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Enterprise advanced

Message-Driven Bean vs Reactive Messaging

Replace JMS Message-Driven Beans with MicroProfile Reactive Messaging for simpler event processing.

Code Comparison
✕ Java EE 
@MessageDriven(activationConfig = {
    @ActivationConfigProperty(
        propertyName = "destinationType",
        propertyValue = "jakarta.jms.Queue"),
    @ActivationConfigProperty(
        propertyName = "destination",
        propertyValue = "java:/jms/OrderQueue")
})
public class OrderMDB implements MessageListener {
    @Override
    public void onMessage(Message message) {
        TextMessage txt = (TextMessage) message;
        processOrder(txt.getText());
    }
}
✓ MicroProfile 4+ 
@ApplicationScoped
public class OrderProcessor {
    @Incoming("orders")
    public void process(Order order) {
        // automatically deserialized from
        // the "orders" channel
        fulfillOrder(order);
    }
}
Why the modern way wins
🪶

Minimal code

A single @Incoming method replaces the MDB class, MessageListener interface, and activation config.

🔌

Broker-agnostic

Swap Kafka, AMQP, or JMS connectors via configuration without changing application code.

☁️

Cloud-native fit

Reactive streams backpressure and lightweight runtime make it ideal for containerised deployments.

Old Approach
Message-Driven Bean
Modern Approach
Reactive Messaging
Since JDK
11
Difficulty
advanced
JDK Support
Message-Driven Bean vs Reactive Messaging
Available

Available since MicroProfile 4.0 / SmallRye Reactive Messaging

How it works

Message-Driven Beans require implementing MessageListener, configuring activation properties, and manually deserializing JMS messages. MicroProfile Reactive Messaging uses a simple @Incoming annotation on a method that receives typed objects directly. The channel configuration is externalised, making the code broker-agnostic and far easier to test.

Related Documentation
MicroProfile Reactive Messaging Specification ↗ SmallRye Reactive Messaging Documentation ↗
Related patterns
Enterprise intermediate

EJB versus CDI

Java EE
@Stateless
public class OrderEJB {
    @EJB
    private InventoryEJB inventory;

    public void placeOrder(Order order) {
        // container-managed transaction
        inventory.reserve(order.getItem());
    }
}
Jakarta EE 8+
@ApplicationScoped
public class OrderService {
    @Inject
    private InventoryService inventory;

    @Transactional
    public void placeOrder(Order order) {
        inventory.reserve(order.getItem());
    }
}
Hover to see modern ➜
JDK 11+ →
Concurrency advanced

Structured concurrency

Java 8
ExecutorService exec =
    Executors.newFixedThreadPool(2);
Future<User> u = exec.submit(this::fetchUser);
Future<Order> o = exec.submit(this::fetchOrder);
try {
    return combine(u.get(), o.get());
} finally { exec.shutdown(); }
Java 25 (Preview)
try (var scope = new StructuredTaskScope
        .ShutdownOnFailure()) {
    var u = scope.fork(this::fetchUser);
    var o = scope.fork(this::fetchOrder);
    scope.join().throwIfFailed();
    return combine(u.get(), o.get());
}
Hover to see modern ➜
JDK 25+ →
Concurrency beginner

Virtual threads

Java 8
Thread thread = new Thread(() -> {
    System.out.println("hello");
});
thread.start();
thread.join();
Java 21+
Thread.startVirtualThread(() -> {
    System.out.println("hello");
}).join();
Hover to see modern ➜
JDK 21+ →
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