Spring MVC

From Chunk Java Template Engine

Can I use Chunk Templates in my Spring MVC project?

Yes!

Since v2.6.4 Chunk has had bean-friendly plumbing that makes it easy to use with Spring MVC, as a drop-in replacement template engine for Freemarker or Velocity.

Special features

MVC Framework localized messages (defined in messages.properties etc) are available via a custom tag command:

{% messages.msg.name %}

Messages can be parameterized like so:

{% messages.msg.name(`$a`,`$b`) %}

A special request context tag is available, usually {$rc} but the name is configurable.

The following request context values are available:

{$rc.uri}
{$rc.context_path}
{$rc.servlet_path}
{$rc.scheme}
{$rc.method}
{$rc.server_name}
{$rc.remote_addr}
{$rc.remote_host}
{$rc.remote_user}

Using bean getters in a template

When exposing beans (or POJO member variables) in a model, keep in mind that Chunk always converts camelCase to snake_case.

So, x.getFavoriteColor() will be available in the template as {% $x.favorite_color %} -- and x.isBigAndHairy() must be checked like so:

{% if $x.big_and_hairy %}...{% endif %}

Is there a sample project that I can clone?

Why yes, just head here: Sample Spring MVC project on GitHub

You'll be up and running in no time.

Getting Started

Here's what you will need:

1. pom.xml dependencies:

  ...
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.x5dev</groupId>
        <artifactId>chunk-springmvc</artifactId>
        <version>0.1.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.x5dev</groupId>
        <artifactId>chunk-templates</artifactId>
        <version>3.2.4</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-aop</artifactId>
        <version>4.1.5.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
        <version>4.1.5.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
        <version>4.1.5.RELEASE</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>jstl</groupId>
        <artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
        <version>1.2</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
        <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
        <version>1.2</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
  <dependencyManagement>
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
            <version>4.1.5.RELEASE</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
  </dependencyManagement>
  ...

2. WebContent/WEB-INF/web.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<web-app version="2.4"
     xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee"
     xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
     xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee 
     http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee/web-app_2_4.xsd" >

    <display-name>Chunky Spring</display-name>

    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>dispatcher</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>
            org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet
        </servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>dispatcher</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

    <context-param>
        <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
        <param-value>/WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml</param-value>
    </context-param>

    <listener>
        <listener-class>
            org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener
        </listener-class>
    </listener>

</web-app>

3. WebContent/WEB-INF/dispatcher-servlet.xml - provide some Theme configuration and drop in a custom view class (source below) to viewResolver.

Make sure to change com.example.myapp to the package where your annotated controllers live.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
    xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans

http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-4.0.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context 
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-4.0.xsd">

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

    <bean id="chunkTemplatesConfig" class="java.util.HashMap" scope="prototype">
        <constructor-arg>
            <map key-type="java.lang.String" value-type="java.lang.String">
                <entry key="default_extension" value="chtml" />
                <entry key="cache_minutes" value="0" />
                <entry key="layers" value="" />
                <entry key="theme_path" value="" />
                <entry key="hide_errors" value="FALSE" />
                <entry key="error_log" value="" />
                <entry key="encoding" value="UTF-8" />
                <entry key="locale" value="" />
                <entry key="filters" value="" />
            </map>
        </constructor-arg>
    </bean>

    <bean id="viewResolver" class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceViewResolver">
        <property name="viewClass" value="com.x5.template.spring.ChunkTemplateView"/>
        <property name="prefix" value="/WEB-INF/themes/"/>
        <property name="suffix" value=".chtml"/>
        <property name="requestContextAttribute" value="rc"/>
    </bean>
</beans>

4. Make a controller! The template name "helloworld" will resolve to /WEB-INF/themes/helloworld.chtml and any include/exec calls will be resolved relative to there.

package com.example.myapp;

import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.ui.Model;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestParam;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.ModelAndView;

@Controller
public class HelloChunk
{
    String message = "Welcome to Spring MVC!";

    @RequestMapping("/hello")
    public ModelAndView showMessage(
            @RequestParam(value = "name", required = false, defaultValue = "World") String name)
    {
        ModelAndView mv = new ModelAndView("helloworld");
        mv.addObject("message", message);
        mv.addObject("name", name);
        mv.addObject("page_name", "Spring 4 MVC - Hello Chunk");
        return mv;
    }

    @RequestMapping(value={"/chunk","/"})
    public ModelAndView chunkTime()
    {
        ModelAndView mv = new ModelAndView("chunkworld");
        mv.addObject("page_name", "Chunky Time");
        return mv;
    }
}