Apache Kafka is known for asynchronous, event-driven communication, but synchronous request-reply patterns may be necessary.
Spring Kafka simplifies synchronous request-reply messaging with features like ReplyingKafkaTemplate.
The article delves into setting up local Kafka with Docker, configuring Kafka in a Spring Boot project, and creating producer and consumer services.
The provided code example includes Kafka setup, project configuration, Kafka template setup, and handling synchronous replies.
KafkaRequestClient sends messages to request-topic and waits for replies from the reply-topic using ReplyingKafkaTemplate.
KafkaRequestConsumer listens for messages on the request-topic and sends a processed response to the reply-topic.
A REST controller exposes Kafka producer functionality as an HTTP endpoint for sending and receiving messages over Kafka.
Running the Spring Boot application triggers Kafka request-reply communication and demonstrates the flow of messages.
The usage of ReplyingKafkaTemplate in Spring Kafka enables a clean request-reply communication model for inter-service communication.
Caution is urged when using synchronous patterns over Kafka, especially in time-sensitive applications, as they should not replace standard RPC mechanisms.