Spring Boot Backend Development Course, Deploying Applications

Spring Boot is a popular web application framework among Java developers. In this course, we will explore how to develop backend applications using Spring Boot and how to effectively deploy them. The content of this text primarily focuses on application deployment.

1. Introduction to Spring Boot

Spring Boot is a tool that helps to use the concepts of the Spring framework more conveniently. With Spring Boot, you can quickly develop applications without complex configurations, and through automatic configuration, various necessary settings are done automatically. Thanks to these advantages, many developers have chosen Spring Boot.

2. Basic Setup and Development Environment

To use Spring Boot, you need Java JDK, Maven, and an IDE. Maven is used for project management and dependency management, while IDEs like Eclipse and IntelliJ IDEA provide an environment for writing and testing code.

2.1 Installing Java JDK

  • Download the latest Java JDK
  • After installation is complete, set the JDK path in the environment variables

2.2 Installing Maven

  • Download and install Apache Maven
  • Set the Maven path in the environment variables

2.3 Installing IDE

  • Select and install the IDE to be used for development
  • Add the Spring Boot plugin (in the case of IntelliJ IDEA)

3. Developing a Spring Boot Application

Let’s create a simple RESTful API. In the following example, we will build a simple application to manage employee information.

3.1 Creating the Project

You can create a project using Spring Initializr. Follow the steps below.

  • Visit https://start.spring.io/
  • Select Project: Maven Project
  • Select Language: Java
  • Select Spring Boot version
  • Enter Group and Artifact (e.g., com.example, employee-api)
  • Select ‘Spring Web’, ‘Spring Data JPA’, ‘H2 Database’ in Dependencies
  • Click the Generate button and download the ZIP file
  • Extract the downloaded ZIP file and open it in your IDE

3.2 Writing Application Code

Let’s describe the main code and structure of the application.

3.2.1 Creating the Model Class

package com.example.employeeapi.model;

import javax.persistence.Entity;
import javax.persistence.GeneratedValue;
import javax.persistence.GenerationType;
import javax.persistence.Id;

@Entity
public class Employee {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;
    private String name;
    private String position;

    // getters and setters
}

3.2.2 Creating the Repository Interface

package com.example.employeeapi.repository;

import com.example.employeeapi.model.Employee;
import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.JpaRepository;

public interface EmployeeRepository extends JpaRepository {
}

3.2.3 Writing the Service Class

package com.example.employeeapi.service;

import com.example.employeeapi.model.Employee;
import com.example.employeeapi.repository.EmployeeRepository;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;

import java.util.List;

@Service
public class EmployeeService {
    @Autowired
    private EmployeeRepository employeeRepository;

    public List getAllEmployees() {
        return employeeRepository.findAll();
    }

    public Employee getEmployeeById(Long id) {
        return employeeRepository.findById(id).orElse(null);
    }

    public Employee createEmployee(Employee employee) {
        return employeeRepository.save(employee);
    }

    // Update and Delete methods...
}

3.2.4 Writing the Controller Class

package com.example.employeeapi.controller;

import com.example.employeeapi.model.Employee;
import com.example.employeeapi.service.EmployeeService;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.*;

import java.util.List;

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/employees")
public class EmployeeController {
    @Autowired
    private EmployeeService employeeService;

    @GetMapping
    public List getAllEmployees() {
        return employeeService.getAllEmployees();
    }

    @GetMapping("/{id}")
    public Employee getEmployeeById(@PathVariable Long id) {
        return employeeService.getEmployeeById(id);
    }

    @PostMapping
    public Employee createEmployee(@RequestBody Employee employee) {
        return employeeService.createEmployee(employee);
    }

    // Update and Delete endpoints...
}

4. Local Testing

To test the application on a local server, execute the command below.

./mvnw spring-boot:run

You can check if the API is working well by accessing http://localhost:8080/api/employees in your browser.

5. Deploying the Application

Now, let’s explain how to deploy the application. There are various methods, but here we will describe how to use AWS Elastic Beanstalk and Docker.

5.1 Deployment using AWS Elastic Beanstalk

AWS Elastic Beanstalk is a service that helps you easily deploy applications. Here is the basic deployment procedure.

  • Create and log in to your AWS account
  • Go to the Elastic Beanstalk service
  • Click on Create Application
  • Select Platform: choose ‘Java’, then click the ‘Next’ button
  • Upload code: upload the application in ZIP file format
  • Create environment: configure and click ‘Create Environment’

5.2 Deployment using Docker

Using Docker, you can create and deploy application images. Write a Dockerfile to package the application.

FROM openjdk:11
VOLUME /tmp
COPY target/employee-api-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar app.jar
ENTRYPOINT ["java","-jar","/app.jar"]

Build the Docker image and run the container.

docker build -t employee-api .
docker run -p 8080:8080 employee-api

6. Conclusion

In this course, we learned how to develop a simple backend application using Spring Boot and how to deploy it. In real projects, it is necessary to consider not only theoretical aspects but also performance optimization, security, testing, and other factors. Please continue to learn Spring Boot and gain deeper experience through various projects.

References