Spring Boot Gradle Example (2024)

In this tutorial, we'll show you how to make a spring boot Gradle application or a Spring boot Gradle example. Gradle, is like Maven, widely used build tool. With the Intellj IDE, we created a spring boot Gradle application.

Let's create Gradle Project from Spring Initializer site https://start.spring.io/

OR, we can create Gradle Project from Intellij IDE - Select File -> New Project and select group, artifactId, name.

Project Structure

The files listed below will be created automatically in the gradle project.

1. gradlew.bat file for windows
2. gradlew file for Linux
3. gradle\wrapper file to build and run Gradle application

build.gradle

build.gradle must be located at the root of the application.

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()
    }
    dependencies {
        // For generating jars, the spring boot gradle plugin will be utilised.
        classpath("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin:1.5.9.RELEASE")
    }
}

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

description = "Demo project for Spring Boot Gradle Example"

apply plugin: 'java'                                // java plugin
apply plugin: 'org.springframework.boot'            // spring boot framework plugin

jar {
    baseName = 'spring-boot-gradle-example'       // jar file name
    version =  '1.0.0'                            // application version
}

dependencies {
    // spring boot web application dependency
    compile("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web")
}

sourceCompatibility = 1.8        // Java 1.8
targetCompatibility = 1.8

group 'spring-boot-demo'
version '1.0-SNAPSHOT'

Application Properties

application.properties will have properties related to spring boot application. Now we have made application server port to 8082.

server.port=8082

Rest Controller

Create controller class to test our gradle application.

package com.techgeekenext;

import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

@RestController
public class TestGradleController {

    @GetMapping(value = "/welcome")
    public String hello() {
        return "TechGeekNext - Welcome to Spring boot Gradle Demo";
    }
}

Gradle Commands

1. Clean and Build the Gradle Application : gradlew clean build for windows and command will clean and build the gradle project and create jar file under /build/libs

   D:\spring-boot-gradle-example>gradlew clean build
   Starting a Gradle Daemon (subsequent builds will be faster)
   :clean
   :compileJava
   :processResources
   :classes
   :findMainClass
   :jar
   :bootRepackage
   :assemble
   :compileTestJava NO-SOURCE
   :processTestResources NO-SOURCE
   :testClasses UP-TO-DATE
   :test NO-SOURCE
   :check UP-TO-DATE
   :build
   
   BUILD SUCCESSFUL
   
   Total time: 18.599 secs

2. Run the Gradle Application : Run the gradle spring boot application using gradlew bootRun command.

   D:\spring-boot-gradle-example>gradlew bootRun
   :compileJava UP-TO-DATE
   :processResources UP-TO-DATE
   :classes UP-TO-DATE
   :findMainClass
   :bootRun
   
     .   ____          _            __ _ _
    /\\ / ___'_ __ _ _(_)_ __  __ _ \ \ \ \
   ( ( )\___ | '_ | '_| | '_ \/ _` | \ \ \ \
    \\/  ___)| |_)| | | | | || (_| |  ) ) ) )
     '  |____| .__|_| |_|_| |_\__, | / / / /
    =========|_|==============|___/=/_/_/_/
    :: Spring Boot ::        (v1.5.9.RELEASE)
   
   16:46:07.513  INFO 2452 --- [           main] c.t.SpringBootGradleExampleApplication   : Starting SpringBootGradleExampleApplication on with PID  (D:\spring-boot-gradle-example\build\classes\main started by  in D:\spring-boot-gradle-example)
   16:46:07.518  INFO 2452 --- [           main] c.t.SpringBootGradleExampleApplication   : No active profile set, falling back to default profiles: default
   16:46:07.610  INFO 2452 --- [           main] ationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext : Refreshing org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.AnnotationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext@438a68: startup [ 16:46:07 IST 2024]; root of context hierarchy
   16:46:10.345  INFO 2452 --- [           main] s.b.c.e.t.TomcatEmbeddedServletContainer : Tomcat initialized with port(s): 8082 (http)
   16:46:10.370  INFO 2452 --- [           main] o.apache.catalina.core.StandardService   : Starting service [Tomcat]
   16:46:10.372  INFO 2452 --- [           main] org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine  : Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/8.5.23
   16:46:10.556  INFO 2452 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.a.c.c.C.[Tomcat].[localhost].[/]       : Initializing Spring embedded WebApplicationContext
   16:46:10.557  INFO 2452 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.web.context.ContextLoader            : Root WebApplicationContext: initialization completed in 2950 ms
   16:46:10.808  INFO 2452 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.w.servlet.ServletRegistrationBean  : Mapping servlet: 'dispatcherServlet' to [/]
   16:46:10.816  INFO 2452 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.w.servlet.FilterRegistrationBean   : Mapping filter: 'characterEncodingFilter' to: [/*]
   16:46:10.816  INFO 2452 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.w.servlet.FilterRegistrationBean   : Mapping filter: 'hiddenHttpMethodFilter' to: [/*]
   16:46:10.817  INFO 2452 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.w.servlet.FilterRegistrationBean   : Mapping filter: 'httpPutFormContentFilter' to: [/*]
   16:46:10.817  INFO 2452 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.w.servlet.FilterRegistrationBean   : Mapping filter: 'requestContextFilter' to: [/*]
   16:46:11.326  INFO 2452 --- [           main] s.w.s.m.m.a.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter : Looking for @ControllerAdvice: org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.AnnotationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext@438a68: startup date [ 16:46:07 IST 2024]; root of context hierarchy
   16:46:11.441  INFO 2452 --- [           main] s.w.s.m.m.a.RequestMappingHandlerMapping : Mapped "{[/welcome],methods=[GET]}" onto public java.lang.String com.techgeekenext.TestGradleController.hello()
   16:46:11.447  INFO 2452 --- [           main] s.w.s.m.m.a.RequestMappingHandlerMapping : Mapped "{[/error]}" onto public org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity<java.util.Map<java.lang.String, java.lang.Object>> org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.web.BasicErrorController.error(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest)
   16:46:11.447  INFO 2452 --- [           main] s.w.s.m.m.a.RequestMappingHandlerMapping : Mapped "{[/error],produces=[text/html]}" onto public org.springframework.web.servlet.ModelAndView org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.web.BasicErrorController.errorHtml(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest,javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse)
   16:46:11.491  INFO 2452 --- [           main] o.s.w.s.handler.SimpleUrlHandlerMapping  : Mapped URL path [/webjars/**] onto handler of type [class org.springframework.web.servlet.resource.ResourceHttpRequestHandler]
   16:46:11.491  INFO 2452 --- [           main] o.s.w.s.handler.SimpleUrlHandlerMapping  : Mapped URL path [/**] onto handler of type [class org.springframework.web.servlet.resource.ResourceHttpRequestHandler]
   16:46:11.560  INFO 2452 --- [           main] o.s.w.s.handler.SimpleUrlHandlerMapping  : Mapped URL path [/**/favicon.ico] onto handler of type [class org.springframework.web.servlet.resource.ResourceHttpRequestHandler]
   16:46:11.819  INFO 2452 --- [           main] o.s.j.e.a.AnnotationMBeanExporter        : Registering beans for JMX exposure on startup
   16:46:11.922  INFO 2452 --- [           main] s.b.c.e.t.TomcatEmbeddedServletContainer : Tomcat started on port(s): 8082 (http)
   16:46:11.928  INFO 2452 --- [           main] c.t.SpringBootGradleExampleApplication   : Started SpringBootGradleExampleApplication in 5.069 seconds (JVM running for 5.779)
   <==========---> 80% EXECUTING
   > :bootRun

OR Run from Intellj IDE as below

Test the Gradle Application

Now, access REST Endpoint at http://localhost:8082/welcome.

Download Source Code

The full source code for this article can be found on below.
Download it here - Spring Boot Gradle Example