Spring Boot Quiz: @Value/@ConfigurationProperties - Which approach supports type-safe validation and grouping of properties?

Question

A. @Value

B. Environment.getProperty()

C. @ConfigurationProperties

D. All of the above

Answer

C. @ConfigurationProperties

@Value → Injects individual property values, but has no built-in type safety or grouping. You can only bind single values.

Environment.getProperty() → Just a programmatic way to fetch values, again no type safety or validation.

@ConfigurationProperties → Allows us to map groups of related properties into a POJO, supports JSR-303 validation (e.g., @NotNull, @Min), and ensures type-safe binding.

Now Spring validates and binds the config into a strongly-typed bean.

Key Points

• app.name → binds to name

• app.poolSize → binds to poolSize

• Validation kicks in: if poolSize: 0 or name: null, startup will fail with a clear error.

• Much safer than sprinkling @Value("${app.name}") all over.