Spring MVC - Xml View Resolver Example

TestWeb-servlet.xml

<bean class = "org.springframework.web.servlet.view.XmlViewResolver">
   <property name = "location">
      <value>/WEB-INF/views.xml</value>
   </property>
</bean>

views.xml

<bean id = "hello"
   class = "org.springframework.web.servlet.view.JstlView">
   <property name = "url" value = "/WEB-INF/jsp/hello.jsp" />
</bean>

For example, using the above configuration, if URI −

/hello is requested, DispatcherServlet will forward the request to the hello.jsp defined by bean hello in the view.xml.

To start with, let us have a working Eclipse IDE in place and stick to the following steps to develop a Dynamic Form based Web Application using the Spring Web Framework.

Step	Description
1	Create a project with a name TestWeb under a package com.howcodex as explained in the Spring MVC - Hello World chapter.
2	Create a Java class HelloController under the com.howcodexpackage.
3	Create a view file hello.jsp under the jsp sub-folder.
4	Download JSTL library jstl.jar. Put it in your CLASSPATH.
5	The final step is to create the content of the source and configuration files and export the application as explained below.

HelloController.java

package com.howcodex;

import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;
import org.springframework.ui.ModelMap;

@Controller
@RequestMapping("/hello")
public class HelloController{
 
   @RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.GET)
   public String printHello(ModelMap model) {
      model.addAttribute("message", "Hello Spring MVC Framework!");

      return "hello";
   }

}

TestWeb-servlet.xml

<beans xmlns = "http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
   xmlns:context = "http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
   xmlns:xsi = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
   xsi:schemaLocation = "
   http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans     
   http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd
   http://www.springframework.org/schema/context 
   http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.0.xsd">

   <context:component-scan base-package = "com.howcodex" />

   <bean class = "org.springframework.web.servlet.view.XmlViewResolver">
      <property name = "location">
         <value>/WEB-INF/views.xml</value>
      </property>
   </bean>
</beans>

views.xml

<beans xmlns = "http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
   xmlns:context = "http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
   xmlns:xsi = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
   xsi:schemaLocation = "
   http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans     
   http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd
   http://www.springframework.org/schema/context 
   http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.0.xsd">

   <bean id = "hello"
      class = "org.springframework.web.servlet.view.JstlView">
      <property name = "url" value = "/WEB-INF/jsp/hello.jsp" />
   </bean>
</beans>

hello.jsp

<%@ page contentType = "text/html; charset = UTF-8" %>
<html>
   <head>
      <title>Hello World</title>
   </head>
   <body>
      <h2>${message}</h2>
   </body>
</html>

Once you are done with creating source and configuration files, export your application. Right click on your application, use Export → WAR File option and save the HelloWeb.war file in Tomcat's webapps folder.

Now, start your Tomcat server and make sure you are able to access other webpages from the webapps folder using a standard browser. Try to access the URL − http://localhost:8080/HelloWeb/hello and if everything is fine with the Spring Web Application, we will see the following screen.

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