Bootstraps a Servlet 3.0 system using Spring MVC, Spring Security, etc.

StandardWebAppInitializer.java

public class MyWebAppinitializer extends StandardWebAppInitializer  {

        //customize the creatino of the web application context
	@Override
	protected WebApplicationContext createWebApplicationContext() {
		AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext root = new AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext();
		
		root.scan("com.whatever");
		root.getEnvironment().setDefaultProfiles("embedded");
		return root;
	}

	protected void createFlashFilter(ServletContext sc)
	{		
		//disable the flash filter without disabling the rest of the system
	}
	
}


public abstract class StandardWebAppInitializer implements WebApplicationInitializer{

	@Override
	public void onStartup(ServletContext sc) throws ServletException 
	{	
		WebApplicationContext root = createWebApplicationContext();		
		createContextLoaderListener(sc, root);
		createFlashFilter(sc);
		createHttpMethodFilter(sc);
		createSpringSecurityFilterChain(sc);
		createAdditionalComponents(sc,root);
		createServlet(sc, root);
	}

	protected void createFlashFilter(ServletContext sc)
	{		
		// Allows attributes to be accessed on the next request
		sc.addFilter("flashMapFilter", FlashMapFilter.class)
				.addMappingForUrlPatterns(null, false, "/*");
	}
	
	
	protected void createHttpMethodFilter(ServletContext sc)
	{
		// Enables support for DELETE and PUT request methods with web browser
		// clients
		sc.addFilter("hiddenHttpMethodFilter", HiddenHttpMethodFilter.class)
				.addMappingForUrlPatterns(null, false, "/*");
	}
	
	protected void createSpringSecurityFilterChain(ServletContext sc)
	{
		// Sets up Spring Security
		sc.addFilter("springSecurityFilterChain",new DelegatingFilterProxy())
				.addMappingForUrlPatterns(null,false,"/*");
	}
	
	protected void createServlet(ServletContext sc,WebApplicationContext root)
	{
		// Handles requests into the application
		ServletRegistration.Dynamic appServlet = sc.addServlet("appServlet",
				new DispatcherServlet(root));
		appServlet.setLoadOnStartup(1);
		Set<String> mappingConflicts = appServlet.addMapping("/");
		if (!mappingConflicts.isEmpty()) {
			throw new IllegalStateException(
					"'appServlet' could not be mapped to '/' due "
							+ "to an existing mapping. This is a known issue under Tomcat versions "
							+ "<= 7.0.14; see https://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=51278");
		}
	}
	
	protected void createContextLoaderListener(ServletContext sc,WebApplicationContext root)
	{
		// Manages the lifecycle of the root application context
		sc.addListener(new ContextLoaderListener(root));		
	}
	
	
	protected void createAdditionalComponents(ServletContext sc,WebApplicationContext root)
	{
		// does nothing
	}
	
	/**
	 * Creates the web application context backing this Web application.
	 * @return
	 */
	protected abstract WebApplicationContext createWebApplicationContext();
	
}