Upgrade to Spring Boot 1.4

Spring Boot 1.4 is a big jump, and introduced lots of new test facilities and aligned with the new technology stack, such as Spring framework 4.3 and Hibernate 5.2 and Spring Security 4.1, etc.

Spring Boot 1.4

New starter:spring-boot-starter-test

Spring Boot 1.4 brings a new starter for test scope, named spring-boot-starter-test.

Use the following:

org.springframework.bootspring-boot-starter-testtest

Instead of:

com.jayway.jsonpathjson-pathtest

org.assertjassertj-coretest

org.hamcresthamcrest-coretest

org.mockitomockito-coretest

spring-boot-starter-test includes the essential dependencies for test, such as json-path, assertj, hamcrest, mockito etc.

New annotation: @SpringBootTest

Spring Boot 1.4 introduced a new annotation @SpringBootTest to unite the old @IntegrationTest, @WebIntegrationTest, @SpringApplicationConfiguration etc, in before versions.

A webEnvironment property of @SpringBootTest is use for deciding if set up a web environment for test.

There are some configuration options of the webEnvironment.

• MOCK is the default, provides a mock web environment.

• NONE does not give a web environment.

• DEFINED_PORT provides an embedded web environment and run the application on a defined port.

• RANDOM_PORT provides an embedded web environment, but use a random port number.

If RANDOM_PORT is used, add @LocalSeverPort annotation on an int field will inject the port number at runtime.

@LocalSeverPort
int port;

@LocalServerPort replaces the @Value("${local.server.port}") of Spring Boot 1.3.

Similarly, classes property is similar to the one of @SpringApplicationConfiguration. You can specify the configuration classes to be loaded for the test.

@SpringBootTest(classes = {Application.class, SwaggerConfig.class})

The above code is equivalent to @SpringApplicationConfiguration(classes={...}) in Spring Boot 1.3.

New JUnit Runner: SpringRunner

Spring 1.4 introduced a new JUnit Runner, SpringRunner, which is an alias for the SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.

@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)

If you have to use other runners instead of SpringRunner, and want to use the Spring test context in the tests, declare a SpringClassRule and SpringMethodRule in the test to fill the gap.

@RunWith(AnotherRunner.class)
public class SomeTest{

    @ClassRule
    public static final SpringClassRule SPRING_CLASS_RULE = new SpringClassRule();

    @Rule
    public final SpringMethodRule springMethodRule = new SpringMethodRule();

}

Autoconfigure test slice

The most exciting feature provided in Spring Boot 1.4 is it provides capability to test some feature slice, which just pick up essential beans and configuration for the specific purpose based test.

Currently there is a series of new annotations available for this purpose.

@JsonTest provides a simple Jackson environment to test the json serialization and deserialization.

@WebMvcTest provides a mock web environment, it can specify the controller class for test and inject the MockMvc in the test.

@WebMvcTest(PostController.class)
public class PostControllerMvcTest{

    @Inject MockMvc mockMvc;

}

@DataJpaTest will prepare an embedded database and provides basic JPA environment for the test.

@RestClientTest provides REST client environment for the test, esp the RestTemplateBuilder etc.

These annotations are not composed with SpringBootTest, they are combined with a series of AutoconfigureXXX and a @TypeExcludesFilter annotations.

Have a look at @DataJpaTest.

@Target(ElementType.TYPE)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Documented
@Inherited
@BootstrapWith(SpringBootTestContextBootstrapper.class)
@OverrideAutoConfiguration(enabled = false)
@TypeExcludeFilters(DataJpaTypeExcludeFilter.class)
@Transactional
@AutoConfigureCache
@AutoConfigureDataJpa
@AutoConfigureTestDatabase
@AutoConfigureTestEntityManager
@ImportAutoConfiguration
public @interface DataJpaTest {}

You can add your @AutoconfigureXXX annotation to override the default config.

@AutoConfigureTestDatabase(replace=NONE)
@DataJpaTest
public class TestClass{
}

JsonComponent

@JsonComponent is a specific @Component to register custome Jackson JsonSerializer and JsonDeserializer.

For example, custom JsonSerializer and JsonDeserializer are use for serializing and deserializing LocalDateTime instance.

@JsonComponent
@Slf4j
public class LocalDateTimeJsonComponent {

    public static class LocalDateTimeSerializer extends JsonSerializer<LocalDateTime> {

        @Override
        public void serialize(LocalDateTime value, JsonGenerator jgen, SerializerProvider provider) throws IOException {
            jgen.writeString(value.atZone(ZoneId.systemDefault()).toInstant().toString());
        }
    }

    public static class LocalDateTimeDeserializer extends JsonDeserializer<LocalDateTime> {

        @Override
        public LocalDateTime deserialize(JsonParser p, DeserializationContext ctxt) throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
            ObjectCodec codec = p.getCodec();
            JsonNode tree = codec.readTree(p);
            String dateTimeAsString = tree.textValue();
            log.debug("dateTimeString value @" + dateTimeAsString);
            return LocalDateTime.ofInstant(Instant.parse(dateTimeAsString), ZoneId.systemDefault());
        }
    }
}

If you are using the Spring Boot default Jackson configuration, it will be activated by default when the application starts up.

But if you customized a ObjectMapper bean in your configuration, the auto configuration of ObjectMapper is disabled. You have to install JsonComponentModule manually, else the @JsonComponent beans will not be scanned at all.

@Bean
public Jackson2ObjectMapperBuilder objectMapperBuilder(JsonComponentModule jsonComponentModule) {

    Jackson2ObjectMapperBuilder builder = new Jackson2ObjectMapperBuilder();
    //...
            .modulesToInstall(jsonComponentModule);

    return builder;
} 

Mocking and spying Beans

Spring Boot 1.4 integrates Mockito tightly, and provides Spring specific @MockBean and @MockSpy annotations.

@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
public class MockBeanTest {

    @MockBean
    private UserRepository userRepository;

}

TestConfiguration and TestComponent

TestConfiguration and TestComponent are designated for test purpose, they are similar with Configuration and Component. Generic Configuration and Component can not be scanned by default in test codes.

public class TestClass{

    @TestConfiguration
    static class TestConfig{
    }

    @TestComponent
    static class TestBean{}

}

Spring 4.3

There are a few features added in 4.3, the following is impressive.

Composed annotations

The effort of Spring Composed are merged into Spring 4.3.

A series of new composed annotations are available, but the naming is a little different from Spring Composed.

For example, a RestController can be simplified by the new annotations, list as the following table.

Spring 4.2	Spring 4.3
@RequestMapping(value = "", method = RequestMethod.GET)	@GetMapping()
@RequestMapping(value = "", method = RequestMethod.POST)	@PostMapping()
@RequestMapping(value = "/{id}", method = RequestMethod.PUT)	@PutMapping(value = "/{id}")
@RequestMapping(value = "/{id}", method = RequestMethod.DELETE)	@DeleteMapping(value = "/{id}")

A new @RestControllerAdvice() is provided for exception handling, it is combination of @ControllerAdvice and @ResponseBody. You can remove the @ResponseBody on the @ExceptionHandler method when use this new annotation.

For example, in the old Spring 4.2, an custom exception handler class looks like the following.

@ControllerAdvice()
public class RestExceptionHandler {

    @ExceptionHandler(value = {SomeException.class})
    @ResponseBody
    public ResponseEntity<ResponseMessage> handleGenericException(SomeException ex, WebRequest request) {
    }
}

In Spring 4.3, it becomes:

@RestControllerAdvice()
public class RestExceptionHandler {

    @ExceptionHandler(value = {SomeException.class})
    public ResponseEntity<ResponseMessage> handleGenericException(SomeException ex, WebRequest request) {
    }
}

Auto constructor injection

If there is a only one constructor defined in the bean, the arguments as dependencies will be injected by default.

Before 4.3, you have to add @Inject or @Autowired on the constructor to inject the dependencies.

@RestController
@RequestMapping(value = Constants.URI_API_PREFIX + Constants.URI_POSTS)
public class PostController {

    @Inject
    public PostController(BlogService blogService) {
        this.blogService = blogService;
    }
}

@Inject can be removed in Spring 4.3.

@RestController
@RequestMapping(value = Constants.URI_API_PREFIX + Constants.URI_POSTS)
public class PostController {

    public PostController(BlogService blogService) {
        this.blogService = blogService;
    }
}

Spring Security 4.1

The Java configuration is improved.

Before 4.1, you can configure passwordEncoder and userDetailsService via AuthenticationManagerBuilder.

@Configuration
@Order(SecurityProperties.ACCESS_OVERRIDE_ORDER)
protected static class ApplicationSecurity extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {

  @Override
  protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {}

  @Override
  protected void configure(AuthenticationManagerBuilder auth)
          throws Exception {
      auth
          .userDetailsService(new SimpleUserDetailsServiceImpl(userRepository))
          .passwordEncoder(passwordEncoder);
  }

  @Bean
  @Override
  public AuthenticationManager authenticationManagerBean() throws Exception {
      return super.authenticationManagerBean();
  }

}

In 4.1, userDetailsService and passwordEncoder bean can be detected automatically. No need to wire them by AuthenticationManagerBuilder manually. No need to override the WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter class and provide a custom configuration, a generic WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter bean is enough.

@Bean
public BCryptPasswordEncoder passwordEncoder() {
    BCryptPasswordEncoder passwordEncoder = new BCryptPasswordEncoder();
    return passwordEncoder;
}

@Bean
public UserDetailsService userDetailsService(UserRepository userRepository){
    return new SimpleUserDetailsServiceImpl(userRepository);
}

@Bean
public WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter securityConfig(){
    return new WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter() {
        @Override
        protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {//...}
}    

More details can be found in the What’s New in Spring Security 4.1 chapter of Spring Security documentation.

Hibernate 5.2

The biggest change of Hibernate 5.2 is the packages had been reorganised, Hibernate 5.2 is Java 8 ready now.

hibernate-java8 (Java 8 DateTime support) and hibernate-entitymanager (JPA provider bridge) are merged into hibernate-core.

Remove the following dependencies when upgrade to Hibernate 5.2.

org.hibernatehibernate-java8${hibernate.version}org.hibernatehibernate-entitymanager${hibernate.version}

NOTE:If you are using Spring 4.2 with Hibernate 5.2.0.Final, it could break some dependencis, such as spring-orm, spring-boot-data-jpa-starter which depends on hibernate-entitymanager. Spring Boot 1.4.0.RC1 and Spring 4.3 GA fixed the issues. But I noticed in the Hibernate 5.2.1.Final, hibernate-entitymanager is back.

Hibernate 5.2 also added Java Stream APIs support, I hope it will be available in the next JPA specification.

Source code

Clone the codes from Github account.

git clone https://github.com/hantsy/angularjs-springmvc-sample-boot