Spring Request Filter Use Cases | Generated by AI
Uses of Spring Request Filters
Spring request filters (often implemented via javax.servlet.Filter or Spring’s OncePerRequestFilter) are powerful components in Spring Boot and Spring MVC applications. They intercept HTTP requests and responses before they reach your controllers (or after leaving them), allowing you to perform cross-cutting concerns without cluttering business logic. Here’s a breakdown of common use cases:
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Authentication and Authorization: Validate user credentials (e.g., JWT tokens) or check permissions early in the request lifecycle. Spring Security heavily relies on filters for this, chaining them via
FilterChainProxyto secure endpoints without controller involvement. -
Logging and Monitoring: Capture request details like headers, body, timestamps, or IP addresses for auditing, debugging, or analytics. This is useful for tracing issues in production.
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Input Validation and Sanitization: Inspect and clean incoming data (e.g., remove malicious scripts, enforce size limits) to prevent attacks like SQL injection or XSS.
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CORS Handling: Manage Cross-Origin Resource Sharing by adding or validating headers like
Access-Control-Allow-Origin, enabling secure API access from web browsers. -
Request/Response Modification: Alter headers, bodies, or URLs on the fly—e.g., adding custom headers for security (like
X-Frame-Options) or compressing responses with GZIP. -
Rate Limiting and Throttling: Enforce API usage limits per user or IP to prevent abuse, DDoS attacks, or overload.
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Caching Control: Add cache headers (e.g.,
Cache-Control) or integrate with caching layers like Redis to optimize performance. -
Error Handling and Metrics: Catch exceptions globally, log errors, or collect metrics (e.g., via Micrometer) before propagating to the response.
Filters execute outside the Spring DispatcherServlet, making them ideal for low-level concerns, unlike interceptors which are more Spring-specific and controller-focused. For implementation, extend OncePerRequestFilter to avoid multiple executions per request.
Filters :: Spring Framework
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Spring Boot - Servlet Filter - GeeksforGeeks