Spring MVC hello world example

Table of Contents

Spring MVC tutorial:

In this post, we will see Spring MVC hello world example using maven.

Spring MVC tutorial:

Tools used for this post are:

Eclipse
Maven plugin(m2eclipse)
JDK 1.7
Apache tomcat 8

Steps for creating Spring MVC hello world example.

1) Install m2eclipse for maven plugin in eclipse. Please follow this link for installing m2eclipse plugin in eclipse.

2) goto new -> project-> Maven Project and click on next

3) You will see below screen , again click on next

4) We need to select type of archetype here.As we are creating web app here, please put following text in filter : maven-archetype-webapp

5) We need to put group id and artifact id here.

Let me tell you more about group id and artifact id.

Group id : It uniquely identifies your project among all. So it may be something like com.companyname

Artifact id : It is name of jar or war without version. it may be something like project, so here we have put artifact id as mavenWebApp

Version : Version is used for version control for artifact id. If you distribute this project, you may incrementally create different version of it.

When you follow above steps, your project structure will look like below:

As you can see, we are getting an error (“The superclass “javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet” was found in java build path”) in index.jsp.

To solve this issue, follow below steps:

you need to set target run time as Apache tomcat. To do that,right click on project -> properties -> target runtimes

Adding Spring MVC dependency

6) Add spring dependency in pom.xml. We require spring core and spring mvc dependency here.

pom.xml


  <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/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
 <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 <groupId>com.arpit.java2blog</groupId>
 <artifactId>SpringMVCHelloWorldExample</artifactId>
 <packaging>war</packaging>
 <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
 <name>SpringMVCHelloWorldExample Maven Webapp</name>
 <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
 <dependencies>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>junit</groupId>
 <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
 <version>3.8.1</version>
 <scope>test</scope>
 </dependency>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
 <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
 <version>3.1.0</version>
 </dependency>

 <dependency>
 <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
 <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
 <version>${spring.version}</version>
 </dependency>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
 <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
 <version>${spring.version}</version>
 </dependency>
 </dependencies>
 <build>
 <finalName>SpringMVCHelloWorldExample</finalName>

 <plugins>
 <plugin>
 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
 <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
 <version>3.1</version>
 <configuration>
 <source>${jdk.version}</source>
 <target>${jdk.version}</target>
 </configuration>
 </plugin>
 </plugins>

 </build>
 <properties>
 <spring.version>4.2.1.RELEASE</spring.version>
 <jdk.version>1.7</jdk.version>
 </properties>
</project>

<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/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">

<groupId>com.arpit.java2blog</groupId>

<artifactId>SpringMVCHelloWorldExample</artifactId>

<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>

<name>SpringMVCHelloWorldExample Maven Webapp</name>

<url>http://maven.apache.org</url>

<groupId>junit</groupId>

<artifactId>junit</artifactId>

</dependency>

<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>

<artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>

</dependency>

<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>

<artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>

<version>${spring.version}</version>

</dependency>

<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>

<artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>

<version>${spring.version}</version>

</dependency>

</dependencies>

<build>

<finalName>SpringMVCHelloWorldExample</finalName>

<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>

<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>

<source>${jdk.version}</source>

<target>${jdk.version}</target>

</configuration>

</plugin>

</plugins>

</build>

<spring.version>4.2.1.RELEASE</spring.version>

<jdk.version>1.7</jdk.version>

</properties>

</project>

Create Controller and view

7) Create a package named “org.arpit.java2blog.springmvc.controller”
create a controller class named “HelloWorldController.java”


package org.arpit.java2blog.springmvc.controller;

import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.ModelAndView;

@Controller
public class HelloWorldController {

    @RequestMapping("/helloworld")
    public ModelAndView hello() {

        String helloWorldMessage = "Hello world from java2blog!";
        return new ModelAndView("hello", "message", helloWorldMessage);
    }
}

package org.arpit.java2blog.springmvc.controller;

import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;

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

import org.springframework.web.servlet.ModelAndView;

@Controller

public class HelloWorldController {

@RequestMapping("/helloworld")

public ModelAndView hello() {

String helloWorldMessage = "Hello world from java2blog!";

return new ModelAndView("hello", "message", helloWorldMessage);

}

As request first goes to dispatcherServlet and it redirects to controller class. Here @Controller depicts that this is our controller class. @RequestMapper is used to map incoming http request to handler method(hello() in above controller).So hello() method of HelloWorldController.java will handle GET request from dispatcher.So when we have url of


http://localhost:8080/SpringMVCHelloWorldExample/helloworld or
http://localhost:8080/SpringMVCHelloWorldExample/helloworld.html

http://localhost:8080/SpringMVCHelloWorldExample/helloworld or

http://localhost:8080/SpringMVCHelloWorldExample/helloworld.html

above method will get called.

As you can see ModelAndView object is being returned in hello() method. It will call below constructor of ModelAndView class.
ModelAndView(String viewName, String modelName, Object modelObject)
Below diagram will make it clear

8) Modify index.jsp as below


<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html; charset=UTF-8"
 pageEncoding="UTF-8"%>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title>HelloWorld</title>
</head>
<body>
<a href="helloworld.html">Click here to read hello message </a>
</body>
</html>

<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html; charset=UTF-8"

pageEncoding="UTF-8"%>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

<html>

<head>

<title>HelloWorld</title>

</head>

<body>

<a href="helloworld.html">Click here to read hello message </a>

</body>

</html>

Create hello.jsp in /WEB-INF/ folder


<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html; charset=UTF-8"
 pageEncoding="UTF-8"%>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title>Hello</title>
</head>
<body>
${message}
</body>
</html>

<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html; charset=UTF-8"

pageEncoding="UTF-8"%>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

<html>

<head>

<title>Hello</title>

</head>

<body>

${message}

</body>

</html>

Configuring spring mvc application

9) Now we need to configure two files “web.xml” and “springmvc-dispatcher-servlet.xml” We need to declare DispatcherServlet in web.xml for spring MVC. When DisplatcherServlet is initialized,spring tries to load application context from [servlet name]-servet.xml file. So in this case, it will be try to load springmvc-dispatcher-servlet.xml.


  <web-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
 http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_0.xsd"
 version="3.0">
 <display-name>Archetype Created Web Application</display-name>
 <welcome-file-list>
 <welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
 </welcome-file-list>
 <servlet>
 <servlet-name>springmvc-dispatcher</servlet-name>
 <servlet-class>
 org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet
 </servlet-class>
 <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
 </servlet>

 <servlet-mapping>
 <servlet-name>springmvc-dispatcher</servlet-name>
 <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
 </servlet-mapping>
 </web-app>

<web-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"

xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee

http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_0.xsd"

version="3.0">

<display-name>Archetype Created Web Application</display-name>

<welcome-file-list>

<welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>

</welcome-file-list>

<servlet-name>springmvc-dispatcher</servlet-name>

<servlet-class>

org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet

</servlet-class>

<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>

</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>

<servlet-name>springmvc-dispatcher</servlet-name>

<url-pattern>/</url-pattern>

</servlet-mapping>

</web-app>

10) create xml file named “springmvc-dispatcher-servlet.xml” in /WEB-INF folder as below.


 <beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
 xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
 xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
 xsi:schemaLocation=" http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
 http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.0.xsd http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc-3.0.xsd">

<context:component-scan base-package="org.arpit.java2blog.springmvc.controller" />

 <bean
 class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceViewResolver">
 <property name="prefix">
 <value>/WEB-INF/</value>
 </property>
 <property name="suffix">
 <value>.jsp</value>
 </property>
 </bean>
 <mvc:annotation-driven/>

</beans>

<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"

xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"

xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"

xsi:schemaLocation=" http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd http://www.springframework.org/schema/context

http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.0.xsd http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc-3.0.xsd">

<context:component-scan base-package="org.arpit.java2blog.springmvc.controller" />

<bean

class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceViewResolver">

</property>

</property>

</bean>

<mvc:annotation-driven/>

</beans>

context:component-scan allows spring to load its class and child class. As you can see, we have given controller package here, so it will load HelloWorldController.class.
InternalResourceViewResolver is resource view resolver bean which will resolve view, prefix and suffix will be added to view used in ModelViewObject. As we have used “hello” as viewName in ModelAndView object. It will search for view in /WEB-INF/hello.jsp.

11) It ‘s time to do maven build.

Right click on project -> Run as -> Maven build

12) Provide goals as clean install (given below) and click on run

Run the application

13) Right click on project -> run as -> run on server

Select apache tomcat and click on finish

14) You will see below screen:

When you click on above link, you will get below screen

We are done with Spring MVC hello example. If you are still facing any issue, please comment.

Download

click to begin

20KB .zip

Project structure:

If you getting 404 error with above steps, you may need to follow below steps:

1) If you are getting this warning into your Tomcat startup console log, then it can cause the issue

WARNING: [SetPropertiesRule]{Server/Service/Engine/Host/Context} Setting property ‘source’ to ‘org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.server:SpringMVCHelloWorldExample’ did not find a matching property.

This particular warning basically means that the element in Tomcat’s server.xml contains an unknown attribute source and that Tomcat doesn’t know what to do with this attribute and therefore will ignore it.
To resolve this in eclipse,
Remove the project from the server from the Server View. Right click on server -> add and remove

then remove project from server configuration.

Then run the project under the same server. Warning should be removed now
Or if warning still remains then

Go to server view
Double click on your tomcat server. It will open the server configuration.
Under server options check ‘Publish module contents to separate XML files’ checkbox.
Restart your server. This time your page will come without any issues.

2) Try to update Maven project.
Right click on project ->Maven-> update project

then

This should solve you issues.

Was this post helpful?

Let us know if this post was helpful. Feedbacks are monitored on daily basis. Please do provide feedback as that\'s the only way to improve.

It turned out I had some other problems with my eclipse stuff. I fixed those and now I get this:

org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log INFO: No Spring WebApplicationInitializer types detected on classpath
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log INFO: Initializing Spring FrameworkServlet 'springmvc-dispatcher'
org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet initServletBean INFO: FrameworkServlet 'springmvc-dispatcher': initialization started
org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext prepareRefresh INFO: Refreshing WebApplicationContext for namespace 'springmvc-dispatcher-servlet': startup date [Sun Sep 13 10:49:17 PDT 2015]; root of context hierarchy
org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader loadBeanDefinitions INFO: Loading XML bean definitions from ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/springmvc-dispatcher-servlet.xml]
org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter initControllerAdviceCache INFO: Looking for @ControllerAdvice: WebApplicationContext for namespace 'springmvc-dispatcher-servlet': startup date [Sun Sep 13 10:49:17 PDT 2015]; root of context hierarchy
org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter initControllerAdviceCache INFO: Looking for @ControllerAdvice: WebApplicationContext for namespace 'springmvc-dispatcher-servlet': startup date [Sun Sep 13 10:49:17 PDT 2015]; root of context hierarchy
org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet initServletBean INFO: FrameworkServlet 'springmvc-dispatcher': initialization completed in 1462 ms
org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler [“http-apr-8080”]
org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler [“ajp-apr-8009”]
org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start INFO: Server startup in 2930 ms
org.springframework.web.servlet.PageNotFound noHandlerFound WARNING: No mapping found for HTTP request with URI [/HelloWorld/helloworld] in DispatcherServlet with name 'springmvc-dispatcher'

Comments

arpitmandliya says:

September 13, 2015 at 5:37 am

Hi billsd,
As you had mentioned, you are getting this warning into your Tomcat startup console log, then it can cause the issue

WARNING: [SetPropertiesRule]{Server/Service/Engine/Host/Context} Setting property 'source' to 'org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.server:SpringMVCHelloWorldExample' did not find a matching property.

This particular warning basically means that the element in Tomcat's server.xml contains an unknown attribute source and that Tomcat doesn't know what to do with this attribute and therefore will ignore it.
To resolve this in eclipse,
Remove the project from the server from the Server View. Right click on server -> add and remove
then remove project from server configuration.

Then run the project under the same server. Warning should be removed now

Or if warning still remains then
Go to server view
Double click on your tomcat server. It will open the server configuration.
Under server options check ‘Publish module contents to separate XML files’ checkbox.
Restart your server. This time your page will come without any issues.

Please let me know if above solution solved your issue. I have updated article too.

1. billdsd says:
  
  September 13, 2015 at 5:04 pm
  
  I actually did a lot of Googling yesterday and found out that that message is irrelevant. It's caused by Eclipse. Eclipse inserts a source attribute into the Context element to keep track of which app is associated with which project. The source attribute is undefined in JEE for the Context element so Tomcat prints a warning but otherwise ignores it. It's harmless. If I ran it on the sever outside of Eclipse and removed that attribute, it would work without giving that warning. Inside Eclipse, it needs to be there.
  
  Try running deploying yours and look at your logs. You probably get that warning too and didn't notice it.
  
  1. arpitmandliya says:
    
    September 13, 2015 at 5:36 pm
    
    Hi bill,
    I have added source code also now at the end of post. I have just tested it and it works fine.
    Please import the project as maven project and try to run it.
    Hope this helps.
    
    Thanks for following this post
    
    1. billdsd says:
      
      September 13, 2015 at 5:53 pm
      
      It turned out I had some other problems with my eclipse stuff. I fixed those and now I get this:
      
      org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log INFO: No Spring WebApplicationInitializer types detected on classpath
      org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log INFO: Initializing Spring FrameworkServlet 'springmvc-dispatcher'
      org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet initServletBean INFO: FrameworkServlet 'springmvc-dispatcher': initialization started
      org.springframework.web.context.support.XmlWebApplicationContext prepareRefresh INFO: Refreshing WebApplicationContext for namespace 'springmvc-dispatcher-servlet': startup date [Sun Sep 13 10:49:17 PDT 2015]; root of context hierarchy
      org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.XmlBeanDefinitionReader loadBeanDefinitions INFO: Loading XML bean definitions from ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/springmvc-dispatcher-servlet.xml]
      org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter initControllerAdviceCache INFO: Looking for @ControllerAdvice: WebApplicationContext for namespace 'springmvc-dispatcher-servlet': startup date [Sun Sep 13 10:49:17 PDT 2015]; root of context hierarchy
      org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter initControllerAdviceCache INFO: Looking for @ControllerAdvice: WebApplicationContext for namespace 'springmvc-dispatcher-servlet': startup date [Sun Sep 13 10:49:17 PDT 2015]; root of context hierarchy
      org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet initServletBean INFO: FrameworkServlet 'springmvc-dispatcher': initialization completed in 1462 ms
      org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler [“http-apr-8080”]
      org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol start INFO: Starting ProtocolHandler [“ajp-apr-8009”]
      org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start INFO: Server startup in 2930 ms
      org.springframework.web.servlet.PageNotFound noHandlerFound WARNING: No mapping found for HTTP request with URI [/HelloWorld/helloworld] in DispatcherServlet with name 'springmvc-dispatcher'
      
arpitmandliya says:

September 13, 2015 at 5:59 pm

Hi bill,
Could you please check if .class of contoller is generated in this folder
/SpringMVCHelloWorldExample/target/SpringMVCHelloWorldExample/WEB-INF/classes/org/arpit/java2blog/springmvc/controller

Just change SpringMVCHelloWorldExample with your project name.
Also make sure you are creating controller class in
src/main/java/org.arpit.java2blog.springmvc.controller folder.

Let me know if it helps

Ankit says:

March 6, 2016 at 2:16 am

where is the helloworld.html file defined in here ??????????

Rechard says:

October 2, 2016 at 5:08 am

In springmvc-dispatcher-servlet.xml line 7 remember to change the base-package name to your controller package name.

lucas says:

October 17, 2016 at 2:14 am

Amazing, I tested it following the tutorial, but I must have made some mistake and it didn't work. Then I downloaded the code and imported it , and it's worked. I'm really thankful.

Rahul says:

January 29, 2018 at 1:02 pm

And the correct material found here .. Thanks

Spring MVC hello world example

Spring MVC tutorial:

Steps for creating Spring MVC hello world example.

Adding Spring MVC dependency

Create Controller and view

Configuring spring mvc application

Run the application

Project structure:

If you getting 404 error with above steps, you may need to follow below steps:

Was this post helpful?

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Spring MVC tutorial:

Steps for creating Spring MVC hello world example.

Adding Spring MVC dependency

Create Controller and view

Configuring spring mvc application

Run the application

Project structure:

If you getting 404 error with above steps, you may need to follow below steps:

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