I come from a struts background and am trying to learn Spring MVC using my struts knowledge as a base. Here they explain handler mapping: http://static.springsource.org/spring/docs/3.2.x/spring-framework-reference/html/portlet.html#portlet-handlermapping Now in struts, we have an xml where we define action mappings which basically says which action url maps to which Controller. Is it fair to say that Handler Mapping in Spring is the same as the Action mapping in struts?
Hanler Mapping and ActionMapping take the same role in 2 MVC framworks. They navigate different URLs to the controller even the method. Just as an enthusiast of Spring MVC, it is more easier to use than Struts in your project. Spring fellow "convention over configuration" gives you a default Handler Mapping, so you don't need to specify it in the configuration, and it also provides @HandlerMapping and Handler Adapter to help you do the navigation.