Java – Refreshing static content with Spring MVC and Boot

javaspring-bootspring-mvc

I'm evaluating Spring MVC & Boot and AngularJs for building web applications. I've run into the problem that when I make modifications to my static content (html, js, css), I have to restart the application every time. I hope there is a some way of solving that because restarting the whole application for static content changes is not efficient. Every other web app framework I've tried allows updating static content files on the fly(even just Spring MVC and plain old WAR application).

I've setup my project from "Building a RESTful Web Service with Spring Boot Actuator" guide (http://spring.io/guides/gs/actuator-service/). Basically it uses Spring Boot and MVC controllers to create a REST service. In addition, I've used "Consuming a RESTful Web Service with AngularJS" guide (http://spring.io/guides/gs/consuming-rest-angularjs/) to build a frontend with AngularJS. It creates a web page that displays the response from the REST service. The only change I've made is that the requests are made to my application instead of "http://rest-service.guides.spring.io/greeting". My static content is stored in "src/main/resources/public" folder. This setup works correctly except it doesn't reload static content.

Best Answer

A recap of the original problem

I've run into the problem that when I make modifications to my static content (html, js, css), I have to restart the application every time

I had the same problem and finally solved it by adding

<configuration>
    <addResources>true</addResources>
</configuration>

to spring-boot-maven-plugin in the pom.xml I got confused by this spring-boot-devtools thing, but it had no effect whatever I did.

My static content is stored in "src/main/resources/public" folder.

Your path is just fine. src/main/resources/static is also fine.

Related Solutions

Java inner class and static nested class

From the Java Tutorial:

Nested classes are divided into two categories: static and non-static. Nested classes that are declared static are simply called static nested classes. Non-static nested classes are called inner classes.

Static nested classes are accessed using the enclosing class name:

OuterClass.StaticNestedClass

For example, to create an object for the static nested class, use this syntax:

OuterClass.StaticNestedClass nestedObject = new OuterClass.StaticNestedClass();

Objects that are instances of an inner class exist within an instance of the outer class. Consider the following classes:

class OuterClass {
    ...
    class InnerClass {
        ...
    }
}

An instance of InnerClass can exist only within an instance of OuterClass and has direct access to the methods and fields of its enclosing instance.

To instantiate an inner class, you must first instantiate the outer class. Then, create the inner object within the outer object with this syntax:

OuterClass outerObject = new OuterClass()
OuterClass.InnerClass innerObject = outerObject.new InnerClass();

see: Java Tutorial - Nested Classes

For completeness note that there is also such a thing as an inner class without an enclosing instance:

class A {
  int t() { return 1; }
  static A a =  new A() { int t() { return 2; } };
}

Here, new A() { ... } is an inner class defined in a static context and does not have an enclosing instance.

C# – How to change the Page Title in ASP.Net 1.1

With ASP.Net 1.1, first you have to set the runat attribute on the title markup :

<title id="PageTitle" runat="server">WebForm1</title>

Then from the code behind :

// We need this name space to use HtmlGenericControl
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;

namespace TestWebApp
{

      public class WebForm1 : System.Web.UI.Page
      {
            // Variable declaration and instantiation
            protected HtmlGenericControl PageTitle = new HtmlGenericControl();

            private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
            {
                  // Set new page title
                  PageTitle.InnerText = "New Page Title";
            }
      }
}

Imports System.Web.UI.HtmlControls

Namespace TestWebApp

    Public Class WebForm1
        Inherits System.Web.UI.Page

        Protected PageTitle As HtmlGenericControl = New HtmlGenericControl()

        Private Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)

            PageTitle.InnerText = "New Page Title"
        End Sub

...

    End Class
End Namespace

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Java inner class and static nested class

C# – How to change the Page Title in ASP.Net 1.1

Related Topic