Spring Boot insert sample data into database upon startup - spring-boot

Question

What is the right way for creating test data upon server startup and inserting them into the database (I'm using a JPA/JDBC backed Postgres instance).
Preferably in form of creating Entities and having them persisted through a Repository interface rather than writing plain SQL code. Something like RoR's Rake db:seed helper.
If the framework exposes a hook for doing stuff when all the beans have been injected and the database is ready, that could also work.

Answer 1

You can catch ApplicationReadyEvent then insert demo data, for example:
#Component
public class DemoData {
#Autowired
private final EntityRepository repo;
#EventListener
public void appReady(ApplicationReadyEvent event) {
repo.save(new Entity(...));
}
}
Or you can implement CommandLineRunner or ApplicationRunner, to load demo data when an application is fully started:
#Component
public class DemoData implements CommandLineRunner {
#Autowired
private final EntityRepository repo;
#Override
public void run(String...args) throws Exception {
repo.save(new Entity(...));
}
}
#Component
public class DemoData implements ApplicationRunner {
#Autowired
private final EntityRepository repo;
#Override
public void run(ApplicationArguments args) throws Exception {
repo.save(new Entity(...));
}
}
Or even implement them like a Bean right in your Application (or other 'config') class:
#SpringBootApplication
public class Application {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
}
#Bean
public CommandLineRunner demoData(EntityRepository repo) {
return args -> {
repo.save(new Entity(...));
}
}
}

Answer 2

From Spring documentation: http://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/1.5.4.RELEASE/reference/htmlsingle/#howto-database-initialization
Initialize a database using Hibernate
A file named import.sql in the root of the classpath will be executed on startup if Hibernate creates the schema from scratch (that is if the ddl-auto property is set to create or create-drop). This can be useful for demos and for testing if you are careful, but probably not something you want to be on the classpath in production. It is a Hibernate feature (nothing to do with Spring).

Answer 3

You can do like this
#SpringBootApplication
public class H2Application {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(H2Application.class, args);
}
#Bean
CommandLineRunner init (StudentRepo studentRepo){
return args -> {
List<String> names = Arrays.asList("udara", "sampath");
names.forEach(name -> studentRepo.save(new Student(name)));
};
}
}