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Spring boot introduction

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Spring Boot is a Java-based framework designed to simplify the development of standalone, production-ready, and microservices-based applications. It is built on top of the Spring Framework and removes the need for extensive configurations, making development faster and more efficient.

Key Features of Spring Boot

Auto-Configuration – Automatically configures Spring components based on project dependencies.

Spring Boot Starters – Predefined dependencies to simplify development.

Embedded Servers – Comes with built-in servers like Tomcat, Jetty, and Undertow.

Production-Ready Monitoring – Includes Spring Boot Actuator for health checks and metrics.

Microservices Support – Ideal for developing RESTful APIs and Microservices.

Externalized Configuration – Supports application.properties and application.yml for easy configuration management.

Spring Boot vs Spring Framework vs Spring MVC

Feature

Spring Framework

Spring Boot

Spring MVC

Configuration

Requires manual setup (XML/Java-based)

Auto-configured

Uses Spring Framework

Boilerplate Code

High

Minimal

Moderate

Embedded Server

No

Yes (Tomcat, Jetty)

No

REST API Support

Requires setup

Built-in support

Requires setup

Microservices

Not directly supported

Ideal for Microservices

Not ideal

Why Use Spring Boot? (Advantages)

🔹 Reduces Boilerplate Code – No need for extensive configurations.

🔹 Fast Development – Spring Boot starters and auto-configuration save time.

🔹 Microservices Friendly – Easily build distributed applications.

🔹 Standalone Applications – No need for an external server; runs with java -jar.

🔹 Production-Ready – Built-in monitoring and logging.

Spring Boot Architecture

Spring Boot follows a layered architecture consisting of:

🔹 Presentation Layer – Handles user requests (Controller, HTML, JSON).

🔹 Service Layer – Contains business logic and services.

🔹 Repository Layer – Interacts with the database (Spring Data JPA, Hibernate).

🔹 Database Layer – Stores application data.


Spring Boot Auto Configuration

Spring Boot automatically configures components based on dependencies.

Example: If Spring Boot Starter Web is present, it auto-configures Tomcat as an embedded server.

Hello World Example in Spring Boot

Step 1: Create a Spring Boot Project (Using Spring Initializr)

  • Visit Spring Initializr
  • Select Maven/Gradle, Java, Spring Boot version
  • Add Spring Web, Spring Boot DevTools dependencies
  • Click Generate, then extract the downloaded ZIP


Step 2: Create the Main Application Class

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

@SpringBootApplication // Marks this as a Spring Boot Application
public class SpringBootDemoApplication {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(SpringBootDemoApplication.class, args);
}
}

Step 3: Create a Simple REST Controller

import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api")
public class HelloController {
@GetMapping("/hello")
public String sayHello() {
return "Hello, Spring Boot!";
}
}
  • Run the application
  • Open http://localhost:8080/api/hello in a browser
  • Output: Hello, Spring Boot!

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