SpringSource/spring-framework — pull request #69 by rstoyanchev (2012-04-18 21:07:32+00:00)
Title: Initial cut of Servlet 3.0 based async support

From a programming model perspective, @RequestMapping methods now
support two new return value types:

* java.util.concurrent.Callable - used by Spring MVC to obtain the
return value asynchronously in a separate thread managed transparently
by Spring MVC on behalf of the application.
* org.springframework.web.context.request.async.DeferredResult - used
by the application to produce the return value asynchronously in a
separate thread of its own choosing.

The high-level idea is that whatever value a controller normally
returns, it can now provide it asynchronously, through a Callable or
through a DeferredResult, with all remaining processing --
@ResponseBody, view resolution, etc, working just the same but
completed outside the main request thread.

From an SPI perspective, there are several new types:

* AsyncExecutionChain - the central class for managing async request
processing through a sequence of Callable instances each representing
work required to complete request processing asynchronously.
* AsyncWebRequest - provides methods for starting, completing, and
configuring async request processing.
* StandardServletAsyncWebRequest - Servlet 3 based implementation.
* AsyncExecutionChainRunnable - the Runnable used for async request
execution.

All spring-web and spring-webmvc Filter implementations have been
updated to participate in async request execution.
The open-session-in-view Filter and interceptors implementations in
spring-orm will be updated in a separate pull request.

Issue: SPR-8517