How do I create a simple Hello World web app using Spring MVC?

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 a main method 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.