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Spring MVC and FreeMarker Tutorial with Examples

  1. What is FreeMarker?
  2. Create Maven Web App Project
  3. Configure web.xml & pom.xml
  4. Configure Spring MVC
  5. Model, Form, Controller
  6. FreeMarker Views
  7. Run Application

1. What is FreeMarker?

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FreeMarker is a technology at View layer. It is used to display data. FreeMarker can be used to display data that replaces JSP. FreeMarker is practically a text document.
FreeMarker engine
FreeMarker Engine will combine the data from the Model layer with FreeMarker template in order to form HTML data.
Preview example:

2. Create Maven Web App Project

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Create an Empty Maven Web App in Eclipse with name "SpringMVCFreeMarker".

3. Configure web.xml & pom.xml

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Using WebApp >= 3.
web.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
    http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_0.xsd"
    id="WebApp_ID" version="3.0">
   
    <display-name>SpringMVCFreeMarker</display-name>
   
</web-app>
Declare the libraries
pom.xml
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0
                      http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
                     
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <groupId>org.o7planning</groupId>
  <artifactId>SpringMVCFreeMarker</artifactId>
  <packaging>war</packaging>
  <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
 
  <name>SpringMVCFreeMarker Maven Webapp</name>
  <url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
  <dependencies>
 
 
    <dependency>
      <groupId>junit</groupId>
      <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
      <version>3.8.1</version>
      <scope>test</scope>
     
    </dependency>
   
        <!-- Servlet Library -->
        <!-- http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/javax.servlet/javax.servlet-api -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
            <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
            <version>3.1.0</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
   
   
        <!-- Spring dependencies -->
        <!-- http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework/spring-core -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
            <version>4.3.3.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework/spring-web -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
            <version>4.3.3.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework/spring-webmvc -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
            <version>4.3.3.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>

        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework/spring-context-support -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-context-support</artifactId>
            <version>4.3.3.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>


        <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.freemarker/freemarker -->
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.freemarker</groupId>
            <artifactId>freemarker</artifactId>
            <version>2.3.23</version>
        </dependency>


    </dependencies>
   

    <build>
        <finalName>SpringMVCFreeMarker</finalName>
        <plugins>
       
            <!-- Config: Maven Tomcat Plugin -->
            <!-- http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.tomcat.maven/tomcat7-maven-plugin -->
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.maven</groupId>
                <artifactId>tomcat7-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.2</version>
                <!-- Config: contextPath and Port (Default: /SpringMVCFreeMarker : 8080) -->
                <!--
                <configuration>
                    <path>/</path>
                    <port>8899</port>
                </configuration>
                -->   
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>   
   
</project>

4. Configure Spring MVC

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SpringWebAppInitializer.java
package org.o7planning.springmvcfreemarker.config;

import javax.servlet.FilterRegistration;
import javax.servlet.ServletContext;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.ServletRegistration;

import org.springframework.web.WebApplicationInitializer;
import org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener;
import org.springframework.web.context.support.AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.web.filter.CharacterEncodingFilter;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet;

public class SpringWebAppInitializer implements WebApplicationInitializer {

    @Override
    public void onStartup(ServletContext servletContext) throws ServletException {
        AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext appContext = new AnnotationConfigWebApplicationContext();
        appContext.register(ApplicationContextConfig.class);

        // Dispatcher Servlet
        ServletRegistration.Dynamic dispatcher = servletContext.addServlet("SpringDispatcher",
                new DispatcherServlet(appContext));
        dispatcher.setLoadOnStartup(1);
        dispatcher.addMapping("/");

        
        dispatcher.setInitParameter("contextClass", appContext.getClass().getName());

        servletContext.addListener(new ContextLoaderListener(appContext));

        // UTF8 Charactor Filter.
        FilterRegistration.Dynamic fr = servletContext.addFilter("encodingFilter", CharacterEncodingFilter.class);

        fr.setInitParameter("encoding", "UTF-8");
        fr.setInitParameter("forceEncoding", "true");
        fr.addMappingForUrlPatterns(null, true, "/*");
    }

}
WebMvcConfig.java
package org.o7planning.springmvcfreemarker.config;

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.DefaultServletHandlerConfigurer;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.EnableWebMvc;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.ResourceHandlerRegistry;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.config.annotation.WebMvcConfigurerAdapter;


@Configuration
@EnableWebMvc
public class WebMvcConfig extends WebMvcConfigurerAdapter {

 
    @Override
    public void addResourceHandlers(ResourceHandlerRegistry registry) {
         // Default.
    }

     
    @Override
    public void configureDefaultServletHandling(DefaultServletHandlerConfigurer configurer) {
        configurer.enable();
    }
 
}
In ApplicationContextConfig you need declare 2 Spring Beans - viewResolver & freemarkerConfig.
ApplicationContextConfig.java
package org.o7planning.springmvcfreemarker.config;

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.ComponentScan;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.ViewResolver;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.view.freemarker.FreeMarkerConfigurer;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.view.freemarker.FreeMarkerViewResolver;

@Configuration

@ComponentScan("org.o7planning.springmvcfreemarker.*")

public class ApplicationContextConfig {

    @Bean(name = "viewResolver")
    public ViewResolver getViewResolver() {
        FreeMarkerViewResolver viewResolver = new FreeMarkerViewResolver();
        System.out.println("Create Bean viewResolver");

        viewResolver.setCache(true);
        viewResolver.setPrefix("");
        viewResolver.setSuffix(".ftl");
        return viewResolver;
    }

    @Bean(name = "freemarkerConfig")
    public FreeMarkerConfigurer getFreemarkerConfig() {
        FreeMarkerConfigurer config = new FreeMarkerConfigurer();

        // Folder containing FreeMarker templates.
        config.setTemplateLoaderPath("/WEB-INF/views/");
        return config;
    }

}

5. Model, Form, Controller

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Person.java
package org.o7planning.springmvcfreemarker.model;

public class Person {

    private String firstName;
    private String lastName;

    public Person() {
        
    }

    public Person(String firstName, String lastName) {
        this.firstName = firstName;
        this.lastName = lastName;
    }

    public String getFirstName() {
        return firstName;
    }

    public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
        this.firstName = firstName;
    }

    public String getLastName() {
        return lastName;
    }

    public void setLastName(String lastName) {
        this.lastName = lastName;
    }

}
PersonForm.java
package org.o7planning.springmvcfreemarker.form;

public class PersonForm {

    private String firstName;
    private String lastName;

    public String getFirstName() {
        return firstName;
    }

    public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
        this.firstName = firstName;
    }

    public String getLastName() {
        return lastName;
    }

    public void setLastName(String lastName) {
        this.lastName = lastName;
    }
    
}
Controller:
MainController.java
package org.o7planning.springmvcfreemarker.controller;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import org.o7planning.springmvcfreemarker.form.PersonForm;
import org.o7planning.springmvcfreemarker.model.Person;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.ui.Model;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ModelAttribute;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;

@Controller
public class MainController {

    private static List<Person> persons = new ArrayList<Person>();

    static {
        persons.add(new Person("Bill", "Gates"));
        persons.add(new Person("Steve", "Jobs"));
    }

    @RequestMapping(value = { "/", "/index" }, method = RequestMethod.GET)
    public String index(Model model) {

        model.addAttribute("persons", persons);

        return "index";
    }

    @RequestMapping(value = { "/addPerson" }, method = RequestMethod.GET)
    public String addPersonForm(Model model) {

        PersonForm personForm = new PersonForm();
        model.addAttribute("personForm", personForm);

        return "addPerson";
    }

    @RequestMapping(value = { "/addPerson" }, method = RequestMethod.POST)
    public String addPersonSave(Model model, //
            @ModelAttribute("personForm") PersonForm personForm) {

        String firstName = personForm.getFirstName();
        String lastName = personForm.getLastName();

        if (firstName != null && firstName.length() > 0 //
                && lastName != null && lastName.length() > 0) {
            Person newPerson = new Person(firstName, lastName);
            persons.add(newPerson);

            return "redirect:/index";
        }
        String error = "First Name & Last Name is required!";
        model.addAttribute("errorMessage", error);
        return "addPerson";
    }

}

6. FreeMarker Views

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/WEB-INF/views/index.ftl
<html>
   <head>
      <title>Person List</title>
   </head>  
   <body>
     <h3>Person List</h3>
     <a href="addPerson">Add Person</a>
     <br><br>
      <div>
        
         <table border="1">
            <tr>
               <th>First Name</th>
               <th>Last Name</th>
            </tr>
            <#list persons as person>
            <tr>
               <td>${person.firstName}</td>
               <td>${person.lastName}</td>
            </tr>
            </#list>
         </table>
      </div>
   </body>
</html>
/WEB-INF/views/addPerson.ftl
<!--
   freemarker macros have to be imported into a namespace.
   We strongly recommend sticking to 'spring'
   -->

<#import "/spring.ftl" as spring/>

<html>
   <head>
      <title>Add Person</title>
   </head>
   <body>
      <#if errorMessage??>
      <div style="color:red;font-style:italic;">
         ${errorMessage}
      </div>
      </#if>
     
      <div>
         <fieldset>
            <legend>Add Person</legend>
            <form name="person" action="" method="POST">
               First Name: <@spring.formInput "personForm.firstName" "" "text"/>    <br/>
               Last Name: <@spring.formInput "personForm.lastName" "" "text"/>    <br/>
               <input type="submit" value="Create" />
            </form>
         </fieldset>
      </div>
     
     
   </body>
  
</html>

7. Run Application

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  • Name: Run SpringMVCFreeMarker
  • Base directory: ${workspace_loc:/SpringMVCFreeMarker}
  • Goals: tomcat7:run
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