How to build a Spring MVC application using Maven in IntelliJ IDEA

Introduction

This tutorial will guide you through the process of building a Spring MVC application using Maven in the IntelliJ IDEA development environment. We will cover the essential steps, from setting up the development environment to leveraging Docker for containerization, to help you get started with building modern web applications.

Skills Graph

Introduction to Spring MVC

Spring MVC is a popular web application framework that is part of the Spring ecosystem. It follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern, which separates the application logic into three interconnected components: the model, the view, and the controller.

What is Spring MVC?

Spring MVC is a Java-based web application framework that provides a comprehensive programming and configuration model for building web applications. It simplifies the development of web applications by handling the common tasks and patterns associated with web development, such as request handling, view rendering, and data binding.

Key Components of Spring MVC

The main components of the Spring MVC framework are:

1. Model: The model represents the data and the business logic of the application. It is responsible for managing the data and the state of the application.

2. View: The view is responsible for rendering the user interface of the application. It is responsible for presenting the data to the user and handling user interactions.

3. Controller: The controller is the intermediary between the model and the view. It receives user requests, processes the data, and passes the data to the view for rendering.

Benefits of Using Spring MVC

Some of the key benefits of using Spring MVC include:

1. Separation of Concerns: The MVC pattern promotes a clear separation of concerns, making the code more maintainable and testable.
2. Flexibility: Spring MVC provides a flexible and configurable architecture, allowing developers to customize the framework to fit their specific needs.
3. Scalability: Spring MVC is designed to be scalable, making it suitable for building large-scale web applications.
4. Integration with Other Spring Modules: Spring MVC seamlessly integrates with other Spring modules, such as Spring Security, Spring Data, and Spring Boot, providing a comprehensive and cohesive development experience.

By understanding the basic concepts and components of Spring MVC, you'll be better equipped to build robust and scalable web applications using this powerful framework.

Setting up the Development Environment with IntelliJ IDEA

To get started with building a Spring MVC application using Maven in IntelliJ IDEA, you'll need to set up your development environment. Here's how you can do it:

Installing Java Development Kit (JDK)

First, you'll need to install the Java Development Kit (JDK) on your Ubuntu 22.04 system. You can do this by running the following commands in your terminal:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install openjdk-11-jdk

Verify the installation by checking the Java version:

java -version

Installing IntelliJ IDEA

Next, you'll need to install IntelliJ IDEA, a popular Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Java development. You can download the latest version of IntelliJ IDEA from the official website: https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/download/

Once the download is complete, extract the ZIP file and run the following command to start the IDE:

./idea.sh

Configuring the Spring MVC Project

1. Open IntelliJ IDEA and create a new project by selecting "Create New Project" from the welcome screen.
2. Choose "Maven" as the project type and click "Next".
3. Provide a project name and location, then click "Finish".
4. In the project structure, right-click on the "src/main/java" folder and select "New" > "Package". Create a package for your application, e.g., "com.labex.springmvc".
5. Right-click on the package and select "New" > "Java Class". Create a new class for your Spring MVC controller, e.g., "HelloController.java".

package com.labex.springmvc;

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

@Controller
public class HelloController {

    @GetMapping("/")
    public String hello(Model model) {
        model.addAttribute("message", "Hello from LabEx Spring MVC!");
        return "hello";
    }
}

6. Create a new folder called "templates" under the "src/main/resources" directory. This is where you'll place your Spring MVC view templates.
7. Inside the "templates" folder, create a new file called "hello.html" and add the following content:

<!doctype html>
<html xmlns:th="http://www.thymeleaf.org">
  <head>
    <title>Hello LabEx</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1 th:text="${message}"></h1>
  </body>
</html>

Now you have set up the basic development environment for your Spring MVC application using IntelliJ IDEA and Maven. You can proceed to the next step, which is building the Spring MVC application.

Building a Spring MVC Application with Maven

Now that you have set up your development environment, let's start building a Spring MVC application using Maven.

Configuring the Maven Project

1. Open the pom.xml file in your IntelliJ IDEA project.
2. Add the necessary dependencies for Spring MVC and Thymeleaf (the view template engine) by adding the following code inside the <dependencies> section:

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        <version>2.7.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf</artifactId>
        <version>2.7.0</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

3. Add the Spring Boot Maven plugin to the <plugins> section of the pom.xml file:

<build>
    <plugins>
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.7.0</version>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

Implementing the Spring MVC Controller

In the HelloController.java file, you can define the controller logic that will handle the incoming requests and return the appropriate view:

package com.labex.springmvc;

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

@Controller
public class HelloController {

    @GetMapping("/")
    public String hello(Model model) {
        model.addAttribute("message", "Hello from LabEx Spring MVC!");
        return "hello";
    }
}

Configuring the Spring MVC Application

To configure the Spring MVC application, you'll need to create a SpringMvcApplication.java file in the root package (e.g., com.labex.springmvc) with the following content:

package com.labex.springmvc;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

@SpringBootApplication
public class SpringMvcApplication {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(SpringMvcApplication.class, args);
    }
}

Running the Spring MVC Application

1. In the IntelliJ IDEA terminal, navigate to your project directory and run the following command to build and start the application:

mvn spring-boot:run

2. Once the application is running, open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080/. You should see the "Hello from LabEx Spring MVC!" message displayed on the page.

Congratulations! You have successfully built a Spring MVC application using Maven in IntelliJ IDEA. You can now continue to enhance your application by adding more functionality, such as additional controllers, services, and views.

Summary

In this tutorial, you have learned how to build a Spring MVC application using Maven in IntelliJ IDEA, as well as how to utilize Docker for containerization. By following the steps outlined, you should now be able to set up your development environment, create a Spring MVC project, and package your application as a Docker container for deployment. This knowledge will be valuable as you continue to explore and build web applications with Spring MVC and Docker.