How to Build a Spring Boot Monolith with JBang

In this blog post, we will embark on an exciting journey of building a full-fledged Spring Boot Monolith application implementing CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations on a Person entity. We’ll leverage JPA for data persistence, Swagger for API documentation, Postgres as our database, and Vue.js 3 for the front-end. All of this will be achieved using the simplicity of JBang in a single Java file!

You might also want to check out our previous article on How to Build a Spring Boot Rest Api with JBang in a Single Java File. In that post, we showed you how to use JBang to create a simple Rest web service that exposes a “Hello, World!” endpoint. We also explained how to use JBang features such as dependencies and scripts to simplify the development and execution of your Java application.

Prerequisites

Before we dive into the development process, ensure you have:

  1. read the previous article How to Build a Spring Boot Rest Api with JBang in a Single Java File
  2. JBang installed on your system. You can install it from JBang’s official website.
  3. Docker and Docker Compose installed for setting up the Postgres database.

You can clone the https://github.com/dmakariev/examples repository.

git clone https://github.com/dmakariev/examples.git
cd examples/jbang/spring-boot-jpa-vue

Getting Started

Let’s create the files for the Spring Boot Monolith. Follow these steps:

Initialize a New Directory

Create a new directory for your project and navigate to it using your terminal. Then, create :

  • an empty JBang script file with a .java extension, e.g., springbootJpaVue.java.
  • an empty file with .html extension for the Vue.js UI app, e.g., index-fetch.html.
  • an empty Dockerfile
  • an empty Docker Compose file compose.yaml
$ mkdir spring-boot-jpa-vue
$ cd spring-boot-jpa-vue
$ touch springbootJpaVue.java
$ touch index-fetch.html
$ touch Dockerfile
$ touch compose.yaml

Write the Spring Boot Code

Open the springbootJpaVue.java file in your favorite text editor or integrated development environment (IDE) and add the following code.

//usr/bin/env jbang "$0" "$@" ; exit $?
//JAVA 22
//DEPS org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-dependencies:3.2.4@pom
//DEPS org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web
//DEPS org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-data-jpa
//DEPS org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-actuator
//DEPS com.h2database:h2
//DEPS org.postgresql:postgresql
//DEPS org.projectlombok:lombok
//DEPS org.springdoc:springdoc-openapi-starter-webmvc-ui:2.5.0

//JAVA_OPTIONS -Dserver.port=8080
//JAVA_OPTIONS -Dspring.datasource.url=jdbc:h2:mem:person-db;MODE=PostgreSQL;
//JAVA_OPTIONS -Dspring.h2.console.enabled=true -Dspring.h2.console.settings.web-allow-others=true
//JAVA_OPTIONS -Dmanagement.endpoints.web.exposure.include=health,env,loggers
//FILES META-INF/resources/index.html=index-fetch.html

//REPOS mavencentral,sb_snapshot=https://repo.spring.io/snapshot,sb_milestone=https://repo.spring.io/milestone
package com.makariev.examples.jbang;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PostMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PutMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.DeleteMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestBody;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PathVariable;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestParam;

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Optional;

import jakarta.persistence.Entity;
import jakarta.persistence.Table;
import jakarta.persistence.GeneratedValue;
import jakarta.persistence.GenerationType;
import jakarta.persistence.Id;

import lombok.AllArgsConstructor;
import lombok.Data;
import lombok.NoArgsConstructor;
import lombok.RequiredArgsConstructor;

import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.JpaRepository;
import org.springframework.data.domain.Page;
import org.springframework.data.domain.Pageable;

import org.springframework.boot.context.event.ApplicationReadyEvent;
import org.springframework.context.event.EventListener;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;


@SpringBootApplication
public class springbootJpaVue {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(springbootJpaVue.class, args);
    }

}

@Component
@RequiredArgsConstructor
class InitialRecords {

    private final PersonRepository personRepository;

    @EventListener(ApplicationReadyEvent.class)
    public void exercise() {

        if (personRepository.count() > 0) {
            return;
        }
        List.of(
                new Person(1L, "Ada", "Lovelace", 1815),
                new Person(2L, "Niklaus", "Wirth", 1934),
                new Person(3L, "Donald", "Knuth", 1938),
                new Person(4L, "Edsger", "Dijkstra", 1930),
                new Person(5L, "Grace", "Hopper", 1906),
                new Person(6L, "John", "Backus", 1924)
        ).forEach(personRepository::save);
    }
}

@RestController
class HiController {

    @GetMapping("/hi")
    public String sayHi(@RequestParam(required = false, defaultValue = "World") String name) {
        return "Hello, " + name + "!";
    }
}

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/persons")
@RequiredArgsConstructor
class PersonController {

    private final PersonRepository personRepository;

    @GetMapping
    public Page<Person> findAll(Pageable pageable) {
        return personRepository.findAll(pageable);
    }

    @GetMapping("{id}")
    public Optional<Person> findById(@PathVariable("id") Long id) {
        return personRepository.findById(id);
    }

    @PostMapping
    public Person create(@RequestBody Person person) {
        return personRepository.save(person);
    }

    @PutMapping("{id}")
    public Person updateById(@PathVariable("id") Long id, @RequestBody Person person) {
        var loaded = personRepository.findById(id).orElseThrow();
        loaded.setFirstName(person.getFirstName());
        loaded.setLastName(person.getLastName());
        loaded.setBirthYear(person.getBirthYear());
        return personRepository.save(loaded);
    }

    @DeleteMapping("/{id}")
    public void deleteById(@PathVariable("id") Long id) {
        personRepository.deleteById(id);
    }
}

@Data
@Entity
@Table(name = "person")
@NoArgsConstructor
@AllArgsConstructor
class Person {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;
    private String firstName;
    private String lastName;
    private int birthYear;
}

interface PersonRepository extends JpaRepository<Person, Long> {
}

Write the Vue.js Code

Open the index-fetch.html file in your favorite text editor or integrated development environment (IDE) and add the following code.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Person CRUD Application</title>
        <style>
            body {
                font-family: -apple-system,"Segoe UI",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;
                margin: 0;
                padding: 0;
                background-color: #f5f5f5;
            }

            #app {
                max-width: 800px;
                margin: 0 auto;
                padding: 20px;
                background-color: #fff;
                box-shadow: 0px 0px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
            }

            h1 {
                text-align: center;
                margin-bottom: 20px;
            }

            ul {
                list-style: none;
                padding: 0;
            }

            li {
                border: 1px solid #ddd;
                padding: 10px;
                margin: 10px 0;
                background-color: #fff;
                display: flex;
                justify-content: space-between;
                align-items: center;
            }

            button {
                padding: 5px 10px;
                background-color: #007bff;
                color: #fff;
                border: none;
                cursor: pointer;
            }

            form {
                display: flex;
                flex-direction: column;
            }

            input {
                margin: 5px 0;
                padding: 5px;
                border: 1px solid #ddd;
            }

            button[type="submit"] {
                background-color: #28a745;
            }

            .modal {
                position: fixed;
                z-index: 1;
                left: 0;
                top: 0;
                width: 100%;
                height: 100%;
                background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4);
                justify-content: center;
                align-items: center;
            }

            .modal-content {
                background-color: #fff;
                border: 1px solid #ddd;
                padding: 20px;
                width: 70%;
                margin: 10% auto;
            }

            .pagination {
                display: flex;
                justify-content: center;
                margin-top: 20px;
            }

            .page-item {
                margin: 0 5px;
                cursor: pointer;
            }

            .page-item.active {
                font-weight: bold;
            }
        </style>
        <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/vue@3.4.21/dist/vue.global.prod.js"></script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id="app">
            <h1>Person CRUD Application</h1>
            <button @click="showPersonModal(null)">Add Person</button>
            <ul>
                <li v-for="person in persons" :key="person.id">
                    {{ person.firstName }} {{ person.lastName }} ({{ person.birthYear }} year of birth)
                    <button @click="showPersonModal(person)">Edit</button>
                    <button @click="deletePerson(person.id)">Delete</button>
                </li>
            </ul>
            <div class="pagination">
                <span v-for="page in totalPages" :key="page" @click="changePage(page)" class="page-item" :class="{ active: currentPage === page }">{{ page }}</span>
            </div>

            <!-- Modal -->
            <div class="modal" v-if="modalVisible">
                <div class="modal-content">
                    <h2>{{ editMode ? 'Edit' : 'Add' }} Person</h2>
                    <form @submit.prevent="savePerson">
                        <input type="text" v-model="formData.firstName" placeholder="First Name" required>
                        <input type="text" v-model="formData.lastName" placeholder="Last Name" required>
                        <input type="number" v-model="formData.birthYear" placeholder="Year of birth" required>
                        <button type="submit">{{ editMode ? 'Update' : 'Add' }}</button>
                        <button @click="closeModal">Cancel</button>
                    </form>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>        

        <script>
            const {createApp, ref, computed} = Vue;

            createApp({
                data() {
                    return {
                        persons: [],
                        modalVisible: false,
                        editMode: false,
                        formData: {
                            firstName: '',
                            lastName: '',
                            age: ''
                        },
                        editedPersonId: null,
                        pageSize: 5,
                        currentPage: 1,
                        totalPages: 1
                    };
                },
                methods: {
                    getAllPersons(page) {
                        fetch(`/api/persons?page=${page - 1}&size=${this.pageSize}`)
                                .then(response => response.json())
                                .then(data => {
                                    this.persons = data.content;
                                    this.totalPages = data.totalPages;
                                })
                                .catch(error => {
                                    console.error('Error fetching persons:', error);
                                });
                    },
                    showPersonModal(person) {
                        this.editMode = !!person;
                        this.modalVisible = true;
                        if (person) {
                            this.editedPersonId = person.id;
                            this.formData = {...person};
                        } else {
                            this.resetForm();
                        }
                    },
                    savePerson() {
                        if (this.editMode) {
                            fetch(`/api/persons/${this.editedPersonId}`, {
                                method: 'PUT',
                                headers: {
                                    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
                                },
                                body: JSON.stringify(this.formData)
                            })
                                    .then(() => {
                                        this.getAllPersons(this.currentPage);
                                        this.closeModal();
                                    })
                                    .catch(error => {
                                        console.error('Error updating person:', error);
                                    });
                        } else {
                            fetch('/api/persons', {
                                method: 'POST',
                                headers: {
                                    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
                                },
                                body: JSON.stringify(this.formData)
                            })
                                    .then(() => {
                                        this.getAllPersons(this.currentPage);
                                        this.closeModal();
                                    })
                                    .catch(error => {
                                        console.error('Error adding person:', error);
                                    });
                        }
                    },
                    deletePerson(personId) {
                        fetch(`/api/persons/${personId}`, {
                            method: 'DELETE'
                        })
                                .then(() => {
                                    this.getAllPersons(this.currentPage);
                                })
                                .catch(error => {
                                    console.error('Error deleting person:', error);
                                });
                    },
                    closeModal() {
                        this.modalVisible = false;
                        this.editMode = false;
                        this.resetForm();
                    },
                    resetForm() {
                        this.formData = {
                            firstName: '',
                            lastName: '',
                            age: ''
                        };
                        this.editedPersonId = null;
                    },
                    changePage(page) {
                        this.currentPage = page;
                        this.getAllPersons(page);
                    }
                },
                mounted() {
                    this.getAllPersons(this.currentPage);
                }
            }).mount('#app');
        </script>
    </body>
</html>

Write the Dockerfile

Open the Dockerfile file in your favorite text editor and add the following code.

FROM public.ecr.aws/docker/library/amazoncorretto:21-alpine AS build

RUN apk --no-cache add bash
RUN apk --no-cache add curl
RUN mkdir /app
WORKDIR /app
COPY . /app

RUN curl -Ls https://sh.jbang.dev | bash -s - export portable springbootJpaVue.java

FROM public.ecr.aws/docker/library/amazoncorretto:21-alpine
RUN mkdir /app/
RUN mkdir /app/lib
COPY --from=build /app/springbootJpaVue.jar /app/springbootJpaVue.jar
COPY --from=build /app/lib/* /app/lib/
WORKDIR /app

ENTRYPOINT ["java","-jar","springbootJpaVue.jar"]

Write the Docker Compose file

Open the compose.yaml file in your favorite text editor and add the following code.

services:
  backend:
    build: .
    ports:
      - 8080:8088
    environment:
      - SERVER_PORT=8088
      - SPRING_DATASOURCE_URL=jdbc:postgresql://db:5432/example
      - SPRING_DATASOURCE_USERNAME=postgres
      - SPRING_DATASOURCE_PASSWORD=pass-example
      - SPRING_JPA_HIBERNATE_DDL_AUTO=update
    networks:
      - spring-postgres
  db:
    image: postgres
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    networks:
      - spring-postgres
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=example
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=pass-example
    expose:
      - 5432
  pgadmin:
    container_name: pgadmin
    image: dpage/pgadmin4
    environment:
      PGADMIN_DEFAULT_EMAIL: admin_not_used@user.com
      PGADMIN_DEFAULT_PASSWORD: admin_not_used
      PGADMIN_CONFIG_SERVER_MODE: 'False'
    volumes:
       - pgadmin:/var/lib/pgadmin
    ports:
      - "5050:80"
    networks:
      - spring-postgres
    restart: always      
volumes:
  db-data:
  pgadmin:
networks:
  spring-postgres:

Run the Application

We have created the Spring Boot Monolith application. It consists of exactly two source files and two configuration files for docker.

  • springbootJpaVue.java is the backend, implemented as Spring Boot Java application, it contains also some default values
  • index-fetch.html is the frontend, implemented with Vue.js as standalone script

The way the two files are related is with this JBang directive

//FILES META-INF/resources/index.html=index-fetch.html

The application has a single jpa entity Person that could be stored in a database.

Return to your terminal. Navigate to the directory containing your springbootJpaVue.java

The application could be configured to run with one of two databases

  • H2 Database in memory
    $ jbang -Dspring.datasource.url=jdbc:h2:mem:person-db \
     springbootJpaVue.java
    
  • H2 Database filesystem - database data is stored in file
    $ jbang -Dspring.datasource.url=jdbc:h2:file:./person-db-data \
    -Dspring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update \ 
    springbootJpaVue.java
    
  • Postgres, it needs localhost instance of Postgres
    $ jbang -Dspring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/example \
    -Dspring.datasource.username=postgres \
    -Dspring.datasource.password=postgres \
    -Dspring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update springbootJpaVue.java
    

to run it with default settings file and execute any the following commands:

$ jbang springbootJpaVue.java
$ sh springbootJpaVue.java

if you allow executable permissions for springbootJpaVue.java by executing

$ chmod +x springbootJpaVue.java

you could even execute the application like that

$ ./springbootJpaVue.java

you could build a fatJar

$ jbang export fatjar springbootJpaVue.java

and then run it as

$ jbang springbootJpaVue-fatjar.jar

or like normal java application

$ java -jar springbootJpaVue-fatjar.jar

you could create a portable jar file with ./lib folder containing all dependencies

$ jbang export portable springbootJpaVue.java

and then run it as

$ jbang springbootJpaVue.jar

or like normal java application

$ java -jar springbootJpaVue.jar

docker compose

$ docker compose up

In all of the cases above, JBang will download the required Spring Boot dependencies and start the application. You will see output indicating that the Spring Boot application is running.

Access the Application

Web-based User Interface Built with Vue.JS

You could access the UI at http://localhost:8080/ Person CRUD list

Person CRUD Create

Person CRUD Update


H2 SQL Console Application

You could access the SQL database using a browser interface at http://localhost:8080/h2-console H2 Console


OpenAPI Definition

You could access it at http://localhost:8080/v3/api-docs OpenAPI


Swagger UI

You could access it at http://localhost:8080/swagger-ui/index.html OpenAPI


Spring Boot Actuator Endpoints

You could access it at http://localhost:8080/actuator
actuator


Web Version of PgAdmin

When executed with docker compose, the application provides access to web version of PgAdmin, that lets you access a SQL database using a browser interface. You could access it at http://localhost:5050/ PgAdmin

PgAdmin prop


Access the Application Rest Api

In the Web Browser

Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:8080/hi. You should see the “Hello, World!” message displayed in your browser. Or if you prefer more personalized message, then navigate to http://localhost:8080/hi?name=Joe. You should see the “Hello, Joe!” message displayed in your browser.

In the Terminal/CLI with Curl

To create a new person, use the POST method with the person data as a JSON body:

$ curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"firstName":"Katherine", "lastName":"Johnson", "birthYear":1919}' \
http://localhost:8080/api/persons

To get a list of all persons, use the GET method:

$ curl -X GET http://localhost:8080/api/persons

To get a specific person by id, use the GET method with the id as a path variable:

$ curl -X GET http://localhost:8080/api/persons/1

To update an existing person by id, use the PUT method with the person data as a JSON body:

$ curl -X PUT -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"firstName":"Katherine", "lastName":"Johnson", "birthYear":1918}' \
http://localhost:8080/api/persons/1

In the Terminal/CLI with HTTPIE

you could download alternative Terminal/CLI client from here https://httpie.io/cli

To create a new person, use the POST method with the person data as a JSON body:

$ http POST http://localhost:8080/api/persons firstName=Alice lastName=Smith birthYear=1996

To get a list of all persons, use the GET method:

$ http GET http://localhost:8080/api/persons

To get a specific person by id, use the GET method with the id as a path variable:

$ http GET http://localhost:8080/api/persons/1

To update an existing person by id, use the PUT method with the person data as a JSON body:

$ http PUT http://localhost:8080/api/persons/1 firstName=Bob lastName=Jones birthYear=1990

To delete an existing person by id, use the DELETE method with the id as a path variable:

$ http DELETE http://localhost:8080/api/persons/1

Details About the Implementation

Spring Data Jpa Dependencies

To enable JPA, which is the Java/Jakarta Persistence API, we need

//DEPS org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-data-jpa:3.1.4

we also need a database, so we will add dependency for H2 Database the section becomes

//DEPS org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web:3.1.4
//DEPS org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-data-jpa:3.1.4
//DEPS com.h2database:h2:2.2.224

to minimize the boilerplate code, we’ll add also Lombok

//DEPS org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web:3.1.4
//DEPS org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-data-jpa:3.1.4
//DEPS com.h2database:h2:2.2.224
//DEPS org.projectlombok:lombok:1.18.30

JBang supports importing of .pom files, let’s change the dependencies to

//DEPS org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-dependencies:3.1.4@pom
//DEPS org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web
//DEPS org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-data-jpa
//DEPS com.h2database:h2
//DEPS org.projectlombok:lombok

as you can see the dependency versions are removed, the Spring Boot version is defined only once.

Persistence : Person Entity and Repository

This is the JPA entity and the data repository

@Data
@Entity
@Table(name = "person")
@NoArgsConstructor
@AllArgsConstructor
class Person {

    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;
    private String firstName;
    private String lastName;
    private int birthYear;
}

interface PersonRepository extends JpaRepository<Person, Long> {
}

Rest Api: PersonController

This is the rest controller

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api/persons")
@RequiredArgsConstructor
class PersonController {

    private final PersonRepository personRepository;

    @GetMapping
    public Page<Person> findAll(Pageable pageable) {
        return personRepository.findAll(pageable);
    }

    @GetMapping("{id}")
    public Optional<Person> findById(@PathVariable("id") Long id) {
        return personRepository.findById(id);
    }

    @PostMapping
    public Person create(@RequestBody Person person) {
        return personRepository.save(person);
    }

    @PutMapping("{id}")
    public Person updateById(@PathVariable("id") Long id, @RequestBody Person person) {
        var loaded = personRepository.findById(id).orElseThrow();
        loaded.setFirstName(person.getFirstName());
        loaded.setLastName(person.getLastName());
        loaded.setBirthYear(person.getBirthYear());
        return personRepository.save(loaded);
    }

    @DeleteMapping("/{id}")
    public void deleteById(@PathVariable("id") Long id) {
        personRepository.deleteById(id);
    }
}

OpenAPI Support and Enable Swagger UI

We are using the springdoc project. To enable it, all we have to do is add the following dependency

//DEPS org.springdoc:springdoc-openapi-starter-webmvc-ui:2.2.0

after restarting the application, you are going to get the Swagger UI at the following URL http://localhost:8080/swagger-ui/index.html

Enable H2 Console Application

The H2 Console Application lets you access a SQL database using a browser interface. To activate it we need to add the following configuration right after the dependency section

//JAVA_OPTIONS -Dspring.h2.console.enabled=true
//JAVA_OPTIONS -Dspring.h2.console.settings.web-allow-others=true
//JAVA_OPTIONS -Dspring.datasource.url=jdbc:h2:mem:person-db;MODE=PostgreSQL;

Conclusion

In this blog post, we demonstrated how to create a Spring Boot Monolith using just a single Java file for the backend and a single HTML file for the frontend and JBang. This approach can be handy for quick prototyping, lightweight applications, or when you want to reduce the complexity of your development environment. As your application grows in complexity, you can always transition to a more traditional project structure. JBang provides a flexible and efficient way to develop Java applications without the need for heavyweight project setups.

Explore further and build even more sophisticated Spring Boot applications using JBang.


Coffee Time!


Happy coding!

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