Building a Spring Boot MVC Application: A Step-by-Step Guide

May 05, 2022

Spring Boot is a powerful framework for building Java-based web applications, and its MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture makes it a perfect choice for creating web applications that follow the principles of separation of concerns and maintainability. In this blog, we'll walk you through the process of building a Spring Boot MVC application from scratch, covering the essential concepts and steps along the way.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following tools and software installed:

Java Development Kit (JDK)
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) such as IntelliJ IDEA or Eclipse
Apache Maven (optional but recommended for managing dependencies)

Step 1: Create a New Spring Boot Project

The first step is to create a new Spring Boot project using Spring Initializr (https://start.spring.io/). Follow these steps:

Visit the Spring Initializr website.
Choose your project options:
- Project: Choose "Maven Project."
- Language: Choose "Java."
- Spring Boot: Choose the latest stable version.
- Project Metadata: Fill in your project's Group, Artifact, and Package information.
- Dependencies: Search for and select "Spring Web."
Click the "Generate" button to download the project as a ZIP file.
Extract the downloaded ZIP file to your preferred location on your local machine.

Step 2: Create a Controller

In Spring MVC, controllers handle incoming requests and determine the appropriate response. Let's create a simple controller class:

import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.ui.Model;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;

@Controller
public class HomeController {

    @GetMapping("/")
    public String home(Model model) {
        model.addAttribute("message", "Welcome to Spring Boot MVC!");
        return "index";
    }
}

In this example, we've created a HomeController that handles requests for the root path ("/"). It sets an attribute named "message" in the Model and returns a view named "index."

Step 3: Create a View

Views in Spring MVC are typically implemented as Thymeleaf templates, JSP files, or HTML files. For this example, let's use Thymeleaf templates. Create a file named index.html in the src/main/resources/templates directory:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns:th="<http://www.thymeleaf.org">>
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Spring Boot MVC Example</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1 th:text="${message}"></h1>
</body>
</html>

This HTML file uses Thymeleaf's templating syntax to display the message attribute passed from the controller.

Step 4: Configure Application Properties

By default, Spring Boot uses an embedded web server (e.g., Tomcat) and configures it for you. You can customize the server port and other settings in the application.properties file. Create or edit this file in the src/main/resources directory:

# Set the server port (optional)
server.port=8080

Step 5: Run the Application

You can run your Spring Boot MVC application using your IDE or by using Maven. If you're using Maven, open a terminal in your project directory and run the following command:

mvn spring-boot:run

Once the application starts, you should see output indicating that the embedded web server is running.

Step 6: Access Your Application

Open a web browser and navigate to <http://localhost:8080/> (or the port you specified in application.properties). You should see the message "Welcome to Spring Boot MVC!" displayed on the web page.

Congratulations! You've successfully created a simple Spring Boot MVC application. This is just the beginning, and you can extend this application by adding more controllers, views, and business logic to meet your project's requirements.

Conclusion

Spring Boot makes it easy to get started with building MVC applications in Java. In this tutorial, we've covered the basic steps to create a Spring Boot MVC project, create a controller, define a view, and run the application. From here, you can explore more advanced topics such as handling form submissions, integrating databases, securing your application, and building RESTful APIs, all while benefiting from the simplicity and productivity that Spring Boot provides. Happy coding!

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