In this tutorial, we show you a Spring 3 MVC hello world example, using Maven build tool.

Technologies used :

  1. Spring 3.2.13.RELEASE
  2. Maven 3
  3. JDK 1.6
  4. Eclipse 4.4
  5. Boostrap 3
Spring 4 MVC XML
Try this Spring 4 MVC hello world example.
Spring 3 MVC Annotation
Try this Spring 3 MVC hello world annotation example.

1. Project Structure

Download the project source code and review the project folder structure :

spring3-mvc-maven-project
 

2. Maven

A pom.xml template to quick start a Spring MVC project, it defines Spring 3 dependencies, an embedded Jetty container and Eclipse workspace configuration.

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.mkyong</groupId>
	<artifactId>spring3-web</artifactId>
	<packaging>war</packaging>
	<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
	<name>spring css</name>

	<properties>
		<jdk.version>1.6</jdk.version>
		<spring.version>3.2.13.RELEASE</spring.version>
		<jstl.version>1.2</jstl.version>
	</properties>

	<dependencies>
		<dependency>
			<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
			<artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
			<version>${spring.version}</version>
		</dependency>
		<dependency>
			<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
			<artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
			<version>${jstl.version}</version>
		</dependency>
	</dependencies>

	<build>
	  <plugins>
		<plugin>
			<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
			<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
			<version>3.3</version>
			<configuration>
				<source>${jdk.version}</source>
				<target>${jdk.version}</target>
			</configuration>
		</plugin>

		<!-- embedded Jetty server, for testing -->
		<plugin>
			<groupId>org.eclipse.jetty</groupId>
			<artifactId>jetty-maven-plugin</artifactId>
			<version>9.2.11.v20150529</version>
			<configuration>
				<scanIntervalSeconds>10</scanIntervalSeconds>
				<webApp>
					<contextPath>/spring3</contextPath>
				</webApp>
			</configuration>
		</plugin>

		<!-- configure Eclipse workspace --> 
		<plugin>
			<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
			<artifactId>maven-eclipse-plugin</artifactId>
			<version>2.9</version>
			<configuration>
				<downloadSources>true</downloadSources>
				<downloadJavadocs>true</downloadJavadocs>
				<wtpversion>2.0</wtpversion>
				<wtpContextName>spring3</wtpContextName>
			</configuration>
		</plugin>
	  </plugins>
	</build>

  </project>
 

3. Controller & Mapping

The @RequestMapping has been available since 2.5, but now enhanced to support REST style URLs.

HelloController.java
package com.mkyong.web.controller;

import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.ui.ModelMap;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PathVariable;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.ModelAndView;

@Controller
public class HelloController {

	@RequestMapping(value = "/", method = RequestMethod.GET)
	public String printWelcome(ModelMap model) {

		model.addAttribute("message", "Spring 3 MVC Hello World");
		return "hello";

	}

	@RequestMapping(value = "/hello/{name:.+}", method = RequestMethod.GET)
	public ModelAndView hello(@PathVariable("name") String name) {

		ModelAndView model = new ModelAndView();
		model.setViewName("hello");
		model.addObject("msg", name);

		return model;

	}

}

4. JSP Views

A JSP page to display the value, and include bootstrap css and js.

html4strict
<%@ taglib prefix="spring" uri="http://www.springframework.org/tags"%>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core"%>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>

 
<spring:url value="/resources/core/css/hello.css" var="coreCss" />
<spring:url value="/resources/core/css/bootstrap.min.css" var="bootstrapCss" />
<link href="${bootstrapCss}" rel="stylesheet" />
<link href="${coreCss}" rel="stylesheet" />
</head>
 
<nav class="navbar navbar-inverse navbar-fixed-top">
  <div class="container">
	<div class="navbar-header">
		<a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Spring 3 MVC Project</a>
	</div>
  </div>
</nav>
 
<div class="jumbotron">
  <div class="container">
	<h1>${title}</h1>
	<p>
		<c:if test="${not empty name}">
			Hello ${name}
		</c:if>
 
		<c:if test="${empty name}">
			Welcome Welcome!
		</c:if>
    </p>
    <p>
	<a class="btn btn-primary btn-lg" href="#" role="button">Learn more</a>
    </p>
  </div>
</div>
 
<div class="container">
 
  <div class="row">
	<div class="col-md-4">
		<h2>Heading</h2>
		<p>ABC</p>
		<p>
		<a class="btn btn-default" href="#" role="button">View details</a>
		</p>
	</div>
	<div class="col-md-4">
		<h2>Heading</h2>
		<p>ABC</p>
		<p>
		<a class="btn btn-default" href="#" role="button">View details</a>
		</p>
	</div>
	<div class="col-md-4">
		<h2>Heading</h2>
		<p>ABC</p>
		<p>
		<a class="btn btn-default" href="#" role="button">View details</a>
		</p>
	</div>
  </div>
 
  <hr />
  <footer>
	<p>© Mkyong.com 2015</p>
  </footer>
</div>
 
<spring:url value="/resources/core/css/hello.js" var="coreJs" />
<spring:url value="/resources/core/css/bootstrap.min.js" var="bootstrapJs" />
 
<script src="${coreJs}"></script>
<script src="${bootstrapJs}"></script>
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
 
</body>
</html>

5. Spring XML Configuration

5.1 Enable component scanning, view resolver and resource mapping.

spring-web-servlet.xml
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
	xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
	xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc"
	xsi:schemaLocation="
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans     
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.2.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc 
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc-3.2.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context 
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.2.xsd">

	<context:component-scan base-package="com.mkyong.web" />

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

	<mvc:resources mapping="/resources/**" location="/resources/" />
 
	<mvc:annotation-driven />
	
</beans>

5.2 Declares a DispatcherServlet in web.xml. If the Spring XML configuration file is NOT specified, Spring will look for the {servlet-name}-servlet.xml.

In this example, Spring will look for the spring-web-servlet.xml file.

web.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_2_5.xsd"
	version="2.5">
	
	<display-name>Spring3 MVC Application</display-name>

	<servlet>
		<servlet-name>spring-web</servlet-name>
		<servlet-class>
                    org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet
                </servlet-class>
		<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
	</servlet>

	<servlet-mapping>
		<servlet-name>spring-web</servlet-name>
		<url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
	</servlet-mapping>

</web-app>

You can define a Spring XML file via contextConfigLocation.

web.xml
	<servlet>
		<servlet-name>spring-web</servlet-name>
		<servlet-class>
                     org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet
                </servlet-class>
		<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
		<init-param>
			<param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
			<param-value>/WEB-INF/spring-mvc-config.xml</param-value>
		</init-param>
	</servlet>

        <servlet-mapping>
		<servlet-name>spring-web</servlet-name>
		<url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
	</servlet-mapping>

6. Demo

The pom.xml file defines an embedded Jetty container. Issues mvn jetty:run to start the project.

Terminal
$ mvn jetty:run
...
[INFO] Started Jetty Server
[INFO] Starting scanner at interval of 10 seconds.

URL : http://localhost:8080/spring3

spring3-mvc-maven-xml-demo

URL : http://localhost:8080/spring3/hello/mkyong

spring3-mvc-maven-xml-demo2

7. WAR File

To create a WAR file for deployment :

Terminal
your-project$ mvn war:war

A WAR file will be created in project arget folder.

${Project}	argetspring3-web-1.0-SNAPSHOT.war

Download Source Code

Download it – spring3-mvc-maven-xml-hello-world.zip (51 KB)
Github link – spring3-mvc-maven-xml-hello-world.git

References

  1. What new in Spring 3
  2. Spring 3 MVC and JSR303 @Valid example
  3. Spring 3 MVC and RSS feed example
  4. Spring 3 MVC and XML example
  5. Spring 3 MVC and JSON example