This project is a very simple base Spring MVC web application that can be used as a starting point to build any Spring MVC application. It was created to help the initial phase of starting a new project and wiring together the basic elements. In particular it contains the best practices in a number of areas as follows:

• Servlet Best Practices
  • No web.xml all config using annotation (Servlet 3.0) - (not yet implemented)
• Spring Configuration Best Practices
  • JavaConfig configuration (where possible - i.e. everything except Spring Security)
  • Spring Security (with custom login page)
• View / Client Best Practices
  • Hierachical freemarker (to split up / modularise views)
  • CSS at top
  • JS at bottum (loaded asynchronously)
  • Specifying favicon, apple-touch-icon
  • Minified & Bundled JS / CSS - that can be controlled from query string (bundled / unminified / disbaled)
  • Minified HTML
  • Long expiry time for resources (using fingerprint) - (not fully working yet)
• Testing Best Practices
  • BDD style approach
  • In-process automated acceptance tests (using new features in Spring 3.2 combined with JSoup)
  • Page Object (encapsulates page interaction)
• Logging Best Practices
  • Logback
  • Symantic logging - (not yet implemented)

The intention is that this application is:

• a simple example
• a quick to start any Spring MVC web application
• an easy way to follow best practice

To achieve these aims this project will be kept up to date with the latest features on a regular basis.

More information about this application can be found at:

• JavaScript and CSS Minification With WRO4J - http://blog.jamesdbloom.com/JSAndCSSMinificationWithWRO4J.html
• Testing Web Pages In Process - http://blog.jamesdbloom.com/TestingWebPagesInProcess.html
• Using PropertySource & Environment - http://blog.jamesdbloom.com/UsingPropertySourceAndEnvironment.html

Upgraded for Spring 4.0.2

Previous version based on Spring 3.2.1 is still available under branch spring_3_2_1_version.

New Features Added

• Spring Security (via Java Config)
  • login / logout
  • user registration
  • update password
• JPA Persistence via EBeans
• Email sending (including integration testing via Wiser)
• In-process Multi-Page Top-to-Bottom Integration Testing
• All libraries upgrade (except WRO4J)

Remaining TODO Items

• Thymeleaf Templates (for rendering email HTML)
• Replace web.xml with WebApplicationInitializer & WebMvcConfigurerAdapter (therefore removal of last xml files)
• Upgrade WRO4J
• Long expiry time for resources (using fingerprints)
• Symantic logging using MDC (Mapped Diagnostic Context)