How do you create a Spring Boot application that uses Thymeleaf for rendering views?

Table of Contents

Introduction

Thymeleaf is a popular templating engine used in Java-based web applications for rendering dynamic views. It integrates seamlessly with Spring Boot to create powerful and scalable web applications. Thymeleaf allows you to define HTML templates with embedded dynamic content using its rich syntax and expressions. In this guide, we’ll walk through the process of creating a Spring Boot application that uses Thymeleaf for rendering views.

Setting Up a Spring Boot Application with Thymeleaf

1. Create a Spring Boot Application

First, you’ll need to create a Spring Boot project. You can either use Spring Initializr (https://start.spring.io/) or your IDE to generate the project. For this example, we’ll use Spring Initializr.

  • Dependencies: Choose the following dependencies:
    • Spring Web: For creating web applications.
    • Thymeleaf: For integrating Thymeleaf as the templating engine.

Download the generated ZIP file and extract it, or directly open it in your IDE.

2. Add Dependencies in pom.xml

If you’re creating the project manually or using an existing Spring Boot project, make sure the following dependencies are included in the pom.xml file:

The spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf dependency is all you need to integrate Thymeleaf with your Spring Boot project.

3. Create a Controller Class

In Spring Boot, controllers are responsible for handling HTTP requests and returning the appropriate views. Let’s create a simple controller class that will return a Thymeleaf view.

In this example:

  • We are defining a controller method home() that maps to the root URL ("/").
  • The message attribute is added to the model, which will be rendered in the Thymeleaf template.
  • The return value "home" corresponds to the home.html template that will be placed in the resources/templates/ directory.

4. Create Thymeleaf Template (home.html)

Next, you need to create a Thymeleaf template that will be used to render the view. Create a new HTML file in the src/main/resources/templates directory called home.html.

  • The th:text="${message}" expression is a Thymeleaf syntax used to insert the value of the message attribute into the HTML. This value is passed from the controller.

5. Configure Thymeleaf (Optional)

Thymeleaf configuration is mostly automatic in Spring Boot. However, you can customize it further in application.properties if needed.

For example, you can configure the suffix for Thymeleaf templates:

This ensures that Thymeleaf looks for .html files in the templates directory by default.

You can also configure caching and other features for Thymeleaf:

6. Run the Application

Now, you can run the application. If you are using Spring Boot’s embedded Tomcat server, simply run the main() method in your Application class (it’s usually automatically generated when you create a Spring Boot project).

You can also run the application from the terminal:

Once the application is running, visit http://localhost:8080/ in your web browser. You should see the message rendered from the home.html template.

Practical Example: Dynamic Data in Thymeleaf

You can easily pass more complex objects or collections to the Thymeleaf template. Let’s update the example to display a list of users dynamically.

1. Update the Controller

2. Update the Thymeleaf Template (home.html)

In this example:

  • The users list is passed to the model and displayed using a th:each loop, which iterates over the list and generates a list of user names.

Conclusion

Creating a Spring Boot application with Thymeleaf for rendering views is straightforward and allows you to easily display dynamic content. By integrating Thymeleaf with Spring Boot, you can build powerful, scalable web applications that separate logic from presentation, making it easier to manage and maintain your application. With basic setup, controller integration, and template rendering, you’re all set to create robust web pages in no time.

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