Creating Jar for SpringBoot Application with JSP pages using Gradle - spring-boot

Question

I have an SpringBoot Application which has few JSP pages within it. When I boot the main class from my eclipse it is working perfectly. But at the same time, when I package it as jar, the WEB-INF/jsp folder is not configured properly. I am stuck here. Request your help
Below is my Gradle script
buildscript {
ext {
springBootVersion = '1.5.4.RELEASE'
}
repositories {
maven {
url "https://plugins.gradle.org/m2/"
}
}
dependencies {
classpath("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin:${springBootVersion}")
}
}
apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'eclipse'
apply plugin: 'org.springframework.boot'
group = 'com.arun'
version = '0.0.1-SNAPSHOT'
sourceCompatibility = 1.8
task packSSO(type: Jar) {
manifest {
attributes(
'Implementation-Title': 'Arun Spring Boot Application',
'Implementation-Version': version,
'Built-By': System.getProperty('user.name'),
'Built-Date': new Date(),
'Main-Class': 'com.arun.MainGate',
'Built-JDK': System.getProperty('java.version')
)
}
sourceSets {
main {
resources {
srcDirs "src/main/resources"
}
}
}
baseName = project.name + '-all'
from {
configurations.compile.collect {
it.isDirectory() ? it : zipTree(it)
}
}
with jar
}
repositories {
maven {
url "https://plugins.gradle.org/m2/"
}
}
dependencies {
compile('org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web')
compile('org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-tomcat')
compile('org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-jasper')
compile ('javax.servlet:jstl:1.2')
testCompile('org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test')
testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
}
I exploded the created Jar and the structure looks like below.
so when i run java -jar SSOPage-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar it couldn't find the JSP pages. What exact folder structure should i need to follow and how to package the WEB-INF in gradle ?

Answer 1

I think you must use WAR packaging for a Spring Boot application that uses JSPs. However, you can still use it like a self-contained executable JAR file, as in $ java -jar ./build/libs/hcro-pdi-1.0.0.war.
Here's my build.gradle file from a Spring Boot 2.0.1 project that uses JSPs.
plugins {
id 'org.springframework.boot' version '2.0.1.RELEASE'
id "io.spring.dependency-management" version "1.0.4.RELEASE"
}
apply plugin: 'org.springframework.boot'
apply plugin: 'war'
bootWar {
baseName = 'hcro-pdi'
version = '1.0.0'
}
gradle.projectsEvaluated {
tasks.withType(JavaCompile) {
options.compilerArgs << "-Xlint:unchecked" << "-Xlint:deprecation"
}
}
repositories {
mavenCentral()
}
dependencies {
compile('org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web')
providedRuntime("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-tomcat")
compile('org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-jdbc')
compile('javax.servlet:jstl')
compile('org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-jasper')
// Devtools enable hot-reloading of JSP and static content
compile("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-devtools")
compile(group: 'org.mariadb.jdbc', name: 'mariadb-java-client', version: '2.2.0')
compile(group: 'org.apache.commons', name: 'commons-lang3', version: '3.7')
compile(group: 'org.apache.httpcomponents', name: 'httpclient', version: '4.5.5')
compile(group: 'joda-time', name: 'joda-time')
compile(group: 'com.fasterxml.jackson.datatype', name: 'jackson-datatype-joda')
compileOnly('org.projectlombok:lombok')
testCompile('org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test')
}
// When running in bootRun task, automatically reload static resources when changed
// https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/current/reference/html/build-tool-plugins-gradle-plugin.html#build-tool-plugins-gradle-running-applications
bootRun {
jvmArgs "-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=5005"
sourceResources sourceSets.main
}
And, you do have to add the two properties to application.properties shared by #Yogi.
spring.mvc.view.prefix=/WEB-INF/jsp/
spring.mvc.view.suffix=.jsp

Answer 2

You need to create application.properties under resources folder in your application and define below properties:
spring.mvc.view.prefix: /WEB-INF/jsp/ (your path for JSP files)
spring.mvc.view.suffix: .jsp
Sample MVC examples:
http://www.springboottutorial.com/creating-web-application-with-spring-boot