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Spring Boot simplifies the process of creating stand-alone, production-grade Spring-based applications. In this guide, we will walk through the steps to make your first Spring Boot application using Spring Initializr, covering project metadata selection, adding dependencies, and understanding the project structure.

Using Spring Initializr

Spring Initializr is a powerful web-based tool that allows you to generate a Spring Boot project skeleton quickly. Here’s how to get started:

1. Access Spring Initializr

• Go to Spring Initializr in your web browser.

2. Selecting Project Metadata

• Project: Choose either Maven Project or Gradle Project as your build tool. Maven is commonly used for this tutorial.
• Language: Select Java as the programming language.
• Spring Boot Version: Choose the latest stable version of Spring Boot (e.g., 3.1.5)
• Project Metadata: Fill in the details:
  • Group: This is typically your domain name or in reverse form (e.g., com.iamsajan).
  • Artifact: The name of your project (e.g., demo).
  • Name: The display name of your application (e.g., Demo Application).
  • Package Name: This will default to your group and artifact names combined (e.g., com.iamsajan.demo).
  • Packaging: Choose between JAR or WAR. JAR is preferred for most Spring Boot applications.
  • Java Version: Select the version of Java you are using (Java 17 or later is recommended).

3. Adding Dependencies

• Click on the “Add Dependencies” button to include the necessary libraries for your application.
• For a basic web application, you might want to add:
  • Spring Web: For building web applications and RESTful services.
  • Spring Data JPA: For database interactions.
  • Any other dependencies relevant to your project.

4. Generate Project

• After filling in all the required fields and adding dependencies, click the “Generate” button.
• This will create a downloadable ZIP file containing your Spring Boot project.

5. Extract and Import

• Extract the downloaded ZIP file to your desired location.
• Open your IDE (Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, or Visual Studio Code) and import the project as a Maven or Gradle project.

Project Structure Overview

You will notice a well-defined project structure once you have imported your project into your IDE. Here’s an overview of the key directories and files:

• src/main/java: Contains your Java source code.
  • The main application class (e.g., DemoApplication.java) is located here. This class is annotated with @SpringBootApplication, which serves as the entry point for your application.
• src/main/resources: Contains configuration files and static resources.
  • The application.properties file is where you can define application-specific configurations such as database connection settings.
• src/test/java: Contains test classes for unit and integration testing.
• pom.xml (for Maven) or build.gradle (for Gradle): These files manage project dependencies and build configurations.

Conclusion

You have now successfully created your first Spring Boot application using Spring Initializr! This streamlined process lets you focus on building features rather than worrying about boilerplate code. With a solid understanding of how to set up a new project, you’re ready to start developing your application logic and exploring the powerful capabilities of Spring Boot.

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