Getting Started with Spring Boot: A Beginner’s Guide

Introduction ## Canonical Link ## 🧠 Prerequisites ## 🎯 What You’ll Learn ## Source Code ## 📦 Introduction to Spring Boot ## 🧩 Why Spring Boot Was Introduced ## ⭐ Key Features of Spring Boot ## 🚀 Create a Spring Boot Project ## 📁 Understanding Project Structure ## Important Parts ## 🛠 Managing Dependencies with Maven ## Updating Dependencies ## Building and running a Spring Boot application ## Creating a Simple REST Controller** ## Step 1: Create a Controller Class** ## Explanation of Annotations ## Run Using Maven Wrapper (Terminal / CMD) ## 🚀 What’s Next? ## Let’s Connect! Spring Boot is a powerful Java framework that makes it easier to build modern backend applications. In this guide, you’ll learn the basics of Spring Boot, how to create a project, understand its structure, manage dependencies, and build a simple REST API. https://tejas-agravat.hashnode.dev/getting-started-with-spring-boot-a-beginners-guide Before we begin, you should have a basic understanding of: These fundamentals will help you follow along more easily. In this article, you will cover: You can go through the Git link to check out the exact code. I write each lesson in a way that makes it easy for you to follow on your own. I have organized the source code in a GitHub repository, which you can find at github.com Spring Boot is a Java framework built on top of the Spring Framework. It simplifies development by reducing manual configurations and setup. Instead of writing extensive XML or Java configuration and setting up external servers, Spring Boot provides: This makes it ideal for building standalone, production-ready applications. Spring Boot solves these pain points by standardizing and automating much of the setup. ✔ Auto-Configuration — Automatically configures the app based on dependencies. ✔ Embedded Servers — Includes Tomcat/Jetty, so no external server is needed. ✔ Easy REST APIs — Build web APIs with minimal code. ✔ Database Integration — Works well with JDBC, JPA, and popular databases. ✔ Spring Security Support — Built-in authentication and authorization support. The easiest way is using Spring Initializr: 👉 https://start.spring.io Dependencies are defined in pom.xml: version → Library version 👉 In Spring Boot, versions are often managed automatically. This single dependency includes: After modifying pom.xml: IDE automatically reloads Create a new package: ** Go to the project root (where pom.xml exists).** Run Using Maven (If Installed) Now that you understand the basics of Spring Boot, the next important step is learning Dependency Injection (DI) and the Inversion of Control (IoC) Container. These concepts are the foundation of the Spring Framework and are used everywhere in Spring Boot applications. If you have any recommended resources, better approaches to my challenges, or insights, I’d love to hear them! Drop your thoughts in the comments. Have a wonderful day! Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Are you sure you want to hide this comment? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. Hide child comments as well For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse CODE_BLOCK: store ├── .mvn ├── src │ ├── main │ │ ├── java │ │ └── resources ├── pom.xml Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: store ├── .mvn ├── src │ ├── main │ │ ├── java │ │ └── resources ├── pom.xml CODE_BLOCK: store ├── .mvn ├── src │ ├── main │ │ ├── java │ │ └── resources ├── pom.xml CODE_BLOCK: <dependency> <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId> <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId> </dependency> Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: <dependency> <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId> <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId> </dependency> CODE_BLOCK: <dependency> <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId> <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId> </dependency> CODE_BLOCK: spring-boot-starter-web Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: spring-boot-starter-web CODE_BLOCK: spring-boot-starter-web CODE_BLOCK: mvn clean install Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: mvn clean install CODE_BLOCK: mvn clean install CODE_BLOCK: com.codewithtejas.store.controller Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: com.codewithtejas.store.controller CODE_BLOCK: com.codewithtejas.store.controller CODE_BLOCK: @RestController @RequestMapping("/api") public class HelloController { @GetMapping("/hello") public String hello() { return "Hello from Spring Boot!"; } } Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: @RestController @RequestMapping("/api") public class HelloController { @GetMapping("/hello") public String hello() { return "Hello from Spring Boot!"; } } CODE_BLOCK: @RestController @RequestMapping("/api") public class HelloController { @GetMapping("/hello") public String hello() { return "Hello from Spring Boot!"; } } CODE_BLOCK: mvn spring-boot:run Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: mvn spring-boot:run CODE_BLOCK: mvn spring-boot:run CODE_BLOCK: http://localhost:8080/hello Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode CODE_BLOCK: http://localhost:8080/hello CODE_BLOCK: http://localhost:8080/hello - Core Java concepts - Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) - Classes, methods, and interfaces - Basic database concepts (tables, primary keys, foreign keys) - Writing simple SQL queries - What Spring Boot is - Why Spring Boot was introduced - Creating a Spring Boot project - Understanding project structure - Managing dependencies with Maven - Building and running a Spring Boot app - Creating a simple REST API - Auto-configuration - Embedded servers - Opinionated defaults - Easy REST API support - Projects required lots of configuration - Developers wrote repetitive boilerplate code - Dependency management was manual - You needed an external application server - Open Spring Initializr - Configure project: Project: Maven Language: Java Spring Boot Version: Default Group: com.codewithtejas Artifact: store Java Version: 17 - Project: Maven - Language: Java - Spring Boot Version: Default - Group: com.codewithtejas - Artifact: store - Java Version: 17 - Add Spring Web dependency - Click Generate - Extract the downloaded .zip file into your workspace - Project: Maven - Language: Java - Spring Boot Version: Default - Group: com.codewithtejas - Artifact: store - Java Version: 17 - pom.xml — Manages dependencies and build. - mvnw / mvnw.cmd — Maven wrapper scripts for consistent builds. - src/main/java — Application source code. - src/main/resources — Config files like application.properties. - src/test/java — Test cases (JUnit). - target/ — Auto-generated build output. - groupId → Organization or project group - artifactId → Library name - version → Library version - 👉 In Spring Boot, versions are often managed automatically. - Embedded Tomcat - Jackson (JSON) - @RestController → Marks the class as a REST controller - @RequestMapping("/api") → Base URL path - @GetMapping("/hello") → Handles HTTP GET requests