Creating a simple “Hello World” web application using Spring MVC involves several steps. Below is a guide that will walk you through creating the application from scratch:
1. Set Up the Project
Use a build tool like Maven or Gradle to manage your dependencies. Here, we’ll use Maven.
pom.xml
Create a pom.xml file and include the necessary dependencies:
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>org.kodejava</groupId>
<artifactId>hello-world-spring-mvc</artifactId>
<version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<packaging>war</packaging>
<dependencies>
<!-- Spring MVC -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
<version>6.1.0</version>
</dependency>
<!-- Spring Boot Starter (Optional for running the app with Boot) -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
<version>3.2.0</version>
</dependency>
<!-- JSTL for view rendering -->
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
<version>1.2</version>
</dependency>
<!-- Servlet API -->
<dependency>
<groupId>jakarta.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>jakarta.servlet-api</artifactId>
<version>5.0.0</version>
<scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
</project>
2. Configure the Project
web.xml
If you’re using traditional deployment (instead of Spring Boot), a web.xml configuration file is required under src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/.
<web-app xmlns="http://jakarta.ee/xml/ns/jakartaee"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://jakarta.ee/xml/ns/jakartaee http://jakarta.ee/xml/ns/jakartaee/web-app_5_0.xsd"
version="5.0">
<display-name>Hello World App</display-name>
<!-- DispatcherServlet mapping -->
<servlet>
<servlet-name>dispatcher</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>dispatcher</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<!-- Context loader -->
<context-param>
<param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
<param-value>/WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml</param-value>
</context-param>
</web-app>
3. Spring Configuration
dispatcher-servlet.xml (Spring MVC Application Context)
Place this file under WEB-INF/.
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc"
xsi:schemaLocation="
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc
http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc.xsd">
<!-- Enable annotation-based Spring components -->
<context:component-scan base-package="org.kodejava" />
<mvc:annotation-driven />
<!-- Configure the view resolver -->
<bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceViewResolver">
<property name="prefix" value="/WEB-INF/views/" />
<property name="suffix" value=".jsp" />
</bean>
</beans>
4. Creating the Controller
HelloWorldController.java
Create a controller in the org.kodejava package.
package org.kodejava;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
import org.springframework.ui.Model;
@Controller
public class HelloWorldController {
@GetMapping("/")
public String helloWorld(Model model) {
model.addAttribute("message", "Hello, World!");
return "hello"; // Refers to the hello.jsp view
}
}
5. Create a View
hello.jsp
Place the JSP file in src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/views/.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Hello World</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>${message}</h1>
</body>
</html>
6. Running the Application
Using Spring Boot (Simpler)
- If you added Spring Boot dependencies in your
pom.xml, include amainmethod and run the project:
package org.kodejava;
import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
@SpringBootApplication
public class HelloWorldApplication {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(HelloWorldApplication.class, args);
}
}
Using a Traditional Servlet Container
- Package your application as a WAR file (
mvn clean package) and deploy it to a servlet container (e.g., Apache Tomcat).
Access the Application
Once the application is deployed, access the URL: http://localhost:8080/
You will see the Hello, World! message displayed.
