Spring MVC CRUD with Example

CRUD stands for Create, Read/Retrieve, Update, and Delete. These are the four basic operations to create any type of project. Spring MVC is a Web MVC Framework for building web applications. It is a spring module same as Spring boot, spring-security, etc. The term MVC stands for Model-View-Controller architecture. In this article, we will be building a simple course-tracking CRUD application that will be focused on the Spring MVC module.

CRUD Example of Spring MVC

Project Structure 

1. Add Dependencies to build.gradle file

Add the following dependencies to build.gradle file if not already present.

implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-data-jpa'
implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf'
implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web'
implementation 'org.projectlombok:lombok:1.18.20'
developmentOnly 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-devtools'
runtimeOnly 'com.h2database:h2'
runtimeOnly 'mysql:mysql-connector-java'
testImplementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test'

2. Model Layer

Create a simple POJO (Plain old java object) with some JPA and Lombok annotations.

• @NoArgsConstructor – This annotation generates constructors with no arguments.
• @AllArgsConstructor – This annotation generates constructors with all field arguments.
• @Data – This annotation generates getters, setter, toString, required argument constructors,  equals & hashCode.
• @Entity –  This annotation defines that a class can be mapped to a table.
• @Table – This annotation specifies the name of the database table used for mapping.
• @Id – This annotation marks the primary key for the entity.
• @GeneratedValue – This annotation provides the specification of generation strategies for the values of the primary keys.
• @Column – This annotation marks the column name in the table for that particular attribute.

Java

import lombok.*;
import javax.persistence.*;

@NoArgsConstructor
@AllArgsConstructor
@Data
@Entity
@Table(name = "courses")
public class Course {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private Long id;

    @Column(name = "course_name")
    private String courseName;
    @Column(name = "instructor")
    private String instructor;
    @Column(name = "email")
    private String email;
}

3. DAO (Data access object) / Repository Layer

• @Repository: This annotation is a stereotype that marks the repository class. It indicates that the annotated class acts as a database on which CRUD operations can take place.
• JpaRepository<Course, Long> : JpaRepository is a JPA-specific extension of the Repository. It contains the full API of CrudRepository and PagingAndSortingRepository. So it contains API for basic CRUD operations and also API for pagination and sorting. Here we enable database operations for Employees. To learn more about spring data Jpa, refer this article.

Java

import com.example.testing_001.model.Course;
import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.JpaRepository;

@Repository
public interface CourseRepository extends JpaRepository<Course, Long> {

}

4. Service Layer

The service layer provides an abstraction over the data layer. Its main purpose is to fulfill business requirements. It is always better to separate business logic from app logic.

Java

import com.example.testing_001.model.Course;
import java.util.List;
import org.springframework.data.domain.Page;

public interface CourseService {
    List<Course> getAllCourses();
    void saveCourse(Course course);
    Course getCourseById(long id);
    void deleteCourseById(long id);
    Page<Course> findPaginated(int pageNum, int pageSize,
                               String sortField,
                               String sortDirection);
}

The class (described below) CourseServiceImpl implements the CourseService interface and provides us with all the CRUD operations logic which is our business logic here.

Annotations used:

• @Service – This annotation is a stereotype that is used to annotate classes at service layers.
• @Autowired – This annotation is used to autowired a bean into another bean.

Java

import com.example.testing_001.model.Course;
import com.example.testing_001.repository.CourseRepository;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.data.domain.Page;
import org.springframework.data.domain.PageRequest;
import org.springframework.data.domain.Pageable;
import org.springframework.data.domain.Sort;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Service;

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

@Service
public class CourseServiceImpl implements CourseService{

    @Autowired
    private CourseRepository courseRepository;

    @Override
    public List<Course> getAllCourses() {
        return courseRepository.findAll();
    }

    @Override
    public void saveCourse(Course course) {
        this.courseRepository.save(course);
    }

    @Override
    public Course getCourseById(long id) {
        Optional<Course> optionalCourse = courseRepository.findById(id);
        Course course = null;
        if (optionalCourse.isPresent()) {
            course = optionalCourse.get();
        } else {
            throw new RuntimeException("Course not found for id : " + id);
        }
        return course;
    }

    @Override
    public void deleteCourseById(long id) {
        this.courseRepository.deleteById(id);
    }

    @Override
    public Page<Course> findPaginated(int pageNum, int pageSize, String sortField, String sortDirection) {
        Sort sort = sortDirection.equalsIgnoreCase(Sort.Direction.ASC.name()) ? Sort.by(sortField).ascending() :
                Sort.by(sortField).descending();

        Pageable pageable = PageRequest.of(pageNum - 1, pageSize, sort);
        return this.courseRepository.findAll(pageable);
    }
}

5. Controller Layer

In Spring MVC, the controller layer is the top layer of the architecture that is used to handle web requests. Then depending on the type of request, it passed it to corresponding layers.

Annotations used:

• @Controller – This annotation marks that the particular class serves the role of a controller.
• @GetMapping – This annotation marks the mapping of HTTP GET requests onto specific handler methods.
• @PostMapping – This annotation marks the mapping of HTTP POST requests onto specific method handlers.

Java

import com.example.testing_001.model.Course;
import com.example.testing_001.service.CourseService;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.data.domain.Page;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.ui.Model;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.*;

import java.util.List;

@Controller
public class CourseController {

    @Autowired
    private CourseService courseService;

    @GetMapping("/")
    public String viewHomePage(Model model) {
        return findPaginated(1, "courseName", "asc", model);
    }

    @GetMapping("/add")
    public String showNewCourseForm(Model model) {
        Course Course = new Course();
        model.addAttribute("course", Course);
        return "new_course";
    }

    @PostMapping("/save")
    public String saveCourse(@ModelAttribute("course") Course course) {
        // save Course to database
        courseService.saveCourse(course);
        return "redirect:/";
    }

    @GetMapping("/update/{id}")
    public String showFormForUpdate(@PathVariable( value = "id") long id, Model model) {

        Course course = courseService.getCourseById(id);
        model.addAttribute("course", course);
        return "update_course";
    }

    @GetMapping("/delete/{id}")
    public String deleteCourse(@PathVariable (value = "id") long id) {

        this.courseService.deleteCourseById(id);
        return "redirect:/";
    }


    @GetMapping("/page/{pageNo}")
    public String findPaginated(@PathVariable (value = "pageNo") int pageNo,
                                @RequestParam("sortField") String sortField,
                                @RequestParam("sortDir") String sortDir,
                                Model model) {
        int pageSize = 5;

        Page<Course> page = courseService.findPaginated(pageNo, pageSize, sortField, sortDir);
        List<Course> listCourses = page.getContent();

        model.addAttribute("currentPage", pageNo);
        model.addAttribute("totalPages", page.getTotalPages());
        model.addAttribute("totalItems", page.getTotalElements());

        model.addAttribute("sortField", sortField);
        model.addAttribute("sortDir", sortDir);
        model.addAttribute("reverseSortDir", sortDir.equals("asc") ? "desc" : "asc");

        model.addAttribute("listCourses", listCourses);
        return "index";
    }
}

TRY: Change the GET mapping for course update and delete course to PUT mapping and DELETE mapping respectively. It is considered best practice to use mappings based on the functionality of the api.

HTML Templates

We have used thymleaf as our templating engine instead of traditional jsps.

Home page

HTML

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" xmlns:th="http://www.thymeleaf.org">
<head>
  <meta charset="ISO-8859-1">
  <title>Course Tracker</title>

  <link rel="stylesheet"
        href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.1.3/css/bootstrap.min.css"
        integrity="sha384-MCw98/SFnGE8fJT3GXwEOngsV7Zt27NXFoaoApmYm81iuXoPkFOJwJ8ERdknLPMO"
        crossorigin="anonymous">

</head>
<body>

<div class="container my-2">
  <h1>Courses List</h1>

  <a th:href = "@{/add}" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm mb-3"> Add Course </a>

  <table border="1" class = "table table-striped table-responsive-md">
    <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>
        <a th:href="@{'/page/' + ${currentPage} + '?sortField=courseName&sortDir=' + ${reverseSortDir}}">
          Course Name</a>
      </th>
      <th>
        <a th:href="@{'/page/' + ${currentPage} + '?sortField=instructor&sortDir=' + ${reverseSortDir}}">
          Course Instructor</a>
      </th>
      <th>
        <a th:href="@{'/page/' + ${currentPage} + '?sortField=email&sortDir=' + ${reverseSortDir}}">
          Course Email</a>
      </th>
      <th> Actions </th>
    </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <tr th:each="course : ${listCourses}">
      <td th:text="${course.courseName}"></td>
      <td th:text="${course.instructor}"></td>
      <td th:text="${course.email}"></td>
      <td> <a th:href="@{/update/{id}(id=${course.id})}" class="btn btn-primary">Update</a>
        <a th:href="@{/delete/{id}(id=${course.id})}" class="btn btn-danger">Delete</a>
      </td>
    </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>

  <div th:if = "${totalPages > 1}">
    <div class = "row col-sm-10">
      <div class = "col-sm-5">
        Total Rows: [[${totalItems}]]
      </div>
      <div class = "col-sm-3">
                    <span th:each="i: ${#numbers.sequence(1, totalPages)}">
                        <a th:if="${currentPage != i}" th:href="@{'/page/' + ${i}+ '?sortField=' + ${sortField} + '&sortDir=' + ${sortDir}}">[[${i}]]</a>
                        <span th:unless="${currentPage != i}">[[${i}]]</span>
                    </span>
      </div>
      <div class = "col-sm-1">
        <a th:if="${currentPage < totalPages}" th:href="@{'/page/' + ${currentPage + 1}+ '?sortField=' + ${sortField} + '&sortDir=' + ${sortDir}}">Next</a>
        <span th:unless="${currentPage < totalPages}">Next</span>
      </div>

      <div class="col-sm-1">
        <a th:if="${currentPage < totalPages}" th:href="@{'/page/' + ${totalPages}+ '?sortField=' + ${sortField} + '&sortDir=' + ${sortDir}}">Last</a>
        <span th:unless="${currentPage < totalPages}">Last</span>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Add course page

HTML

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" xmlns:th="http://thymeleaf.org">
<head>
    <meta charset="ISO-8859-1">
    <title>Course </title>
    <link rel="stylesheet"
          href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.1.3/css/bootstrap.min.css"
          integrity="sha384-MCw98/SFnGE8fJT3GXwEOngsV7Zt27NXFoaoApmYm81iuXoPkFOJwJ8ERdknLPMO"
          crossorigin="anonymous">
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
    <h1>Course Tracker</h1>
    <hr>
    <h2>Save Course</h2>

    <form action="#" th:action="@{/save}" th:object="${course}"
          method="POST">
        <input type="text" th:field="*{courseName}"
               placeholder="Course Name" class="form-control mb-4 col-4">

        <input type="text" th:field="*{instructor}"
               placeholder="Instructor Name" class="form-control mb-4 col-4">

        <input type="text" th:field="*{email}"
               placeholder="Course Email" class="form-control mb-4 col-4">

        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-info col-2"> Save Course</button>
    </form>

    <hr>

    <a th:href = "@{/}"> Back to Course List</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Update course page

HTML

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en" xmlns:th="http://www.thymeleaf.org">
<head>
    <meta charset="ISO-8859-1">
    <title>Course Tracker</title>

    <link rel="stylesheet"
          href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.1.3/css/bootstrap.min.css">
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
    <h1>Course Tracker</h1>
    <hr>
    <h2>Update Course</h2>

    <form action="#" th:action="@{/save}" th:object="${course}"
          method="POST">

        <!-- Add hidden form field to handle update -->
        <input type="hidden" th:field="*{id}" />
        <input type="text" th:field="*{courseName}" class="form-control mb-4 col-4" placeholder="Course name">
        <input type="text" th:field="*{instructor}" class="form-control mb-4 col-4" placeholder="Course instructor">
        <input type="text" th:field="*{email}" class="form-control mb-4 col-4" placeholder="Email">
        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-info col-2"> Update Course</button>
    </form>

    <hr>

    <a th:href = "@{/}"> Back to Course List</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>

CRUD Operations

1. Creating a course

2. Reading courses

3. Updating course

4. Course updated successfully

5. Deleting course