
classpath. If you have spring-boot-starter-web , you likely have validation starter
too.

Defining Constraints:

java

public class User {

@Id ... Long id;
@NotBlank(message = "Name is required")
private String name;
@Email(message = "Email should be valid")
private String email;
@Size(min = 6, message = "Password must be at least 6 characters")
private String password;
// ... other fields
}

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When a User object comes in as JSON to the registerUser controller with @Valid ,
these annotations will trigger errors if the constraints are violated. The
MethodArgumentNotValidException we handled above captures these. This avoids

writing a lot of manual validation code.

Bean Validation can also be used on service or entity level. For instance, you could
validate that an account’s balance never goes negative after a withdrawal by adding a
custom validator or just logic in service.

It's also used for request parameters (Spring can validate @RequestParam or
@PathVariable if you use @Validated on the controller class and then annotate

params).

For example:

java

@GetMapping("/search")
public List<User> searchUsers(@RequestParam @Size(min = 3) String name) {
// Spring will automatically return 400 if 'name' is shorter than 3
return userService.searchByName(name);
}

We enable that by @Validated on class or method (for method-level parameter

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validation).

8.5 Testing (Unit and Integration)

Testing is crucial, and Spring Boot has great support for it. The spring-boot-starter-
test brings in JUnit 5 (Jupiter), Spring’s testing support, and Mockito (a mocking

framework).

Unit Testing:

You can test components (like service methods) in isolation using JUnit and
Mockito.

Example: test AccountService.transfer by mocking AccountRepository and

TransactionRepository to simulate various scenarios (enough balance vs not

enough).
 Use @ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class) and @Mock annotations to inject
mocks.

java

@ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class)
class AccountServiceTest {

@Mock AccountRepository accountRepo;

@Mock TransactionRepository txnRepo;
@InjectMocks AccountService accountService; // injects mocks into Accoun

@Test
void transferShouldThrowIfInsufficientFunds() {
Account acc1 = new Account(); acc1.setId(1L); acc1.setBalance(new Big
Account acc2 = new Account(); acc2.setId(2L); acc2.setBalance(new Big
// Stubbing repository calls
Mockito.when(accountRepo.findById(1L)).thenReturn(Optional.of(acc1));
Mockito.when(accountRepo.findById(2L)).thenReturn(Optional.of(acc2));
// No need to stub save if not checking its output

Assertions.assertThrows(InsufficientFundsException.class, () -> {
accountService.transfer(1L, 2L, new BigDecimal("200.00"));
});
// Ensure no changes were saved (could verify repository.save was not
Mockito.verify(txnRepo, Mockito.never()).save(Mockito.any());
}
}

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This test doesn’t start Spring at all. It just uses a Mockito to test the logic in isolation
(fast and focused).

Integration Testing:
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Use @SpringBootTest to start the whole application context and possibly an in-
memory database for a full test.

Or use @WebMvcTest to test controllers slice with MockMvc, or @DataJpaTest to

test JPA repositories with an embedded DB.

For example, to test an API endpoint, you might use MockMvc (which allows you
to perform HTTP calls to the controller without actual network):
 java

@SpringBootTest
@AutoConfigureMockMvc
class UserApiTest {

@Autowired MockMvc mockMvc;

@Autowired UserRepository userRepo;

@Test
void registerUserCreatesNewUser() throws Exception {
String json = "{ \"name\": \"John Doe\", \"email\": \"john@exampl
mockMvc.perform(post("/api/users/register")
.contentType("application/json")
.content(json))
.andExpect(status().isCreated())
.andExpect(jsonPath("$.id").isNumber())
.andExpect(jsonPath("$.email").value("[email protected]"));
// Optionally, verify the database state:
List<User> users = userRepo.findAll();
Assertions.assertFalse(users.isEmpty());
}
}

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This starts the application (which by default if no profile, might use H2 database
because we set perhaps in application-test.properties something like H2). We
then simulate an HTTP call to the register endpoint and check that we get a
created status and the JSON contains expected fields, and that the repository
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actually saved the user.

Test Configuration:

Often, we use an in-memory DB for tests. Spring Boot will use H2 automatically if
it's on the classpath and you don't specify otherwise.

You can have application-test.properties to override things like

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:h2:mem:testdb and maybe turn off security for

tests or use test-specific credentials.

Mockito vs Spring Test:

Mockito for unit testing isolated parts (no Spring context).

 Spring's testing support for integration (to test wiring, persistence, etc.).

In a banking app, you'd write tests for:

Services: ensure interest calculation is correct, transfers work, edge cases (0

amount, negative, etc.).

Controllers: ensure endpoints respond as expected, security maybe returns 401

for unauthenticated access (you can test with MockMvc by not setting auth vs
setting auth).

Repositories: you might test custom query methods to ensure they fetch
expected data (especially if using custom @Query).

Security: could test that certain URLs are protected (MockMvc can .with(user(...))
to simulate logged in user).

Testing might seem like extra work, but for enterprise apps it's absolutely critical
(banks care a lot about correctness!). Spring Boot’s testing framework is very powerful
and makes it relatively easy.

8.6 Best Practices Recap & Common Pitfalls

Layered Architecture: Keep your concerns separated (we did that: controller,
service, repo). This makes code easier to test and maintain. For instance, avoid
writing SQL in your controllers or doing HTTP stuff in your repository.

DTO vs Entity: We used entities directly in controller examples for brevity. In a

real large app, you might use Data Transfer Objects (DTOs) for inputs and outputs
and not expose JPA entities directly (to avoid lazy loading issues or sending
sensitive fields). For example, an AccountDto for externally facing info, and
convert to Account entity in the service.

Validation: Always validate inputs from users (we used Bean Validation for that).

Transactions: Use transactions for any multiple-step data operations (ensuring

consistency). Spring makes it easy, just remember the gotchas (like internal
method calls).

Exception Handling: Don't leak implementation details in errors. Use global

handlers to send friendly messages or codes.
Logging: Log enough to trace what happened, but avoid sensitive info in logs
(especially in banking: don’t log full credit card numbers or passwords). Mask or
omit those.

Security: Use HTTPS in production (Spring Boot will work behind a proxy or you
can configure SSL on it, but on JBoss, you'd configure HTTPS connector in JBoss).
Use strong password encoding and possibly integrate with a user management
system. For an enterprise app, consider using Spring Security with OAuth2 or
OpenID Connect (if you have a separate auth server) or at least properly manage
user sessions/tokens.

Performance: Be mindful of N+1 queries in JPA (use .fetch() or join fetches

when needed, or adjust @EntityGraph ). Also, tune connection pools (HikariCP
settings) if high load.

Scalability: Spring Boot can scale out by running multiple instances behind a load
balancer. If stateful (like sessions), consider sticking sessions to one node or use
spring session to externalize sessions (perhaps not needed for stateless REST
APIs).

JBoss Specific: When deploying to an app server, minimize what you package.
Rely on server for what it provides (like JDK and JEE APIs). Monitor the server
resources (JVM memory, threads). Use JBoss's management (standalone-full.xml
configs) to set thread pools or JMS queues as needed.

ib.xml: If this file is an essential part of your deployment, document what it

contains and how to maintain it. If it's for an external resource, ensure the
operations team knows its purpose. Often, any external config should be
versioned and treated carefully (since an XML config could, e.g., define bank
routing rules or integration points). We’ve explained how to include it properly.

Common Pitfall: Forgot to exclude Tomcat when deploying to JBoss – this can
cause errors like "port 8080 already in use" or classloader issues. Our steps
covered that by excluding spring-boot-starter-tomcat .

Common Pitfall: Classpath conflicts – JBoss uses modules, so it might ignore

some of your libs if they conflict with its provided ones. For instance, if you had a
different version of JSF or JAX-RS in your WAR, JBoss might not like it. Spring
usually is self-contained, but be aware.

Common Pitfall: Not reading logs carefully – Always check both Spring Boot
logs and JBoss logs if something goes wrong. They might appear in the same
console, but JBoss logs have a different format.
 Learn from documentation: Spring has great references (the Spring Framework
reference and Spring Boot reference, as well as guides on spring.io). Also, for
JBoss EAP, Red Hat’s documentation can help with specifics (like how to
configure a datasource or security domain on the server side).

Conclusion

Congratulations on making it through this extensive guide! We covered:

Spring Core (DI/IoC, AOP, Bean Lifecycle) – giving you an understanding of the
under-the-hood magic that Spring provide】.

Spring Boot fundamentals (auto-config, starters, running apps) – making it clear

how Boot saves you from boilerplate.

Building RESTful APIs with Spring MVC – and seeing examples akin to Express.js
routes but with annotations and strong typing.

Working with Spring Data JPA and Hibernate – to interact with relational
databases in an object-oriented way, which is crucial for an enterprise app
dealing with lots of data.

Adding Spring Security – to lock down the application, manage users and roles,
which is absolutely critical in banking applications.

Organizing project structure and using application.properties for configuration –

to keep the app maintainable and configurable across environments.

Packaging the app as a WAR for JBoss EAP 7.4 – enabling deployment to
enterprise app servers, and understanding JBoss-specific considerations like
standalone-full.xml and possibly ib.xml .

Implementing enterprise necessities like transaction management, exception

handling, logging, and validation – to ensure the app is robust and meets the
high standards required in banking (or any enterprise scenario).

Writing tests (unit and integration) – so that you can catch issues early and
ensure each component works as expected, giving confidence in the application's
reliability.
As a Node.js developer, you'll find that while Java/Spring has more upfront
"ceremony" (like writing classes, annotations, etc.), it pays off in structure and
reliability. The ecosystem is rich – for example, you used to handle clustering or multi-
threading differently in Node (with Node clusters or worker threads), whereas in
Spring on JBoss, the server handles multi-threading (each request on its own thread,
etc.) and you can focus on application logic. Also, the strong typing and powerful
frameworks mean you'll write less low-level code (e.g., no manual SQL or manual auth
if you leverage these frameworks correctly), and you'll benefit from decades of
community knowledge in the Java enterprise space.

Next steps:

Try building a small feature end-to-end with this stack (e.g., a mini module for Bill
Payments in the bank app) to apply what you've learned.

Explore Spring Boot Actuator for monitoring (exposes health checks, metrics –
very useful in prod).

Look into Spring’s documentation for deploying to other environments, perhaps

containerizing the app (Docker) if not using JBoss.

Deepen security knowledge – e.g., integrating JWT for a stateless API, or OAuth2
if needed.

If front-end integration is needed, Spring can serve as a backend to an

Angular/React app (just provide REST), or you can use Spring Boot to also serve a
web front if using Thymeleaf or other template engines.

Remember, when in doubt, refer to official docs and communities. Spring has a
vibrant community (Stack Overflow, Spring forums) where many common questions
(like those about JBoss integration, etc.) are answered. For example, the question of
using JNDI DataSource with Spring Boot on JBoss was asked on StackOverflo】, and
the solution was to set the spring.datasource.jndi-name properly.

Good luck with building your enterprise banking application with Spring Boot! It’s a
journey, but a rewarding one – you'll soon appreciate the robustness and structure it
brings to complex applications. Enjoy your Spring Boot development!

From Node.js to Java Spring Boot:

A Comprehensive Beginner’s Guide
to Building an Enterprise Banking
Application
Introduction: From JavaScript to Java

Transitioning from a Node.js environment to Java Spring and Spring Boot can feel
like moving from one world to another. In Node.js (with frameworks like Express),
you're used to an unopinionated, flexible approach where you manually set up your
server, define routes, and handle middleware. In contrast, Spring Boot provides a
structured, convention-over-configuration environment. A lot of the heavy lifting
(like server setup, dependency management, security, etc.) is handled by the
framework. This guide will help you, a beginner Java developer coming from Node.js,
get comfortable with Spring and Spring Boot by walking through the development of
an enterprise-level banking application.

We will cover everything from core Spring concepts (like Dependency Injection and
IoC) to building REST APIs, accessing databases with Spring Data JPA, adding security
with Spring Security, organizing your project structure, externalizing configuration,
deploying to a JBoss EAP 7.4 server as a WAR, and implementing enterprise features
like transactions, logging, and testing. Practical examples (with code snippets for
features like user registration, account creation, and transactions) will illustrate each
concept. By the end, you should have a solid roadmap for building robust Java
applications with Spring Boot, even if your background is in Node.js.

(Throughout this guide, we’ll use clear section headers, short paragraphs, bullet points,
and code examples to make it easy to follow. Let’s dive in!)

1. Core Spring Concepts

Before jumping into Spring Boot, it’s crucial to understand some core Spring
Framework concepts. These are the foundation upon which Spring Boot builds its
magic. Key concepts include Dependency Injection (DI), Inversion of Control (IoC),
Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), and the Spring Bean Lifecycle. Don’t worry if
these sound like buzzwords – we’ll break each down with simple explanations and
analogies (especially comparing to patterns you might have seen in Node.js).
1.1 Dependency Injection (DI) and Inversion of Control (IoC)

Inversion of Control (IoC) is a principle where the control of object creation and
dependency management is inverted from the programmer to the framework. In
Spring, rather than your code manually instantiating classes and managing
dependencies, the Spring container does this for you. You simply declare the
dependencies your class needs, and Spring injects them when needed – this is known
as Dependency Injection (DI).

In Node.js, you might achieve something similar by using modules or passing objects
around. For example, with Express you might pass your database client to route
handlers. In Spring, you don't pass them manually; you declare your components and
their dependencies, and Spring wires them together.

How DI works in Spring: You create classes annotated with @Component or

related stereotypes like @Service , @Repository , @Controller . These become
beans managed by Spring. If one bean needs another, you can mark it with
@Autowired (or inject via constructor), and Spring will automatically find the

needed bean and inject it. This is typically done at startup when the
ApplicationContext (Spring's IoC container) is initializing.

IoC Container: Spring’s IoC container (like ApplicationContext ) is responsible

for instantiating, configuring, and assembling these beans. Essentially, your code
hands over control to Spring to manage object creation. This inversion
(framework in control, rather than your code) is what gives IoC its name.

Code Example – Dependency Injection: Let’s say in our banking app we have a
service to handle accounts and a repository to interact with the database. In Spring, it
might look like this:

java

// Mark this as a Service (business logic layer)

@Service
public class AccountService {

// Inject the AccountRepository (data access layer)

private final AccountRepository accountRepo;

// Constructor injection (recommended over field injection)

public AccountService(AccountRepository accountRepo) {
 this.accountRepo = accountRepo;
}

public Account openNewAccount(Account account) {

// business logic (e.g., initializations)
account.setOpenedDate(LocalDate.now());
return accountRepo.save(account); // Save to DB
}
}

java

// Repository layer using Spring Data JPA

@Repository Copy code

public interface AccountRepository extends JpaRepository<Account, Long> {

// Spring will auto-implement basic CRUD methods
// You can define custom queries if needed
}

java Copy code

// Controller layer to handle HTTP requests (presentation layer)

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/accounts")
public class AccountController {

private final AccountService accountService;

// Spring injects AccountService here

public AccountController(AccountService accountService) {
this.accountService = accountService;
}

@PostMapping("/open")
public ResponseEntity<Account> openAccount(@RequestBody Account account)
Account created = accountService.openNewAccount(account);
return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.CREATED).body(created);
}
}

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In the code above, notice we never call new AccountService(...) or new
AccountRepository(...) . Spring Boot does that behind the scenes. When the

application starts, Spring will:

Create an AccountRepository bean (because of Spring Data JPA magic – more

on that later).

Create an AccountService bean and inject the repository into it (because of the
constructor parameter).

Create an AccountController bean and inject the service into it.

This is Dependency Injection in action. It makes testing easier (you can provide
mocks of AccountRepository to AccountService if needed), and your classes are
loosely coupled (the service doesn’t need to know how to create a repository, it just
needs one).

IoC/DI Summary: You declare what you need, and the framework provides it. This
leads to cleaner code and a clear separation of concerns, which is especially useful
in large enterprise apps.

1.2 Spring Beans and Lifecycle

Any object that Spring manages is called a bean. Beans are created, wired, and
managed by Spring's IoC container. Understanding the bean lifecycle can be helpful
for advanced scenarios:

Bean Instantiation: Spring instantiates the bean (e.g., calls the constructor).

Dependency Injection: Spring injects required dependencies into the bean (via
constructor or setters).

Initialization: If the bean implements certain interfaces or has specific

annotations, Spring gives it a chance to do initialization logic. For example,
implementing InitializingBean and its afterPropertiesSet() method, or
simply annotating a method with @PostConstruct for a callback after injection.

Bean is Ready to Use: At this point, the bean can handle requests (e.g., your
controllers can now receive HTTP calls, services can execute logic, etc.).
 Destruction: When the application is shutting down, Spring will call destruction
callbacks. For example, DisposableBean interface's destroy() method, or
methods annotated with @PreDestroy . This is where you release resources (close
DB connections, etc.).

For most cases, you don't need to intervene in the bean lifecycle manually – Spring
Boot auto-configuration will handle resources. But if you need custom init/destroy
logic, you can use the above hooks.

Analogy for Node.js devs: Consider how in Node you might set up a connection pool
when the server starts and tear it down when shutting down – in Spring, you could do
that in a bean's @PostConstruct and @PreDestroy methods, respectively, but often
Spring Boot starters manage these (for instance, an HikariCP connection pool for a
DataSource is started and closed automatically by Spring Boot).

1.3 Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP)

Aspect-Oriented Programming is a paradigm that complements OOP by allowing

you to inject behavior around methods without modifying their actual code. It’s used
to handle cross-cutting concerns – aspects of the program that affect multiple
unrelated classes, such as logging, security, auditing, or transaction management​
stackoverflow.com .

Spring AOP allows you to define an Aspect (a class annotated with @Aspect ) that
contains advice (methods) which run at certain join points (like before a method
execution, after a method returns, or around a method call). In enterprise apps, AOP is
often used for:

Logging: e.g., log every time a service method is called and its execution time.

Security: e.g., check permissions before executing methods (though Spring

Security provides declarative ways which under the hood use AOP).

Transaction Management: Spring’s @Transactional is actually powered by AOP

proxies that start and commit/rollback transactions around your methods.

Performance Monitoring: e.g., gather metrics whenever certain methods are

executed.

Code Example – Logging Aspect: As an example, let's create an aspect to log method
execution of service methods:
 java

@Aspect
@Component
public class LoggingAspect {

// Pointcut expression targeting all methods in classes annotated with @S

@Around("within(@org.springframework.stereotype.Service *)")
public Object logServiceMethods(ProceedingJoinPoint joinPoint) throws Thr
long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
String methodName = joinPoint.getSignature().toShortString();
try {
System.out.println("Entering " + methodName);
Object result = joinPoint.proceed(); // execute the actual metho
return result;
} finally {
long timeTaken = System.currentTimeMillis() - start;
System.out.println("Exiting " + methodName + ", time taken: " + t
}
}
}

 

In this snippet:

@Aspect marks this class as an aspect.

The @Around advice with pointcut Copy code

within(@org.springframework.stereotype.Service *) means "apply this advice

to any method in any class annotated with @Service". So, all service methods will
be wrapped with this logging.

We log before and after the method runs (capturing time taken). The
joinPoint.proceed() actually calls the target method.
You can see how this is like "middleware" in Express – you didn't change the service
methods themselves; instead, the aspect intercepts the call. If you're familiar with
Express, think of it like applying a middleware function that runs around your route
handler: AOP is a bit like that but more powerful and declarative.

Spring Boot will auto-enable AOP if you have the dependency (spring-boot-starter-
aop) in your project. In many cases, you might not write custom aspects initially, but
it’s good to understand because a lot of Spring's magic (e.g., transactions, security)
uses proxies and AOP under the hood.

1.4 Recap: Why These Concepts Matter

Dependency Injection/IoC: Encourages loose coupling. Instead of wiring up
components manually (which can become messy in large apps), Spring does it for
you. This is similar to how frameworks in Node can manage aspects of your app
(like how Next.js might manage routing for you).

AOP: Cleanly address cross-cutting concerns. In a banking app, you’ll likely need
consistent logging, security checks, and transaction boundaries across methods –
AOP allows implementing these without duplicating code everywhere.

Bean Lifecycle: Usually managed for you, but hooks are available for resource
management (important for enterprise apps, e.g., closing connections).

With these fundamentals in mind, let's move to Spring Boot, which builds on Spring
Framework to make our lives even easier.

2. Spring Boot Introduction

Spring Boot is an opinionated framework that simplifies Spring development. It auto-
configures a lot of things for you, provides starter dependencies to get the right
libraries on classpath, and can run standalone (with an embedded server) or be
deployed as a traditional WAR. Essentially, Spring Boot takes the "heavy lifting" of
configuring a Spring application and does it automatically, following convention over
configuration.

For someone coming from Node.js, think of Spring Boot as analogous to a robust CLI
or toolkit that sets up an Express server with sensible defaults, a connected database,
and security middleware without you writing it all from scratch. Let’s break down the
key features:

2.1 Auto-Configuration

Spring Boot’s auto-configuration is magic that detects what’s on the classpath and
what properties are set, then configures parts of the application for you. For example:

If you include spring-boot-starter-web , Spring Boot sees Tomcat (the

embedded web server) and Spring MVC on the classpath. It then auto-
configures:

An embedded Tomcat server.

A DispatcherServlet (the main servlet that dispatches web requests to your

controllers).

Default configurations for error handling, static content, JSON converters

(Jackson), etc.

If you include spring-boot-starter-data-jpa and, say, the MySQL driver, Spring

Boot:

Auto-configures a DataSource (database connection) for MySQL, using

properties from application.properties (like URL, username, password).

Sets up a EntityManagerFactory and TransactionManager for JPA (with

Hibernate as the provider).

If H2 (in-memory DB) is also on classpath and no URL is set, it might default

to an in-memory database for quick testing.
This auto-configuration is smart but also conditional – it often backs off if you
provide your own beans. For instance, if you define your own UserDetailsService for
security, Spring Boot won’t create the default one.

Why is this useful? Without Boot, you'd have to write a lot of XML or Java config to
set these up. Boot handles 80% of typical configuration, so you only focus on your
business logic.

2.2 Starter Dependencies (Starters)

Spring Boot uses a concept of starter POMs – basically, a bunch of convenient

dependency descriptors that you include to get a suite of related libraries. Each
starter is like a bundle of dependencies to support a particular feature.

Common Spring Boot starters you’ll use in a banking app:

spring-boot-starter-web: Includes Spring MVC and Tomcat (for building REST

APIs).

spring-boot-starter-data-jpa: Includes Spring Data JPA and Hibernate (for

database access with ORM).

spring-boot-starter-security: Includes Spring Security (for

authentication/authorization).

spring-boot-starter-test: Includes JUnit, Spring Test, Mockito, AssertJ, etc. (for

testing).

spring-boot-starter-aop: Includes Spring AOP (if you plan to use AspectJ

aspects).

There are many others (for JDBC, websockets, mail, etc.), but the above are likely
for a banking app.

Including a starter in pom.xml (for Maven) or build.gradle (for Gradle) pulls in all
those libraries with compatible versions. This saves you from version conflicts and
having to list dozens of individual dependencies.

Example (Maven pom.xml fragment):

xml
 <dependencies>
<!-- Web and REST -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- JPA and Hibernate -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- Security -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-security</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- Testing (JUnit, Mockito, etc.) -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<!-- If deploying as WAR to JBoss, you might also add JBoss specific depe
</dependencies>

 

Spring Boot also manages the versions of these dependencies via a "Bill of Materials
(BOM)", so using the parent spring-boot-starter-parent in Maven or the Spring
Boot Gradle plugin ensures all the library versions are compatible. Copy code

2.3 Spring Boot CLI (Optional)

The Spring Boot CLI is a command-line tool that lets you run Spring scripts written in
Groovy. This is more of a quick prototyping tool – you can write a Groovy script with
Spring-like code (leveraging Boot auto-config) and run it directly.

For example, with Spring Boot CLI, you could write a one-file web server:

groovy

@RestController
class HelloController {
 @GetMapping("/")
String hello() {
"Hello World"
}
}

If you save that as app.groovy , you can run spring run app.groovy and it Copy
will start
code a

server on port 8080 serving "Hello World". It automatically knew to bring up an

embedded Tomcat and all just from the presence of @RestController .

For our purposes (building a full application), you probably won’t use the CLI. But it’s
good to know it exists. Most of our work will be in a typical Java project structure, not
groovy scripts.

2.4 Running Spring Boot Apps

By default, Spring Boot applications run as a standalone jar with an embedded server:

If you use Maven, running mvn spring-boot:run or running the main class
directly will start the application.

The main class is annotated with @SpringBootApplication , which triggers

component scanning and auto-configuration.

For example, the entry point of our banking app might look like:

java

@SpringBootApplication
public class BankingApplication {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(BankingApplication.class, args);
}
}

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Running this (via IDE or command line) starts the app on an embedded Tomcat
(listening on port 8080 by default) with all the controllers, services, etc., up and
running.

However, since our goal is to eventually deploy on JBoss EAP (which is an application
server with its own web container), we will later package the app as a WAR. But during
development, you can still run it as a normal Spring Boot app (makes for quick
testing).

Now that Spring Boot is set up, let's get into building features of our banking
application.

3. Developing REST APIs with Spring MVC

For an enterprise banking application, you'll likely build a bunch of RESTful APIs – for
user management, account management, performing transactions, viewing
statements, etc. In Spring, the module that deals with web requests (HTTP) is Spring
MVC (Model-View-Controller). Spring MVC is included when you add the Web starter.

In Spring Boot, creating a REST API is straightforward:

Use @RestController to mark a class as a RESTful controller (meaning return

values are serialized directly to JSON/XML responses, rather than rendering
views).

Use request mapping annotations like @GetMapping , @PostMapping ,

@PutMapping , etc., on methods to map URL paths and HTTP verbs to handler
methods.

Use @RequestBody to indicate a method parameter should be bound from the

body of an HTTP request (and converted from JSON to a Java object).

Use @PathVariable or @RequestParam to extract values from the URL path or

query parameters, respectively.

The response can be the return value (e.g., a Java object or collection, which
Spring will auto-convert to JSON using Jackson), or you can return a
ResponseEntity for more control (to set HTTP status or headers).

3.1 Example: User Registration Endpoint

Let's walk through a user registration example in our banking app:

POST /api/users/register : accepts user details and creates a new user

(perhaps an account holder).

java

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/users") // base URL for all endpoints in this controll
public class UserController {

private final UserService userService;

// Constructor injection of the service

public UserController(UserService userService) {
this.userService = userService;
}

// DTO (Data Transfer Object) for registration, could be an entity or sep

@PostMapping("/register")
public ResponseEntity<User> registerUser(@RequestBody @Valid User newUser
// @Valid will trigger bean validation on the User object (more on th
User created = userService.registerUser(newUser);
return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.CREATED).body(created);
}

@GetMapping("/{id}")
public ResponseEntity<User> getUserById(@PathVariable Long id) {
return userService.findById(id)
.map(user -> ResponseEntity.ok(user))
.orElse(ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND).build());
}
}

 

A few things to note for beginners:

@RequestMapping("/api/users") at class level prefixes all endpoints. So the

methods become /api/users/register and /api/users/{id} .

@PostMapping("/register") is a shorthand for @RequestMapping(method=POST,

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value="/register") .
 We use @RequestBody to indicate the user data comes in the request JSON body.
Spring will use Jackson to bind it to a User object.

@Valid triggers validation on the User object (which should have annotations

like @NotNull on fields for validation to enforce, e.g., password not null, email
format, etc.).

We return a ResponseEntity with status 201 Created for the new user, including
the saved user object in the body (which will be converted to JSON).

The getUserById endpoint shows usage of @PathVariable to grab the {id}

part of the URL. It calls a service to find the user. If found, return 200 OK with
user, otherwise 404 Not Found.

For a Node.js dev: This is similar to setting up an Express route for /api/users/:id .
The concepts map closely:

Controller class ~ similar role as an Express route handler file.

@GetMapping , etc. ~ similar to app.get('/api/users/:id', handler) .

Instead of manually sending JSON or setting status, we use ResponseEntity or let

the framework handle it by returning objects (Spring by default returns 200 if you
return an object, unless it's an Optional empty or you throw an exception).

JSON Serialization: Spring Boot includes Jackson by default. Our User object can be
a simple POJO with fields, getters/setters. It will be serialized to JSON for responses,
and incoming JSON will be deserialized to User . You can customize this (e.g., use
@JsonProperty if needed, or other serializers) but out-of-the-box it just works.

Error Handling: By default, Spring will handle errors by returning a reasonable JSON
error response if something goes wrong (for example, if validation fails, it returns a
400 with details by default). You can customize global error handling with
@ControllerAdvice , which we will discuss under enterprise features.

3.2 Example: Account and Transaction Endpoints

Our banking app will have accounts and transactions:

We might have an AccountController for account-related operations (opening

account already shown earlier in AccountController snippet; maybe an endpoint
to get account balance, etc.).
 We might have a TransactionController for money transfers, etc.

AccountController (additional endpoints):

java

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/accounts")
public class AccountController {
// ... (AccountService injected as shown earlier)

@GetMapping("/{id}")
public ResponseEntity<Account> getAccount(@PathVariable Long id) {
return accountService.findAccount(id)
.map(ResponseEntity::ok)
.orElse(ResponseEntity.notFound().build());
}

@PostMapping("/{id}/transfer")
public ResponseEntity<String> transferMoney(
@PathVariable Long id,
@RequestParam Long targetAccountId,
@RequestParam BigDecimal amount) {
try {
accountService.transfer(id, targetAccountId, amount);
return ResponseEntity.ok("Transfer successful");
} catch (InsufficientFundsException e) {
return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST).body("Transf
}
}
}

 

In transferMoney :

We accept source account id from path, target account and amount as request
parameters (in a real API, you might prefer a JSON body for this, but for simplicity
using query params is fine).
Copy code
The service method transfer will handle the business logic and possibly throw a
custom exception if something is wrong (like insufficient funds).
 We catch that exception to return a 400 Bad Request with a message.
(Alternatively, we could let it throw and handle via global exception handler.)

Key takeaways for Spring MVC:

Routing: Handled by annotations instead of a routing table.

Data Binding: Powerful binding from JSON to objects and from URL params to
method params.

HTTP Response: Can be controlled with ResponseEntity or by throwing

exceptions.

At this point, we have basic controllers. They are thin – they mostly delegate to
services. The bulk of our logic will be in the Service layer, which we will implement
with help of Spring Data JPA and transactions.

4. Data Persistence with Spring Data JPA and

Hibernate

Most banking applications are backed by a relational database (Oracle, PostgreSQL,

MySQL, etc.) for reliable storage of accounts, transactions, users, etc. Spring Data JPA
is a Spring module that greatly simplifies database access by providing a high-level
abstraction over Hibernate (JPA). JPA stands for Java Persistence API – a specification
for ORM (Object-Relational Mapping), and Hibernate is the most popular
implementation of JPA.

In practical terms:

You define entity classes in Java that map to database tables (using annotations
like @Entity , @Table , @Column , etc.).

You create repository interfaces that extend Spring Data JPA interfaces (like
JpaRepository ) which provide CRUD operations and query derivation.

Spring (through Hibernate) will handle generating SQL, executing it, and
mapping result sets to your objects.

This is somewhat analogous to using an ORM in Node.js like Sequelize or

TypeORM. The difference is Spring Data JPA can create the DAO/repository
implementations for you at runtime.
4.1 Configuring the Database

First, in application.properties (or application.yml if you prefer YAML), you will

specify database connection properties. For example, if we use a PostgreSQL database
for production (and maybe H2 in-memory for dev tests):

properties

# Database Configuration
spring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/bankdb
spring.datasource.username=dbuser
spring.datasource.password=dbpass
spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.postgresql.Driver

# JPA and Hibernate Configuration

spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update
spring.jpa.show-sql=true
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.format_sql=true

What these do:

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spring.datasource.* : standard way to configure a JDBC DataSource. Spring

Boot will create a DataSource bean for us.

ddl-auto=update : This tells Hibernate to auto-create or update the database

schema to match our entities on startup. In dev, update or create-drop is

useful. In production, usually this is disabled or set to validate (so that you
don't accidentally modify the schema automatically).

show-sql=true : Just logs the SQL being executed to the console (helpful for

debugging).

(Alternatively, you could configure these via YAML if preferred, e.g.,

yaml

spring:
datasource:
url: jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/bankdb
username: dbuser
password: dbpass
jpa:
hibernate:
ddl-auto: update
 show-sql: true
properties:
hibernate.format_sql: true
```)

If deploying to JBoss EAP, you might not want Spring Boot to manage the DataSource
Copy code
at all – you might use a JBoss-managed DataSource (configured in standalone-
full.xml as shown in a snippet earlier). In that case, you would use

spring.datasource.jndi-name to point Spring to the app server’s DataSource. But

let's not get ahead; we'll discuss JBoss specifics in the deployment section.

4.2 Defining JPA Entities

Let's define some entity classes for our banking app:

User (or Customer) – who owns accounts.

Account – representing a bank account.

Transaction – representing money movements between accounts.

Simple example of an Account entity:

java

@Entity // Marks this as a JPA entity (table in the database)

@Table(name = "accounts") // Optional: specify table name if different
public class Account {

@Id @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)

private Long id; // primary key

@ManyToOne // Many accounts can belong to one User

@JoinColumn(name = "user_id") // foreign key column
private User owner;

private String accountType; // e.g., "SAVINGS" or "CHECKING"

private BigDecimal balance;

private LocalDate openedDate;

// Getters and Setters ...

 // (Omitted for brevity, but you need them for JPA or use Lombok @Data to
}

And User entity might look like:

java

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@Entity
@Table(name = "users")
public class User {
@Id @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
private Long id;
private String name;
private String email;
private String password; // (hashed password in real-world)

@OneToMany(mappedBy = "owner")
private List<Account> accounts = new ArrayList<>();
// ... constructors, getters, setters
}

 
And Transaction entity:

java Copy code

@Entity
@Table(name = "transactions")
public class Transaction {
@Id @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
private Long id;
private BigDecimal amount;
private LocalDateTime timestamp;
private String type; // e.g., "TRANSFER", "DEPOSIT", etc.

@ManyToOne
@JoinColumn(name = "from_account_id")
private Account fromAccount;

@ManyToOne
@JoinColumn(name = "to_account_id")
private Account toAccount;
 // ... getters/setters
}

These are simple representations. Spring Data JPA will inspect these at startup. With
ddl-auto=update , if tables don't exist, Hibernate will create tables named accounts,
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users, transactions with appropriate columns and relationships.

4.3 Spring Data JPA Repositories

Instead of writing DAO classes with SQL or using JDBCTemplate, we use Spring Data
JPA repositories:

java

@Repository
public interface UserRepository extends JpaRepository<User, Long> {
// JpaRepository provides CRUD and more out of the box
// You can add custom query methods, for example:
Optional<User> findByEmail(String email);
}

java Copy code

@Repository
public interface AccountRepository extends JpaRepository<Account, Long> {
List<Account> findByOwnerId(Long userId);
// This will auto-generate a query like "select * from accounts where own
}

 

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java

@Repository
public interface TransactionRepository extends JpaRepository<Transaction, Lon
List<Transaction> findByFromAccountIdOrToAccountId(Long fromId, Long toId
// Finds all transactions where given account is either source or destina
}

 

Copy code
Spring Data JPA interprets method names to derive queries (this is called query
method derivation). Alternatively, you can use @Query annotation for custom
JPQL/SQL queries if needed, but often method naming suffices for simple queries.

Now we can inject these repositories into our service layer and use them. For
example, the AccountService.transfer(...) might be implemented like:

java

@Service
public class AccountService {
private final AccountRepository accountRepo;
private final TransactionRepository txnRepo;

public AccountService(AccountRepository accountRepo, TransactionRepositor

this.accountRepo = accountRepo;
this.txnRepo = txnRepo;
}

// ... other methods

@Transactional // Important: make this method transactional

public void transfer(Long fromAccountId, Long toAccountId, BigDecimal amo
Account from = accountRepo.findById(fromAccountId)
.orElseThrow(() -> new IllegalArgumentException("Source accou
Account to = accountRepo.findById(toAccountId)
.orElseThrow(() -> new IllegalArgumentException("Target accou

if (from.getBalance().compareTo(amount) < 0) {
throw new InsufficientFundsException("Not enough balance in sourc
}
// Deduct from source
from.setBalance(from.getBalance().subtract(amount));
// Add to target
to.setBalance(to.getBalance().add(amount));
// Save updates
accountRepo.save(from);
accountRepo.save(to);

// Record the transaction

Transaction txn = new Transaction();
txn.setFromAccount(from);
 txn.setToAccount(to);
txn.setAmount(amount);
txn.setTimestamp(LocalDateTime.now());
txn.setType("TRANSFER");
txnRepo.save(txn);
// If any exception is thrown after @Transactional, the whole transac
}
}

A few critical points here:

We annotated transfer() with @Transactional . This is a Spring annotation that

tells the framework to wrap this method in a database transaction​ medium.com . That
means if any runtime exception occurs within the method (or any called
methods), Spring will roll back the transaction, undoing any changes to the
database. In our case, if the source account doesn't have enough money and we
throw InsufficientFundsException (a runtime exception), neither account’s
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balance will be changed and no transaction record will be saved (because of
rollback).

If the method completes successfully, Spring will commit the transaction at the
end of the method. Both account updates and the transaction insert will commit
as one unit (atomic operation).

Without Spring, you'd have to manually begin a transaction, commit or rollback

on exception, etc. Spring AOP does this via proxies automatically when you use
@Transactional – it's one of those cross-cutting concerns being handled for

you.

In Node with something like an SQL library, you might start a transaction and
then commit/rollback in code; here it’s declarative.

Lazy Loading and Fetching: One thing to be mindful of – by default, relationships

( @ManyToOne , @OneToMany ) are LAZY loaded in JPA. That means, for example, if you
fetch an Account, the owner field (User) is not loaded from DB until you access it.
Same with collections like user.getAccounts() . This can lead to the infamous N+1
query problem or LazyInitializationException if you try to access a lazy field
outside of a transaction. Best practices:

Use DTOs to send data to the front-end instead of entities, to avoid needing lazy
data in the view layer.
 
 Or configure eager loading if it makes sense (e.g., @ManyToOne(fetch=EAGER) for
owner, if you always need the owner with account).

Spring Data JPA also allows you to write queries with JOIN FETCH to fetch
relationships if needed.

For brevity, we'll not dive too deep into JPA nuances, but do be aware it's a powerful
tool that has its own learning curve. It is, however, extremely productive once you get
the hang of it, just like an ORM in Node.

4.4 Database Migrations (Optional)

In enterprise apps, instead of using hibernate.ddl-auto , many teams prefer using a

migration tool like Flyway or Liquibase to manage database schema changes. With
such tools, you'd have versioned SQL scripts to create/alter tables, and they'd run on
application startup to ensure the DB schema is up-to-date.

For a beginner, this might be out of scope, but keep in mind as you grow: trusting
Hibernate to auto-create your schema is convenient initially, but explicit migrations
are safer for production.

4.5 Recap: Data Layer Best Practices

Use Service layer methods (with @Transactional ) to implement business logic
that involves data modifications.

Keep transactions as short as possible (transactional method should only do

what's needed within a transaction).

Use repositories for data access – don't directly use EntityManager unless you
need a custom query not supported by method naming.

The JpaRepository gives you a bunch for free: save , findById , findAll ,
delete , etc. Utilize those.

Test your repository methods with real or in-memory DB to ensure they work as
expected (we'll cover testing later).

Now that we have data persistence covered, let's move to securing the application.

5. Securing the Application with Spring Security

Security is a major concern for banking applications. Spring Security is a powerful and
flexible framework for authentication and authorization in Java applications. When
you include spring-boot-starter-security , a couple of things happen by default:

Your application is secured with HTTP Basic auth by default (it will generate a
default user with a random password on startup, which you will see in console
logs, just for initial testing).

All endpoints are secured such that any request requires authentication.

Of course, you'll configure it to use your own users, roles, and rules. Spring Security
can handle a variety of authentication mechanisms: in-memory users (for testing),
database-backed users (with JDBC or JPA), LDAP, OAuth2, JWT for APIs, etc. We’ll
focus on the basics:

Setting up an in-memory user (just to quickly protect our endpoints).

Understanding the WebSecurityConfigurer to specify which URLs are secured

and how.

5.1 Security Configuration

In Spring Boot (pre 2.7 / Spring Security 5.7), you would typically extend
WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter and override configure methods. In newer versions,

they encourage a component-based security config (beans of type

SecurityFilterChain ). To keep it simple (and since many tutorials still use it), we'll

show the WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter style:

java

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.authentication.builders
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.builders.HttpSecuri
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.configuration.Enabl
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.configuration.WebSe

@Configuration
@EnableWebSecurity // enables Spring Security filters
public class SecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {

@Override
protected void configure(AuthenticationManagerBuilder auth) throws Except
 // Define an in-memory user for simplicity
auth.inMemoryAuthentication()
.withUser("admin").password("{noop}admin123").roles("ADMIN")
.and()
.withUser("user").password("{noop}user123").roles("USER");
// {noop} indicates plain text password (NoOpPasswordEncoder). In rea
}

@Override
protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
http.csrf().disable() // disable CSRF for simplicity in REST (enable
.authorizeRequests()
.antMatchers("/api/accounts/**").hasRole("USER") // only log
.antMatchers("/api/admin/**").hasRole("ADMIN") // hypothet
.anyRequest().authenticated() // all requests need authentic
.and()
.httpBasic(); // use HTTP Basic authentication (username/passwor
}
}

Let's break this down:

configure(AuthenticationManagerBuilder) : we're adding two users in memory,

one admin and one user, with roles. Passwords are prefixed with {noop} which is
a way to tell Spring Security "don't hash, use plain text" – this is only for example
purposes. In production, you'd store hashed passwords (and maybe not in
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memory at all, but in a DB or use an external identity provider).

configure(HttpSecurity) : This defines which paths are secured and how.

We disabled CSRF for simplicity because for stateless REST APIs (especially
those not using cookies for auth), CSRF protection isn't usually needed.
 (CSRF is more for web apps with sessions.) 

We restrict /api/accounts/** to users with role USER . In Spring Security,

hasRole("USER") actually looks for ROLE_USER authority under the hood

(Spring automatically prefixes "ROLE_").

We restrict any /api/admin/** endpoints to ADMIN role.

All other requests require authentication ( .anyRequest().authenticated() ).

 We use .httpBasic() to enable basic auth. This means clients must send an
Authorization header with a base64 encoded user:pass. Browsers will show a
login dialog by default when they get a 401 from a Basic auth protected
endpoint.

Alternatively, we could use .formLogin() to have a login page if this were a

web app with UI. But for pure REST back-end, basic or bearer token (JWT) is
common. Basic is okay for initial development or internal use, but for a real
app you might implement JWT tokens for stateless auth in a REST API.

When this config is in place:

The endpoints we created earlier (e.g., /api/accounts/open ,

/api/users/register ) will all require authentication. If not provided, Spring

Security will respond with 401 Unauthorized.

If correct credentials are provided, the request goes through.

The roles (authorities) will be available via Spring Security's context. You can
access the logged-in user or role in controller methods if needed (for example, to
get the username of the current principal, you can use
SecurityContextHolder.getContext().getAuthentication() or simply add a

method param Principal principal in the controller to get the name).

Note on password encoding: Spring Security by default expects passwords to be

encoded. In our in-memory example, we used {noop} to indicate a NoOp (no
encoding). If you were loading users from a database, you would store hashed
passwords (e.g., BCrypt hash) and configure a PasswordEncoder. This is an important
detail but beyond the "beginner" scope – just know storing plain passwords is a no-
go in real apps.

5.2 Method-Level Security (Optional)

Spring Security also allows protecting methods at the service layer using annotations
like @PreAuthorize("hasRole('ADMIN')") on methods, if you enable method security
( @EnableGlobalMethodSecurity ). For example, you could annotate transfer()
method in service with @PreAuthorize("hasRole('USER')") to ensure only users can
perform it (though typically the web layer already filtered it).

For a beginner, it's fine to stick to URL-based security (as shown in the config above).
It's more visual and straightforward.

5.3 Authentication vs Authorization

Authentication: verifying the identity of a user (e.g., login). In our example, Basic
Auth + in-memory user list is one way. In a real app, you'd authenticate against
users stored in the database (perhaps using Spring Security's JDBC
UserDetailsManager or a custom service).

Authorization: deciding if an authenticated user has permission to do something

(e.g., access an endpoint or perform an action). We demonstrated this via roles
(USER, ADMIN). You can also use expressions like checking if the user is accessing
their own resource, etc.

Example: If we wanted to ensure that a user can only fetch their own account, and not
someone else’s, we might need to include user info in the token or session and then
verify in the controller or service that the account.owner.id == currentUser.id . That
could be done via a security check or manually in code. Spring Security can integrate
with method security to do things like @PreAuthorize("#id == principal.id or
hasRole('ADMIN')") – where #id is a method param and principal is the logged-

in user. But that might be too deep for now.

5.4 Security in JBoss EAP

When deploying to a container like JBoss, sometimes you can offload security to the
container (container-managed security, e.g., using JAAS or Elytron in JBoss). However,
using Spring Security within your app works just as well in a WAR on JBoss. You might
just have to be careful to not include conflicting libs. For instance, JBoss EAP might
have its own security subsystem, but our app is self-contained with Spring Security.

In our case, since we plan to deploy on JBoss, ensure spring-boot-starter-security

is in our WAR, and we might need to include an appropriate adapter if we want to
integrate with JBoss security domains (but let's assume our app handles security
internally).

Summary: Spring Security provides a declarative way to secure your application. For a
banking app:

Use it to secure all sensitive endpoints.

Use roles (and possibly finer-grained authorities/permissions) to restrict actions

(like only admin can create new bank products, only account owner can view
their account, etc.).

Eventually integrate with a user store (like our User entities or an LDAP) rather
than in-memory.

At this point, we have a functional service with web, data, and security layers. Now
let's talk about how to structure the project and configuration, and then deployment.

6. Spring Boot Project Structure and Layered

Architecture

Maintaining a clean project structure is key to manageability, especially in large

enterprise projects. Spring (and Java projects in general) tend to follow a layered
architecture:

Controller (Web layer): Handles HTTP requests, validation, and orchestrates calls
to services. (In a traditional MVC, this might return views; in REST, returns data.)

Service (Business layer): Contains business logic, rules, and coordinates data
from multiple sources or APIs. It’s where “what the system actually does” is
implemented.
 Repository/DAO (Data layer): Responsible for data access, usually interacting
with the database (could also call external services or APIs if treating them as
data sources).

Model/Domain: The domain objects (entities, or DTOs, etc.) that are used across
these layers.

Spring Boot doesn't enforce a package structure, but by convention and for
component scanning:

The main application class (with @SpringBootApplication ) is typically at the root

of the project package (e.g., com.mybank.app.BankingApplication ). This
annotation triggers scanning of its package and sub-packages for Spring
components.

So you often structure packages like:

com.mybank.app.controller

com.mybank.app.service

com.mybank.app.repository

com.mybank.app.model (or entity or domain )

com.mybank.app.config (for config classes like SecurityConfig)

etc.

This way, @SpringBootApplication sitting in com.mybank.app will find all

@RestController , @Service , @Repository , etc., in those subpackages automatically.

Folder structure (Maven standard):

swift

src/main/java
com.mybank.app
BankingApplication.java (main class)
controller/
UserController.java
AccountController.java
service/
UserService.java
AccountService.java
repository/
 UserRepository.java
AccountRepository.java
model/
User.java
Account.java
Transaction.java
config/
SecurityConfig.java
WebConfig.java (if any Web MVC config)
etc...
src/main/resources
application.properties
(or application.yml)
static/ (for static web assets if any, e.g., images, html)
templates/ (if using Thymeleaf or other templating, not in our REST c
log4j2.xml or other config (if custom logging config needed)
src/test/java
(parallel packages for test classes)

This is just an example. You can adjust as needed (some might separate domain for
JPA entities vs dto for web DTOs, etc.). The key is separation of concerns:

Controllers should only contain web concerns (HTTP, request/response, maybe

mapping DTOs to entities).

Services contain logic and are oblivious to HTTP or JSON (they just takeCopy
andcode
return Java objects, throw exceptions).

Repositories only deal with persistence and are oblivious to who calls them.
 
This separation also aids in testing (you can test services without the web layer,
etc.).

Analogy for Node: In Node, you might have separated route handlers, business logic
modules, and data access (like using models or query builders). The principle is the
same, though Node doesn't enforce it as strictly. In Java, because of strong typing and
the use of interfaces, it’s easier to enforce and benefit from this layering.

6.1 The application.properties and application.yml

We already touched on configuration properties for the database. Spring Boot’s

configuration is extremely flexible:
 By default, it looks for a file named application.properties or
application.yml in the classpath (in src/main/resources ).

You can have profiles (e.g., application-dev.properties , application-

prod.properties etc.) and activate a profile via spring.profiles.active .

You can also override properties via environment variables or command-line

arguments, which is great for not hardcoding secrets in the jar.

Common configurations in a Spring Boot app for a banking system might include:

Server settings: e.g., server.port=8081 if you want a different port.

Database settings: as we did above.

Logging: e.g., logging.level.com.mybank.app=DEBUG to enable debug logs for

your app packages, or logging.file.name=app.log to log to a file.

Security: if using OAuth or something, you’d put client IDs, etc., here.

External service endpoints: e.g., if the banking app calls an external credit check
API, you could put the URL in properties.

Example application.properties :

properties

server.port=8080

# --- Database ---

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://dbhost:5432/bankdb
spring.datasource.username=bankapp
spring.datasource.password=secret

spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=validate # Ensure schema matches, but don't c

spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDiale

# --- Logging ---

logging.level.root=INFO
logging.level.com.mybank.app=DEBUG # show debug logs for our app
# logging.file.name=bankapp.log # uncomment to log to file
 # --- Other ---
spring.jackson.date-format=yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss # example of setting JSON da

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The above is just illustrative. In YAML, the same would be structured in nested
indentation.

Externalized Config: Spring Boot lets you keep application.properties inside the
jar, but you can override by placing a file outside. For example, when running on
JBoss, you could supply system properties or use JBoss's mechanisms to provide
these values. If certain secrets should not be packaged, you might not include them in
the jar at all, and instead supply via env vars (Spring Boot will read
SPRING_DATASOURCE_URL env var if present, for instance, as an override).

There’s also the Spring Cloud Config for managing config centrally, but that's beyond
our scope.

6.2 Environment-Specific Config

It's common to have different configs for dev, test, prod:

 Use application-dev.properties and application-prod.properties . 

Set spring.profiles.active=dev (perhaps in your IDE or as an env var) for

development (which might use an H2 in-memory or a local DB, and some sample
data).

For prod, set spring.profiles.active=prod on the server environment, and

properties like real DB credentials and any performance tuning settings in
application-prod.properties .

This way, you don't need to rebuild the app for different environments, just change
profile or external config.

6.3 standalone-full.xml and ib.xml in JBoss

We will talk more in the deployment section, but since it's part of "configuration", let's
briefly explain:
 standalone-full.xml: This is the JBoss EAP server configuration file when running
in standalone mode with the "full" profile. The "full" profile includes all
subsystems (e.g., JCA, JMS, EJB, etc.), which might be needed for an enterprise
app. By default, JBoss might use standalone.xml (a lighter profile) unless you
specify the full one. If your app needs messaging (JMS) or other EE features
provided by "full", you should start JBoss with the full config. You can do this by
launching JBoss with -c standalone-full.xml or --server-config=standalone-
full.xml . We'll detail deployment steps soon.

ib.xml: The question specifically asks "explain what ib.xml is and how it's used".
This is a bit cryptic as ib.xml is not a standard JBoss or Spring config name that
rings a bell. It could be something specific to the context (perhaps "IB" stands for
"Internet Banking" or some custom config file for the banking application, or an
IBM integration file, etc.).

Given general knowledge, one angle: In enterprise environments, sometimes an ibm-

web-ext.xml or ibm-web-bnd.xml are used for IBM WebSphere deployments. But for

JBoss EAP, there's jboss-web.xml for context-root or JNDI bindings. ib.xml might
be something like a resource adapter config for an Integration Broker (IB) or maybe
shorthand for an internal banking config.

If ib.xml is a specific config file for your application or environment:

It likely contains some configuration that the application needs at runtime,

possibly loaded by Spring or JBoss.

For example, it might define certain beans or settings. If it's meant to be placed
in JBoss, maybe it’s an external config JBoss picks up.

Without more context, one could guess it’s an additional XML that needs to be
included in the deployment (maybe something to do with JMS or an external
resource).

It's important to know that any *.xml placed in the WEB-INF of a WAR (like
jboss-web.xml , web.xml , etc.) can influence deployment. If ib.xml is

something like that, ensure it's in the correct location and properly referenced.
Possibility: Could "ib.xml" refer to a JBoss login module config or a custom subsystem
config? Or maybe "IronBank" if the environment is DoD (Iron Bank is a container
registry, but they might have a config file? Unlikely to be called ib.xml though).

For completeness, let's phrase a general explanation:

" ib.xml might refer to a specific configuration file used in your banking
application deployment. For example, if ib stands for 'Internet Banking', the
ib.xml might contain configuration for that module. In a JBoss context, if this file

needs to be used, you'd include it in the deployment and possibly reference it in the
standalone-full.xml or via a JNDI resource. Without specific details, the general

approach is: Place ib.xml in the appropriate location (perhaps in the classpath or
JBOSS config directory) and ensure the application or server knows to load it. It
could be loaded by Spring as a Spring config XML (if you use @ImportResource in
your Spring Boot app to import an old-style XML bean config), or it could be
something JBoss picks up."

If we consider a scenario: maybe ib.xml is a Spring configuration XML file (some

projects still use XML for Spring config). In Spring Boot, you typically use Java-based
config and annotations, but if migrating from older Java EE app, they might have an
XML config. If so:

You can place ib.xml in src/main/resources and use

@ImportResource("classpath:ib.xml") in a configuration class to have Spring

load it (this is how you mix XML config with Boot).

Or if it's JBoss-specific, maybe it's meant to go in

JBOSS_HOME/standalone/deployments/yourapp.war/WEB-INF/ib.xml and some

subsystem reads it.

Since we can't be sure, I'll explain it in a way that covers the bases, focusing that you
either load it as part of Spring config or JBoss config.

Now, let's move to actually deploying our application to JBoss EAP as a WAR, which
will tie together some of these config points.

7. Packaging and Deploying to JBoss EAP 7.4

(WAR Deployment)
Spring Boot applications by default run standalone (jar with embedded Tomcat). But
enterprise environments (like many banks) often use application servers such as Red
Hat JBoss EAP (Enterprise Application Platform) for deployment. JBoss EAP 7.4 is a
Java EE application server (based on WildFly) where you typically deploy WAR or EAR
files.

We need to adjust our Spring Boot app to be deployable to JBoss:

1. Package as WAR: In Maven pom.xml , set <packaging>war</packaging> (instead

of jar). This will produce a WAR file.

2. Provide a Servlet initializer: Spring Boot needs a hook to start in a WAR. This is
done by extending SpringBootServletInitializer .

3. Exclude embedded Tomcat: Because JBoss has its own web container (Undertow
or JBoss Web), we should not include the embedded Tomcat jars. If you use
spring-boot-starter-web , Spring Boot will include Tomcat by default. We can

exclude it or mark it provided.

4. JBoss specific deployment descriptors: Optionally, add a jboss-web.xml if you

need to specify things like context root or JNDI bindings specific to JBoss.

Let's go step by step:

7.1 SpringBootServletInitializer

Create a class (or use your main class) to extend SpringBootServletInitializer and
override configure :

java

@SpringBootApplication
public class BankingApplication extends SpringBootServletInitializer { // ex

public static void main(String[] args) {

SpringApplication.run(BankingApplication.class, args);
}

// This is invoked when the WAR is deployed to an external server

@Override
protected SpringApplicationBuilder configure(SpringApplicationBuilder bui
return builder.sources(BankingApplication.class);
 }
}

This tells Spring Boot how to start when the application is launched by a servlet
container. Essentially, JBoss will create a servlet (Spring's DispatcherServlet) via
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code

initializer and run our app.

7.2 Pom.xml adjustments

xml

<project>
...
<packaging>war</packaging>
 ... 

<dependencies>
<!-- (your starters) -->
<!-- Exclude embedded Tomcat since we'll deploy on JBoss -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-tomcat</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
<!-- Add servlet API as provided, since JBoss provides it -->
<dependency>
<groupId>jakarta.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>jakarta.servlet-api</artifactId>
<scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>
<!-- JBoss might have Java EE APIs; ensure any such APIs (JPA, JSTL, etc.
<!-- ... other dependencies ... -->
</dependencies>
</project>

 
We exclude Tomcat because JBoss will use its own Undertow or JBossWeb. If you
don't, it might conflict or unnecessarily inflate your WAR.
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Marking jakarta.servlet-api (or javax.servlet-api if Java EE 8) as provided ensures
you compile against the API but don't package it (the app server has it).

Similarly, JBoss EAP provides many Java EE APIs (JPA, JMS, JSON-B, etc.), but bringing
your own usually is okay because Spring Boot has its own versions. Red Hat does have
some documentation on running Spring Boot on JBoss – sometimes you have to be
careful with logging jars, etc. For example, JBoss uses JBoss Logging, and Spring Boot
uses Logback. Typically, shading logs is fine, but there's a known issue: you might
need to add org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-logging as provided
to avoid conflict with JBoss logging. Alternatively, use JBoss's logging by adding a
logging config. For brevity, let's assume no conflict; if there is, a quick solution is to
remove the Boot logging and rely on JBoss logging subsystem (so your logs go to
server log). But that's a detail one can troubleshoot if needed.

7.3 Deploying the WAR to JBoss

Once you build the WAR ( mvn clean package ), you will get
bankingapplication.war (or whatever name).

Copy this WAR to JBoss EAP’s deployment directory:

JBOSS_HOME/standalone/deployments/ .

Alternatively, use the JBoss CLI: jboss-cli.sh -c --command="deploy

/path/to/bankingapplication.war" .

Or use the admin console (a web UI) to upload the WAR.

Ensure JBoss is running with the proper configuration. We want standalone-

full.xml since our app might use full EE features (like JMS if we had or advanced

security). To do that, start JBoss with:

bash

$JBOSS_HOME/bin/standalone.sh -c standalone-full.xml
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 This will load the standalone-full.xml config. The difference between
standalone.xml and standalone-full.xml is that the latter includes additional

subsystems configured (like JMS messaging, JCA connectors, etc.)​ stackoverflow.com . If

your app just uses web and JPA, even standalone.xml might suffice since JPA
and web are part of web profile. But if you ever need JMS or EJB, full profile is
needed.

When JBoss deploys the WAR, you should see logs indicating it picked it up and
started Spring. If everything is configured right, you’ll see Spring Boot logs in the
server console and a message like "Started BankingApplication in X seconds".

Accessing the app:

By default, the context root of the WAR will be the WAR filename (minus .war). So
if your war is bankingapplication.war , the URL might be
http://localhost:8080/bankingapplication/api/users for the user endpoints.

If you want a different context root (say you want it at / or /api directly), you
can specify a jboss-web.xml :

xml

<!-- src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/jboss-web.xml -->

<jboss-web>
<context-root>/</context-root>
</jboss-web>

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The above would deploy the WAR at root context (so /api/users directly off
host). Or if you want, say, /bank as context, do <context-root>/bank</context-
root> .

Another thing: If you rely on JBoss for a DataSource (instead of letting Spring
Boot create one), you'll need to configure that in JBoss (in standalone-full.xml
under <datasources> ). Then in your Spring Boot application.properties ,
instead of URL/username, you’d use:

ini

spring.datasource.jndi-name=java:jboss/datasources/YourDSName
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 to tell Spring to look up the JNDI DataSource. This way, the app server manages
the DB connections (common in enterprise setups). The StackOverflow snippet
we saw earlier is an example of a datasource config in standalone.xml.

7.4 What is ib.xml and How to Use It?

Now to the mysterious ib.xml : Given the deployment context, let's assume ib.xml
is a custom config file for the banking application or some resource:

It might be related to messaging or resource adapters. For example, if the

banking system integrates with an IBM MQ (message queue), sometimes
resource adapter configurations are provided via XML. IBM MQ has a resource
adapter RAR and often an ibm-mq.xml or similar could be used.

Or ib.xml might be an "Internet Banking" configuration file that the app uses
internally.

Usage:

If ib.xml is meant to be on the server: You would place it in the JBoss

configuration (perhaps in standalone/configuration directory) and reference it
via the standalone-full.xml. For example, some might include an XML fragment
for an external messaging queue or some custom subsystem. The snippet we saw
about IBM MQ integration on JBoss shows adding config in standalone.xml
directly rather than separate file.

If ib.xml is a Spring config file: Include it in the WAR (perhaps under WEB-
INF/classes i.e., in src/main/resources ). Then import it in your Spring Boot

application. For instance, if ib.xml contains bean definitions, you can use:

java

@SpringBootApplication
@ImportResource("classpath:ib.xml")
public class BankingApplication extends SpringBootServletInitializer { ..

 Copy code

This will load those bean definitions. This is useful if migrating some legacy XML
config into a Boot app without rewriting it in Java config.
 If ib.xml contains environment-specific settings or references (like endpoints of
other systems), you might just treat it as a resource file and have your code read
it (e.g., parse an XML of configurations). Not common if you can use properties,
but possible.

Without exact info, we should explain it as "some additional configuration that likely
needs to be deployed along with the app and referenced appropriately." Perhaps
highlight that the usage will depend on what it contains:

e.g., if it defines JMS queues, JBoss might auto-deploy any *-jms.xml files
placed in deployments (WildFly has that feature: any file named something-
jms.xml with JMS definitions gets processed). If ib.xml fits such pattern, maybe

it's deploying an "integration beans" or something.

To avoid confusion, let's assume ib.xml stands for "Internet Banking configuration"
and say:

It might include configurations or context specific to the banking domain that

needs to be loaded.

We ensure to place it either in the classpath or configure JBoss to load it. Possibly
by adding an entry in standalone-full.xml like:

xml

<system-properties>
<property name="some.ib.config" value="${jboss.server.config.dir}/ib.
</system-properties>

 
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and then your app reads system property "some.ib.config". This is speculative,
but it's a pattern for external configs.

In summary for ib.xml: Explain it's an XML file used for configuration. The steps to
use it typically:

Make sure it’s accessible (on classpath or file path).

If Spring-managed, import it.

If JBoss-managed (like a module config or resource adapter), put it in the right

place and reference via JBoss config.
7.5 Verifying Deployment on JBoss

Once deployed:

You should test the endpoints, e.g., using curl or Postman:

bash

curl -u user:user123 http://localhost:8080/bankingapplication/api/account

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 

(since security is basic auth with those in-memory users).

Check JBoss logs for any issues. Common issues could be:

Classloading problems (like a library conflict).

Datasource JNDI not found (if we misconfigured JNDI name).

Spring Boot Actuator (if included) sometimes conflicts with JBoss

management context if not configured.

Logging duplication.

If something like logging doesn't show up because of a conflict (JBoss uses JBoss
LogManager), one trick is to create a file jboss-deployment-structure.xml in WEB-
INF to prevent JBoss from ignoring your Logback. But that might be too deep; I'll skip

unless needed.

Conclusion on deployment: Packaging as WAR and deploying to JBoss EAP allows

your Spring Boot app to run in a Java EE container. We explained how to do it and
noted the usage of standalone-full.xml (to ensure all needed subsystems are
active) and the possible role of ib.xml as an external config.

8. Enterprise Features and Best Practices

Now that we have a running app, let's cover some enterprise-level concerns beyond
the basic functionality: transaction management, exception handling, logging,
validation, and testing. These ensure that our application is robust, maintainable, and
of production quality.

8.1 Transaction Management

We already saw how Spring’s @Transactional can manage database transactions in
the service layer. Some important points and best practices:

By default, Spring will rollback transactions for unchecked exceptions

(RuntimeException or Error). It will not rollback for checked exceptions
(Exception) unless you configure it. This is configurable via the annotation (e.g.,
@Transactional(rollbackFor = Exception.class) to also rollback on checked

exceptions).

In a banking app, you want atomicity for things like transfers. Using
@Transactional on those methods ensures that if something fails in the middle,

you don't end up with half-completed operations (money deducted but not
credited, etc.).

If you have multiple transactional operations that need to be orchestrated, you

can use Propagation settings. For instance, REQUIRES_NEW to start a new
transaction within an existing one, etc. This is advanced but available.

Distributed Transactions: Sometimes, banks use distributed transactions (two-

phase commit across systems). Spring supports JTA for distributed Tx, but using it
with multiple data sources or external transaction managers (like IBM MQ) can be
complex. JBoss as an app server can manage JTA transactions. If your app just
sticks to one database, you're usually fine with Spring's single resource local
transactions.

Pitfall: Only Spring-managed calls trigger the proxy. If you call a private or same-
class method from inside a class, the @Transactional on that method won't take
effect (because Spring AOP proxies work on the public interface by default). So ensure
that transactional methods are public (or invoked from another bean). This is a
common gotcha.

8.2 Exception Handling

We want to handle exceptions gracefully, especially in a REST API. Spring provides

ways to do global exception handling:

@ControllerAdvice classes can catch exceptions thrown by any controller and

handle them, returning meaningful responses.

 For example, we might handle MethodArgumentNotValidException (when
validation fails) and return a nice JSON with errors, or handle our custom
InsufficientFundsException globally.

Example Global Exception Handler:

java

@RestControllerAdvice // combination of @ControllerAdvice + @ResponseBody

public class GlobalExceptionHandler {

@ExceptionHandler(InsufficientFundsException.class)
public ResponseEntity<String> handleInsufficientFunds(InsufficientFundsEx
return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST)
.body("Transaction failed: " + ex.getMessage());
}

@ExceptionHandler(MethodArgumentNotValidException.class)
public ResponseEntity<List<String>> handleValidationErrors(MethodArgument
List<String> errors = ex.getBindingResult().getFieldErrors().stream()
.map(err -> err.getField() + ": " + err.getDe
.collect(Collectors.toList());
return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST).body(errors);
}

// general fallback
@ExceptionHandler(Exception.class)
public ResponseEntity<String> handleGeneralError(Exception ex) {
// Log the exception
ex.printStackTrace();
return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)
.body("An unexpected error occurred");
}
}

 

This class will intercept exceptions and produce suitable HTTP responses:

If a service throws InsufficientFundsException , instead of returning 500, the

advice catches it and returns 400 with a message.

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 If validation fails on a request body ( @Valid triggers a
MethodArgumentNotValidException ), we gather all field error messages and

return 400 with a list of errors. (E.g., ["password: must not be empty", "email: not
a valid email"]).

A generic handler catches any other exceptions to prevent leaking internal errors
to clients (but logs them for developers).

This is analogous to having global error middleware in Express that catches errors and
sends a response.

8.3 Logging

Logging is critical in an enterprise app for audit and debugging. Spring Boot's default
logging uses Logback with an SLF4J facade (so in our code, we typically use
LoggerFactory.getLogger(...) to get a logger).

Setting up a logger in each class:

java

private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(AccountService.c

 Copy code

Then use logger.info("...") , logger.debug("...") , etc. Instead of

System.out.println , which is not ideal for production.

We can configure logging via application.properties as shown (to set log levels).
For a banking app, you might have:

INFO level for normal operations.

DEBUG level for development to trace issues.

Perhaps auditing logs for transactions.

If you need a special log (like an audit log for all transactions above a certain amount),
you can even configure Logback with multiple appenders and use a separate logger
name for that.

In JBoss: When running in JBoss, the logging might go to the server's logs. If you
include Logback, it might output to console, which JBoss console captures. It's fine to
rely on that. Or integrate with JBoss Logging by adding a JBoss LogManager config –
but not required unless you face issues.

Best Practice: externalize log configuration. Spring Boot will pick up logback-
spring.xml or log4j2.xml from the classpath if you want to deeply customize

logging (like log rotation, patterns, etc.).

8.4 Bean Validation

We saw usage of @Valid in controller and annotations like @NotNull . Spring Boot
automatically includes JSR 380 (Bean Validation, often Hibernate Validator) if on the
classpath. If you have spring-boot-starter-web , you likely have validation starter
too.

Defining Constraints:

java

public class User {

@Id ... Long id;
@NotBlank(message = "Name is required")
private String name;
@Email(message = "Email should be valid")
private String email;
@Size(min = 6, message = "Password must be at least 6 characters")
private String password;
// ... other fields
}

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When a User object comes in as JSON to the registerUser controller with @Valid ,
these annotations will trigger errors if the constraints are violated. The
MethodArgumentNotValidException we handled above captures these. This avoids

writing a lot of manual validation code.

Bean Validation can also be used on service or entity level. For instance, you could
validate that an account’s balance never goes negative after a withdrawal by adding a
custom validator or just logic in service.

It's also used for request parameters (Spring can validate @RequestParam or
@PathVariable if you use @Validated on the controller class and then annotate

params).

For example:

java

@GetMapping("/search")
public List<User> searchUsers(@RequestParam @Size(min = 3) String name) {
// Spring will automatically return 400 if 'name' is shorter than 3
return userService.searchByName(name);
}

We enable that by @Validated on class or method (for method-level parameter

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validation).

8.5 Testing (Unit and Integration)

Testing is crucial, and Spring Boot has great support for it. The spring-boot-starter-
test brings in JUnit 5 (Jupiter), Spring’s testing support, and Mockito (a mocking

framework).

Unit Testing:

You can test components (like service methods) in isolation using JUnit and
Mockito.

Example: test AccountService.transfer by mocking AccountRepository and

TransactionRepository to simulate various scenarios (enough balance vs not

enough).
 Use @ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class) and @Mock annotations to inject
mocks.

java

@ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class)
class AccountServiceTest {

@Mock AccountRepository accountRepo;

@Mock TransactionRepository txnRepo;
@InjectMocks AccountService accountService; // injects mocks into Accoun

@Test
void transferShouldThrowIfInsufficientFunds() {
Account acc1 = new Account(); acc1.setId(1L); acc1.setBalance(new Big
Account acc2 = new Account(); acc2.setId(2L); acc2.setBalance(new Big
// Stubbing repository calls
Mockito.when(accountRepo.findById(1L)).thenReturn(Optional.of(acc1));
Mockito.when(accountRepo.findById(2L)).thenReturn(Optional.of(acc2));
// No need to stub save if not checking its output

Assertions.assertThrows(InsufficientFundsException.class, () -> {
accountService.transfer(1L, 2L, new BigDecimal("200.00"));
});
// Ensure no changes were saved (could verify repository.save was not
Mockito.verify(txnRepo, Mockito.never()).save(Mockito.any());
}
}

 

This test doesn’t start Spring at all. It just uses a Mockito to test the logic in isolation
(fast and focused).

Integration Testing:
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Use @SpringBootTest to start the whole application context and possibly an in-
memory database for a full test.

Or use @WebMvcTest to test controllers slice with MockMvc, or @DataJpaTest to

test JPA repositories with an embedded DB.

For example, to test an API endpoint, you might use MockMvc (which allows you
to perform HTTP calls to the controller without actual network):
 java

@SpringBootTest
@AutoConfigureMockMvc
class UserApiTest {

@Autowired MockMvc mockMvc;

@Autowired UserRepository userRepo;

@Test
void registerUserCreatesNewUser() throws Exception {
String json = "{ \"name\": \"John Doe\", \"email\": \"john@exampl
mockMvc.perform(post("/api/users/register")
.contentType("application/json")
.content(json))
.andExpect(status().isCreated())
.andExpect(jsonPath("$.id").isNumber())
.andExpect(jsonPath("$.email").value("[email protected]"));
// Optionally, verify the database state:
List<User> users = userRepo.findAll();
Assertions.assertFalse(users.isEmpty());
}
}

 

This starts the application (which by default if no profile, might use H2 database
because we set perhaps in application-test.properties something like H2). We
then simulate an HTTP call to the register endpoint and check that we get a
created status and the JSON contains expected fields, and that the repository
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actually saved the user.

Test Configuration:

Often, we use an in-memory DB for tests. Spring Boot will use H2 automatically if
it's on the classpath and you don't specify otherwise.

You can have application-test.properties to override things like

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:h2:mem:testdb and maybe turn off security for

tests or use test-specific credentials.

Mockito vs Spring Test:

Mockito for unit testing isolated parts (no Spring context).

 Spring's testing support for integration (to test wiring, persistence, etc.).

In a banking app, you'd write tests for:

Services: ensure interest calculation is correct, transfers work, edge cases (0

amount, negative, etc.).

Controllers: ensure endpoints respond as expected, security maybe returns 401

for unauthenticated access (you can test with MockMvc by not setting auth vs
setting auth).

Repositories: you might test custom query methods to ensure they fetch
expected data (especially if using custom @Query).

Security: could test that certain URLs are protected (MockMvc can .with(user(...))
to simulate logged in user).

Testing might seem like extra work, but for enterprise apps it's absolutely critical
(banks care a lot about correctness!). Spring Boot’s testing framework is very powerful
and makes it relatively easy.

8.6 Best Practices Recap & Common Pitfalls

Layered Architecture: Keep your concerns separated (we did that: controller,
service, repo). This makes code easier to test and maintain. For instance, avoid
writing SQL in your controllers or doing HTTP stuff in your repository.

DTO vs Entity: We used entities directly in controller examples for brevity. In a

real large app, you might use Data Transfer Objects (DTOs) for inputs and outputs
and not expose JPA entities directly (to avoid lazy loading issues or sending
sensitive fields). For example, an AccountDto for externally facing info, and
convert to Account entity in the service.

Validation: Always validate inputs from users (we used Bean Validation for that).

Transactions: Use transactions for any multiple-step data operations (ensuring

consistency). Spring makes it easy, just remember the gotchas (like internal
method calls).

Exception Handling: Don't leak implementation details in errors. Use global

handlers to send friendly messages or codes.
Logging: Log enough to trace what happened, but avoid sensitive info in logs
(especially in banking: don’t log full credit card numbers or passwords). Mask or
omit those.

Security: Use HTTPS in production (Spring Boot will work behind a proxy or you
can configure SSL on it, but on JBoss, you'd configure HTTPS connector in JBoss).
Use strong password encoding and possibly integrate with a user management
system. For an enterprise app, consider using Spring Security with OAuth2 or
OpenID Connect (if you have a separate auth server) or at least properly manage
user sessions/tokens.

Performance: Be mindful of N+1 queries in JPA (use .fetch() or join fetches

when needed, or adjust @EntityGraph ). Also, tune connection pools (HikariCP
settings) if high load.

Scalability: Spring Boot can scale out by running multiple instances behind a load
balancer. If stateful (like sessions), consider sticking sessions to one node or use
spring session to externalize sessions (perhaps not needed for stateless REST
APIs).

JBoss Specific: When deploying to an app server, minimize what you package.
Rely on server for what it provides (like JDK and JEE APIs). Monitor the server
resources (JVM memory, threads). Use JBoss's management (standalone-full.xml
configs) to set thread pools or JMS queues as needed.

ib.xml: If this file is an essential part of your deployment, document what it

contains and how to maintain it. If it's for an external resource, ensure the
operations team knows its purpose. Often, any external config should be
versioned and treated carefully (since an XML config could, e.g., define bank
routing rules or integration points). We’ve explained how to include it properly.

Common Pitfall: Forgot to exclude Tomcat when deploying to JBoss – this can
cause errors like "port 8080 already in use" or classloader issues. Our steps
covered that by excluding spring-boot-starter-tomcat .

Common Pitfall: Classpath conflicts – JBoss uses modules, so it might ignore

some of your libs if they conflict with its provided ones. For instance, if you had a
different version of JSF or JAX-RS in your WAR, JBoss might not like it. Spring
usually is self-contained, but be aware.

Common Pitfall: Not reading logs carefully – Always check both Spring Boot
logs and JBoss logs if something goes wrong. They might appear in the same
console, but JBoss logs have a different format.
 Learn from documentation: Spring has great references (the Spring Framework
reference and Spring Boot reference, as well as guides on spring.io). Also, for
JBoss EAP, Red Hat’s documentation can help with specifics (like how to
configure a datasource or security domain on the server side).

Conclusion

Congratulations on making it through this extensive guide! We covered:

Spring Core (DI/IoC, AOP, Bean Lifecycle) – giving you an understanding of the
under-the-hood magic that Spring provide】.

Spring Boot fundamentals (auto-config, starters, running apps) – making it clear

how Boot saves you from boilerplate.

Building RESTful APIs with Spring MVC – and seeing examples akin to Express.js
routes but with annotations and strong typing.

Working with Spring Data JPA and Hibernate – to interact with relational
databases in an object-oriented way, which is crucial for an enterprise app
dealing with lots of data.

Adding Spring Security – to lock down the application, manage users and roles,
which is absolutely critical in banking applications.

Organizing project structure and using application.properties for configuration –

to keep the app maintainable and configurable across environments.

Packaging the app as a WAR for JBoss EAP 7.4 – enabling deployment to
enterprise app servers, and understanding JBoss-specific considerations like
standalone-full.xml and possibly ib.xml .

Implementing enterprise necessities like transaction management, exception

handling, logging, and validation – to ensure the app is robust and meets the
high standards required in banking (or any enterprise scenario).

Writing tests (unit and integration) – so that you can catch issues early and
ensure each component works as expected, giving confidence in the application's
reliability.
As a Node.js developer, you'll find that while Java/Spring has more upfront
"ceremony" (like writing classes, annotations, etc.), it pays off in structure and
reliability. The ecosystem is rich – for example, you used to handle clustering or multi-
threading differently in Node (with Node clusters or worker threads), whereas in
Spring on JBoss, the server handles multi-threading (each request on its own thread,
etc.) and you can focus on application logic. Also, the strong typing and powerful
frameworks mean you'll write less low-level code (e.g., no manual SQL or manual auth
if you leverage these frameworks correctly), and you'll benefit from decades of
community knowledge in the Java enterprise space.

Next steps:

Try building a small feature end-to-end with this stack (e.g., a mini module for Bill
Payments in the bank app) to apply what you've learned.

Explore Spring Boot Actuator for monitoring (exposes health checks, metrics –
very useful in prod).

Look into Spring’s documentation for deploying to other environments, perhaps

containerizing the app (Docker) if not using JBoss.

Deepen security knowledge – e.g., integrating JWT for a stateless API, or OAuth2
if needed.

If front-end integration is needed, Spring can serve as a backend to an

Angular/React app (just provide REST), or you can use Spring Boot to also serve a
web front if using Thymeleaf or other template engines.

Remember, when in doubt, refer to official docs and communities. Spring has a
vibrant community (Stack Overflow, Spring forums) where many common questions
(like those about JBoss integration, etc.) are answered. For example, the question of
using JNDI DataSource with Spring Boot on JBoss was asked on StackOverflo】, and
the solution was to set the spring.datasource.jndi-name properly.

Good luck with building your enterprise banking application with Spring Boot! It’s a
journey, but a rewarding one – you'll soon appreciate the robustness and structure it
brings to complex applications. Enjoy your Spring Boot development!

Citations

Cross cutting concern example - Stack Overflow

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23700540/cross-cutting-concern-example

Spring Boot's AOP: Simplifying Cross-Cutting Concerns - Medium

https://medium.com/@kulkarniprabhakar2000/spring-boots-aop-simplifying-cross-cutting-
concerns-5c34be002d35

Difference between standalone.xml and standalone-full.xml

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19524364/difference-between-standalone-xml-and-
standalone-full-xml

All Sources

stackoverflow medium