Spring Boot

What is Spring Boot?

Spring Boot is an extension of the Spring Framework that makes it easier and faster
to build production-ready applications.

It focuses on:

Convention over Configuration

Auto-Configuration

Standalone Applications

Key Features of Spring Boot

| Feature | Description |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| Auto-configuration | Automatically configures beans based on classpath |
| Embedded servers | Comes with Tomcat, Jetty, or Undertow |
| Starter dependencies | Simplifies build configuration |
| Actuator | Provides production-ready monitoring endpoints |
| Spring Initializr | Quick project generation tool |
| DevTools | Enhances developer productivity with hot reload |

Architecture Overview
[ Client ] → [ Controller ] → [ Service ] → [ Repository ] → [ DB ]
↑
Spring Boot (Auto Configuration, Dependency Injection, etc.)

1. Starter Dependencies
Spring Boot provides many pre-configured dependencies:

| Starter Name | Use |

| ------------------------------- | ------------------------------ |
| `spring-boot-starter-web` | For building web + REST apps |
| `spring-boot-starter-data-jpa` | For JPA + Hibernate ORM |
| `spring-boot-starter-security` | Spring Security integration |
| `spring-boot-starter-test` | Testing (JUnit, Mockito, etc.) |
| `spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf` | HTML templating engine |

2. Spring Boot Annotations

| Annotation | Purpose
|
| ----------------------------- |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------- |
| `@SpringBootApplication` | Main entry point, includes `@Configuration`,
`@EnableAutoConfiguration`, and `@ComponentScan` |
| `@RestController` | REST controller (`@Controller + @ResponseBody`)
|
| `@GetMapping`, `@PostMapping` | Maps HTTP methods to controller methods
|
| `@Autowired` | Dependency Injection
|
| `@Service` | Marks a service class
|
| `@Repository` | Marks a DAO/repo class
|
| `@Entity` | Marks a JPA entity
|
| `@Component` | Marks any Spring-managed component
|

3. Spring Boot Project Structure

com.example.demo
│
├── controller
│ └── UserController.java
├── service
│ └── UserService.java
├── repository
│ └── UserRepository.java
├── model
│ └── User.java
├── DemoApplication.java <-- Main class
└── application.properties

4. Application Properties
Used to configure application-level settings.

Common Configurations:

server.port=8081
spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/demo
spring.datasource.username=root
spring.datasource.password=pass
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update

5. Spring Data JPA with Spring Boot

Repository interfaces auto-implement CRUD methods.

public interface UserRepository extends JpaRepository<User, Long> {

Optional<User> findByEmail(String email);
}

6. REST APIs

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/users")
public class UserController {

@Autowired
private UserService userService;
 @GetMapping
public List<User> getAll() {
return userService.getUsers();
}

@PostMapping
public User save(@RequestBody User user) {
return userService.saveUser(user);
}
}

7. Spring Boot DevTools

<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-devtools</artifactId>
</dependency>

8. Spring Boot Actuator

Adds endpoints for monitoring and managing your app.

<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-actuator</artifactId>
</dependency>

Example Endpoints:
/actuator/health

/actuator/info

/actuator/metrics

9. Exception Handling
Global Handler:

@RestControllerAdvice
public class GlobalExceptionHandler {

@ExceptionHandler(ResourceNotFoundException.class)
public ResponseEntity<?> handleNotFound(ResourceNotFoundException ex) {
return new ResponseEntity<>(ex.getMessage(), HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND);
}
}

10. Spring Security Integration (Optional)

Basic Setup:

<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-security</artifactId>
</dependency>

Configuration:

@Configuration
@EnableWebSecurity
public class SecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {
protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {

http.csrf().disable().authorizeRequests().anyRequest().authenticated().and().httpBa
sic();
}
}

11. Testing

@SpringBootTest
class UserServiceTest {
@Autowired
private UserService userService;

@Test
void testGetUsers() {
List<User> users = userService.getUsers();
assertNotNull(users);
}
}

Summary Table

| Feature | Description |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------- |
| `@SpringBootApplication` | Main config class |
| Starters | Predefined dependencies |
| Autoconfiguration | Reduces manual configuration |
| Embedded Server | No need for WAR file |
| REST Controller | Simple RESTful APIs |
| JPA Integration | Simple ORM with Spring Data JPA |
| DevTools | Auto-reload on changes |
| Actuator | Health, info, and metrics endpoints |

Spring & Spring Boot Annotations

1. Core Annotations

| Annotation | Purpose
|
| ------------------------ |
----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `@SpringBootApplication` | Combines `@Configuration`, `@EnableAutoConfiguration`,
`@ComponentScan` |
| `@Component` | Generic stereotype for any Spring-managed component
|
| `@Controller` | Marks a web controller (returns views)
|
| `@RestController` | `@Controller` + `@ResponseBody` (returns JSON/XML)
|
| `@Service` | Marks a service class (business logic layer)
|
| `@Repository` | Marks a DAO class; enables exception translation
|
| `@Configuration` | Marks a class with `@Bean` methods (Java-based config)
|

2. Dependency Injection

| Annotation | Description
|
| ------------------------ |
--------------------------------------------------------- |
| `@Autowired` | Auto-wires a bean by type (field, setter, or
constructor) |
| `@Qualifier("beanName")` | Specifies exact bean to inject when multiple types
exist |
| `@Inject` | JSR-330 equivalent of `@Autowired`
|
| `@Value("${key}")` | Injects property from `application.properties` or YAML
|
| `@Primary` | Marks the default bean when multiple candidates exist
|
| `@Lazy` | Bean will be initialized lazily (on first use)
|

3. REST & Web MVC

| Annotation | Description |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| `@RequestMapping` | Maps HTTP requests to controller methods (general) |
| `@GetMapping` | Shortcut for `@RequestMapping(method = GET)` |
| `@PostMapping` | Shortcut for `POST` |
| `@PutMapping` | Shortcut for `PUT` |
| `@DeleteMapping` | Shortcut for `DELETE` |
| `@PatchMapping` | Shortcut for `PATCH` |
| `@RequestParam` | Extracts query param, e.g. `?name=xyz` |
| `@PathVariable` | Extracts value from URL path |
| `@RequestBody` | Maps HTTP body to Java object |
| `@ResponseBody` | Return value written directly as response body |
| `@ResponseStatus` | Set custom HTTP status code |

4. Bean Configuration
| Annotation | Description |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------ |
| `@Bean` | Registers a method return value as a Spring bean |
| `@DependsOn` | Specifies bean dependencies |
| `@Scope` | Defines bean scope (singleton, prototype, etc.) |
| `@Profile` | Activates bean only in a specific profile |
 5. Spring Boot Features

| Annotation | Description
|
| -------------------------------- |
---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `@EnableAutoConfiguration` | Enables Spring Boot auto-config (included in
`@SpringBootApplication`) |
| `@ComponentScan` | Scans packages for components to auto-register
|
| `@EnableConfigurationProperties` | Binds external config to Java classes
|
| `@ConfigurationProperties` | Binds multiple properties from
`application.properties` or `YAML` |

6. JPA & Database

| Annotation | Purpose
|
| --------------------------------------------------------- |
----------------------------------------- |
| `@Entity` | Marks a JPA entity
(mapped to DB table) |
| `@Table(name = "")` | Specifies table name
|
| `@Id` | Marks the primary key
|
| `@GeneratedValue` | Specifies primary key
generation strategy |
| `@Column(name = "")` | Maps a field to a DB
column |
| `@OneToOne` / `@OneToMany` / `@ManyToOne` / `@ManyToMany` | Define relationships
|
| `@JoinColumn` | Specifies foreign key
column |
| `@Transient` | Field is not
persisted in DB |
| `@Enumerated` | Persist enums as
`String` or `Ordinal` |

7. Validation (Hibernate Validator / Jakarta)

| Annotation | Purpose |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| `@NotNull` | Field must not be null |
| `@NotBlank` | Not null and trimmed length > 0 |
| `@Size(min=, max=)` | String/collection length constraints |
| `@Email` | Validates email format |
| `@Pattern` | Regex pattern validation |
| `@Min`, `@Max` | Numeric range constraints |
| `@Valid` | Triggers nested object validation |
 8. AOP (Aspect-Oriented Programming)

| Annotation | Purpose |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| `@Aspect` | Declares a class as an aspect |
| `@Before` | Runs before method execution |
| `@After` | Runs after method execution |
| `@AfterReturning` | Runs if method returns successfully |
| `@Around` | Runs before and after method (full control) |
| `@Pointcut` | Defines reusable pointcut expressions |

9. Testing

| Annotation | Description |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| `@SpringBootTest` | Loads full application context |
| `@DataJpaTest` | Test JPA repositories only |
| `@WebMvcTest` | Test controller layer (mock MVC) |
| `@MockBean` | Adds Mockito mock into Spring context |
| `@TestConfiguration` | Defines test-specific beans |

10. Exception Handling

| Annotation | Description |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| `@ControllerAdvice` | Global exception handling class |
| `@ExceptionHandler` | Handles specific exceptions |
| `@ResponseStatus` | Sets HTTP status on custom exception |

11. Scheduling & Async

| Annotation | Purpose |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| `@EnableScheduling` | Enables scheduled task execution |
| `@Scheduled` | Schedules method (cron, fixedRate) |
| `@EnableAsync` | Enables asynchronous method calls |
| `@Async` | Executes method asynchronously |

12. Transaction Management

| Annotation | Purpose |
| ------------------------------ | ------------------------------ |
| `@EnableTransactionManagement` | Enables @Transactional support |
| `@Transactional` | Wraps method in DB transaction |
| `@Rollback` | Reverts changes in tests |

Summary Table

| Category | Example Annotations |

| ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| **Core** | `@Component`, `@Service`, `@Configuration` |
| **Web / REST** | `@RestController`, `@GetMapping`, `@RequestBody` |
| **Persistence** | `@Entity`, `@Id`, `@OneToMany`, `@Repository` |
| **DI** | `@Autowired`, `@Value`, `@Qualifier` |
| **Boot-specific** | `@SpringBootApplication`, `@ConfigurationProperties` |
| **AOP** | `@Aspect`, `@Around`, `@Pointcut` |
| **Validation** | `@NotNull`, `@Email`, `@Size`, `@Valid` |
| **Testing** | `@SpringBootTest`, `@MockBean` |
| **Scheduling** | `@Scheduled`, `@EnableScheduling` |
| **Transactions** | `@Transactional`, `@EnableTransactionManagement` |