Hexagonal Architecture Pattern in Java: Decoupling Core Logic for Enhanced Flexibility

About 6 min

Also known as

Ports and Adapters

Intent of Hexagonal Architecture Design Pattern

Hexagonal Architecture, also known as Ports and Adapters, is a design pattern in Java that promotes decoupling of core business logic from external interfaces like databases and user interfaces. This architectural approach enhances maintainability and testability of software systems.

Detailed Explanation of Hexagonal Architecture Pattern with Real-World Examples

Real-world example

In online banking systems, Hexagonal Architecture allows core banking logic to remain unaffected by changes in user interfaces or third-party services. This decoupling ensures the system's maintainability and flexibility. In such systems, the core banking logic (like processing transactions, managing accounts, and calculating interest) represents the application's core. This core is then surrounded by various adapters that allow the system to interact with different external interfaces without affecting the business logic. For instance, customers might access their accounts through a web interface, a mobile app, or even through ATM services. Meanwhile, the banking system also needs to interface with external services for credit checks, fraud detection, and interbank transactions. Each of these interfaces interacts with the core banking logic through specific adapters designed to translate the external calls to and from the application's internal APIs. This setup allows the bank to modify or extend its external interfaces without having to alter the core business logic, enhancing flexibility and maintainability.

In plain words

Hexagonal Architecture organizes an application into a central core of business logic surrounded by ports and adapters that manage interactions with external systems like user interfaces and databases, allowing the core to remain independent of external concerns.

Wikipedia says

The hexagonal architecture, or ports and adapters architecture, is an architectural pattern used in software design. It aims at creating loosely coupled application components that can be easily connected to their software environment by means of ports and adapters. This makes components exchangeable at any level and facilitates test automation.

Programmatic Example of Hexagonal Architecture Pattern in Java

The Hexagonal Architecture, also known as Ports and Adapters, is a design pattern that aims to create a loosely coupled application where the core business logic is isolated from external interfaces like databases, user interfaces, or third-party services. This allows the core application to be independent and easily testable.

The Java code example below illustrates how Hexagonal Architecture isolates core business logic using dependency injection, making the application highly testable and independent from external components.

In the provided code, we can see an example of the Hexagonal Architecture pattern in the App class and the use of Google's Guice for dependency injection.

The App class is the entry point of the application. It creates an instance of LotteryAdministration and LotteryService through dependency injection and uses them to handle various tasks.

public class App {

  public static void main(String[] args) {

    var injector = Guice.createInjector(new LotteryTestingModule());

    // start new lottery round
    var administration = injector.getInstance(LotteryAdministration.class);
    administration.resetLottery();

    // submit some lottery tickets
    var service = injector.getInstance(LotteryService.class);
    SampleData.submitTickets(service, 20);

    // perform lottery
    administration.performLottery();
  }
}

The LotteryAdministration class is responsible for managing the lottery rounds. It has methods to start a new round, perform the lottery, and reset the lottery.

public class LotteryAdministration {

  private final LotteryTicketRepository repository;
  private final LotteryEventLog notifications;
  private final WireTransfers wireTransfers;

  @Inject
  public LotteryAdministration(LotteryTicketRepository repository, LotteryEventLog notifications,
                               WireTransfers wireTransfers) {
    this.repository = repository;
    this.notifications = notifications;
    this.wireTransfers = wireTransfers;
  }

  public Map<LotteryTicketId, LotteryTicket> getAllSubmittedTickets() {
    return repository.findAll();
  }

  public LotteryNumbers performLottery() {
    // Implementation details...
  }

  public void resetLottery() {
    repository.deleteAll();
  }
}

The LotteryService class is responsible for managing the lottery tickets. It has methods to submit a ticket, check a ticket's status, and get the winning ticket.

public class LotteryService {

  private final LotteryTicketRepository repository;
  private final LotteryEventLog notifications;
  private final WireTransfers wireTransfers;

  @Inject
  public LotteryService(LotteryTicketRepository repository, LotteryEventLog notifications,
                        WireTransfers wireTransfers) {
    this.repository = repository;
    this.notifications = notifications;
    this.wireTransfers = wireTransfers;
  }

  public Optional<LotteryTicketId> submitTicket(LotteryTicket ticket) {
    // Implementation details...
  }

  public LotteryTicketCheckResult checkTicketForPrize(
      LotteryTicketId id,
      LotteryNumbers winningNumbers
  ) {
    // Implementation details...
  }
}

Running the main function of App class produces the following output:

11:06:58.357 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for calvin@google.com was submitted. Bank account 334-746 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.359 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for arnold@google.com was submitted. Bank account 114-988 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.359 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for ollie@google.com was submitted. Bank account 190-045 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.359 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for peter@google.com was submitted. Bank account 335-886 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.359 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for ray@google.com was submitted. Bank account 843-073 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.360 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for calvin@google.com was submitted. Bank account 334-746 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.360 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for lisa@google.com was submitted. Bank account 024-653 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.360 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for harriet@google.com was submitted. Bank account 842-404 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.360 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for larry@google.com was submitted. Bank account 734-853 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.360 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for lars@google.com was submitted. Bank account 746-936 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.360 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for tyron@google.com was submitted. Bank account 310-992 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.360 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for xavier@google.com was submitted. Bank account 143-947 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.360 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for kevin@google.com was submitted. Bank account 453-936 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.360 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for yngwie@google.com was submitted. Bank account 241-465 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.361 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for calvin@google.com was submitted. Bank account 334-746 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.361 [main] ERROR com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for larry@google.com could not be submitted because the credit transfer of 3 credits failed.
11:06:58.362 [main] ERROR com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for larry@google.com could not be submitted because the credit transfer of 3 credits failed.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for mary@google.com was submitted. Bank account 234-987 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for edwin@google.com was submitted. Bank account 895-345 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for jacob@google.com was submitted. Bank account 444-766 was charged for 3 credits.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for ollie@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for jacob@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for peter@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for ray@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for calvin@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for lisa@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for harriet@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for larry@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for lars@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for tyron@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for xavier@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for kevin@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for yngwie@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for calvin@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for calvin@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for mary@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for arnold@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.
11:06:58.362 [main] INFO com.iluwatar.hexagonal.eventlog.StdOutEventLog -- Lottery ticket for edwin@google.com was checked and unfortunately did not win this time.

In this example, the LotteryAdministration and LotteryService classes are the core of the application. They interact with external interfaces like LotteryTicketRepository, LotteryEventLog, and WireTransfers through dependency injection, keeping the core business logic decoupled from external concerns. This is a basic example of the Hexagonal Architecture pattern, where the core application is at the center of input/output systems.

Detailed Explanation of Hexagonal Architecture Pattern with Real-World Examples

When to Use the Hexagonal Architecture Pattern in Java

Hexagonal Architecture is particularly beneficial in scenarios:

The application needs to interact with multiple external systems.
There is a requirement for high testability and maintainability.
The application should remain unaffected by changes in external interfaces.

Real-World Applications of Hexagonal Architecure Pattern in Java

Implemented extensively within enterprise applications that leverage frameworks like Spring.
Used in microservices architectures to maintain clear boundaries and protocols between services.
Adopted in systems that require integration with various databases or external APIs without impacting the business logic.

Benefits and Trade-offs of Hexagonal Architecture Pattern

Benefits:

Improved Testability: Allows the core functionality to be tested independently of external components.
Flexibility: Facilitates the addition or replacement of components that interact with the application without modifying the core business logic.
Maintainability: Reduces dependencies on external interfaces, simplifying upgrades and maintenance.

Trade-offs:

Complexity: Introduces more abstractions and layers, which can complicate the system design and understanding.
Overhead: Might be an over-engineering for simple applications, where simpler architectural patterns could suffice.

Layered Architecture: Shares the concept of organizing code into responsibilities; however, Hexagonal emphasizes port-based interaction with external elements.
Microservices: Often used in conjunction with Hexagonal Architecture to define clear boundaries and protocols between services.