Spring Boot makes it easy to create stand-alone, production-grade Spring applications without needing to deploy files. It provides starter dependencies to simplify configuration, performs automatic configuration, and includes production-ready features like metrics and health checks. This document demonstrates creating a RESTful web service using Spring Boot with Groovy and Gradle by developing an application to manage an RC car registry in 9 steps, covering creating the application, executable JAR, configuration, endpoints, testing, security, and actuators. New features in Spring Boot 1.4 include startup failure analysis, updated dependencies and test annotations, and image banners.

1. Spring Boot
Applications. Simply.

2. Jaran Flaath
• Senior consultant at Kodehuset
• 12 years of professional
software development
experience
• Frequent speaker
• Previous leader of javaBin
Sørlandet and VP of javaBin
• When not coding: Building
LEGO and driving R/C cars
• http://twitter.com/jaranflaath

5. What is Spring?

6. What is Spring?
Modular application framework assisting with almost
any aspect of modern application development

7. What is Spring Boot?

8. Spring Boot makes it easy to create stand-alone,
production-grade Spring based Applications that you
can "just run".
What is Spring Boot?

9. FEATURES

10. • Create stand-alone Spring applications

11. • Embed Tomcat, Jetty or Undertow directly (no need
to deploy WAR files)

12. • Provide opinionated 'starter' POMs to simplify your
Maven or Gradle configuration

13. • Automatically configure Spring whenever possible

14. • Provide production-ready features such as metrics,
health checks and externalised configuration

15. • No code generation or XML configuration

16. Maven and Gradle support
via starter-artifacts
• Provides a range of spring-boot-starter-* artifacts
that contains what you need to get up and running
fast
• Customise when you need!

18. Let’s BOOT an
application!

19. Versions
• Current stable: 1.3.5
• Very soon arriving: 1.4.0
We will be using 1.3.5 for the demo today, but have a
look at the new features in 1.4.0 towards the end.

20. Our goal
• Create a REST web service with Spring Boot,
Groovy and Gradle
• Use case: A simple R/C Car registry!

21. What we will cover
• Creating an application
• Executable JAR
• Custom banner (because they’re awesome)
• Application configuration (and auto-configuration)
• Repositories
• Creating REST endpoints
• Testing
• Security
• Actuators

22. Step 1:
Create application and
run it

23. Step 1: Takeaways
• @SpringBootApplication-annotation:
A convenience annotation combining
@EnableAutoConfiguration, @Configuration
and @ComponentScan
• We start our application with
SpringApplication.run()

24. Step 2:
Executable JAR

25. Step 2: Takeaways
• Add spring-boot-gradle-plugin (or spring-boot-
maven-plugin)
• Application JAR can then be run as an executable
If linked as a service from /etc/init.d you will be able
to run the application as a daemon and use start,
stop and status arguments

26. Step 3:
Custom banner

27. Step 3: Takeaways
• Well… It is very cool!

28. Step 4:
Application configuration
and repositories

29. Step 4: Takeaways
• Configuration provided with @Configuration
annotated class(es)
• Provide beans using @Bean annotated methods
• Easy data access with repositories
Configuration properties can be declared
using .properties or .yaml files both in- and outside
your application
http://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/current/reference/htmlsingle/#boot-features-external-config-application-property-files

30. Step 5:
Service endpoint

31. Step 5: Takeaways
• Add endpoints with @RestController and
@RequestMapping annotations
• No further configuration needed

32. Step 6:
Testing

33. Step 6: Takeaways
• Easy testing of endpoints using RestTemplate
• Point your integration test to your application using
@SpringApplicationConfiguration(AppClass.class)
• Configure random testing port using
@WebIntegrationTest(randomPort = true) and
obtain the port using @Value('${local.server.port}')

34. Step 7:
Security

35. Step 7: Takeaways
• Simply adding spring-security to class path enables
security
• @EnableWebSecurity disables default configuration
and allows us to customise security
• Extend WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter to
customise security

36. Step 8:
Security 2

37. Step 8: Takeaways
• Use TestRestTemplate for additional functionality in
a test context
NOTE: Disabling CSRF should only be done for quick
testing and prototyping

38. Step 9:
Actuators

39. Step 9: Takeaways
• Actuators are a set of endpoints exposing useful
information and controls for your application
Full list of Actuators:
http://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/
1.3.3.RELEASE/reference/htmlsingle/#production-
ready-endpoints

40. What’s new in 1.4.0?

41. Startup failure analysis

42. New test annotation
• @SpringBootTest with parameters is used instead
of @SpringApplicationConfiguration,
@IntegrationTest and @WebIntegrationTest
• @LocalServerPort for injecting the port of the web
server used during test

43. Upgraded dependencies
• Based on Spring 4.3
• Default JPA persistence provider is Hibernate 5, up
from 4.3

44. Image banners!

45. New annotation for mocking
existing beans
• @MockBean for mocking existing beans in your
application
• @SpyBean for spying existing beans

46. • See the rest here:
https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-boot/wiki/
Spring-Boot-1.4-Release-Notes

48. That’s it. Simply.

49. Thank you!
twitter.com/jaranflaath jaran.flaath@gmail.com
Image CC BY-SA 4.0 Ashashyou (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ashashyou)