Spring MVC Web Configuration and Context Initialization Process

Spring MVC extends the core Spring Framework with web capabilities by using WebApplicationContext , which is created and managed through ContextLoaderListener and DispatcherServlet within a web container such as Tomcat.

Four main configurations are required in web.xml : servlet definition for DispatcherServlet, servlet-specific configuration file, contextConfigLocation initialization parameter, and the ContextLoaderListener .

The root context (ROOT WebApplicationContext ) is initialized by ContextLoaderListener using the configuration file specified by contextConfigLocation . The listener ensures only one root context exists, logs initialization steps, and stores the context in the ServletContext under the attribute WebApplicationContext.ROOT_WEB_APPLICATION_CONTEXT_ATTRIBUTE .

DispatcherServlet then creates its own child WebApplicationContext . During its initWebApplicationContext() method, it retrieves the parent root context, creates a local context (default XmlWebApplicationContext ), sets the parent, refreshes it, and publishes it as a servlet attribute.

The hierarchical relationship allows beans defined in the root context (e.g., DAO, Service) to be accessible to the DispatcherServlet’s context, while servlet‑specific beans (e.g., Controllers, ViewResolvers) remain scoped to the child context.

Code examples illustrate the key methods in ContextLoader and FrameworkServlet that perform these steps.