Spring Boot + Vue.js + PostgreSQL: CRUD example

In this tutorial, we will learn how to build a full stack Spring Boot + Vue.js + PostgreSQL example with a CRUD App. The back-end server uses Spring Boot with Spring Web MVC for REST Controller and Spring Data JPA for interacting with PostgreSQL database. Front-end side is made with Vue & Vue Router.

Related Posts:
– Spring Boot + Vue.js: Authentication with JWT & Spring Security Example
– Spring Boot + Vue.js + MongoDB: CRUD example

More Practice: Vue + Spring Boot: File Upload example

Run both Project on same server/port:
How to integrate Vue.js with Spring Boot

Serverless with Firebase:
– Vue Firebase Realtime Database: CRUD example
– Vue Firestore: Build a CRUD App example

Spring Boot Vue.js PostgreSQL CRUD example

We will build a full-stack Tutorial Application in that:

• Each Tutorial has id, title, description, published status.
• We can create, retrieve, update, delete Tutorials.
• We can also find Tutorials by title.

The images below shows screenshots of our System.

– Add Tutorial:

– Show all Tutorials:

– Click on Edit button to update a Tutorial:

On this Page, you can:

• change status to Published using Publish button
• remove the Tutorial from Database using Delete button
• update the Tutorial details on Database with Update button

– Search Tutorials by title:

Spring Boot Vue.js PostgreSQL Architecture

Now look at the application architecture we will build:

– Spring Boot exports REST Apis using Spring Web MVC & interacts with PostgreSQL Database using Spring JPA
– Vue Client sends HTTP Requests and retrieve HTTP Responses using axios, shows data on the components. We also use Vue Router for navigating to pages.

Spring Boot Rest Apis Back-end

Overview

These are APIs that Spring Boot App will export:

– We make CRUD operations & finder methods with Spring Data JPA’s JpaRepository.
– The database will be PostgreSQL by configuring project dependency & datasource.

Technology

• Java 17 / 11 / 8
• Spring Boot 3 / 2 (with Spring Web MVC, Spring Data JPA)
• PostgreSQL
• Maven

Project Structure

– Tutorial data model class corresponds to entity and table tutorials.
– TutorialRepository is an interface that extends JpaRepository for CRUD methods and custom finder methods. It will be autowired in TutorialController.
– TutorialController is a RestController which has request mapping methods for RESTful requests such as: getAllTutorials, createTutorial, updateTutorial, deleteTutorial, findByPublished…
– Configuration for Spring Datasource, JPA & Hibernate in application.properties.
– pom.xml contains dependencies for Spring Boot and PostgreSQL.

Create & Setup Spring Boot project

Use Spring web tool or your development tool (Spring Tool Suite, Eclipse, Intellij) to create a Spring Boot Maven project.

Then open pom.xml and add these dependencies:

<dependency>
	<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
	<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
</dependency>

<dependency>
	<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
	<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
</dependency>

We also need to add one more dependency for PostgreSQL:

<dependency>
	<groupId>org.postgresql</groupId>
	<artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
	<scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>

Configure Spring Datasource, JPA, Hibernate

Under src/main/resources folder, open application.properties and write these lines.

spring.datasource.url= jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/testdb
spring.datasource.username= postgres
spring.datasource.password= 123

spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.jdbc.lob.non_contextual_creation= true
spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect= org.hibernate.dialect.PostgreSQLDialect

# Hibernate ddl auto (create, create-drop, validate, update)
spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto= update

• spring.datasource.username & spring.datasource.password properties are the same as your database installation.
• Spring Boot uses Hibernate for JPA implementation, we configure PostgreSQLDialect for PostgreSQL
• spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto is used for database initialization. We set the value to update value so that a table will be created in the database automatically corresponding to defined data model. Any change to the model will also trigger an update to the table. For production, this property should be validate.

Define Data Model

Our Data model is Tutorial with four fields: id, title, description, published.
In model package, we define Tutorial class.

model/Tutorial.java

package com.bezkoder.spring.jpa.postgresql.model;

// import javax.persistence.*; // for Spring Boot 2
import jakarta.persistence.*; // for Spring Boot 3

@Entity
@Table(name = "tutorials")
public class Tutorial {

	@Id
	@GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
	private long id;

	@Column(name = "title")
	private String title;

	@Column(name = "description")
	private String description;

	@Column(name = "published")
	private boolean published;
	...
}

– @Entity annotation indicates that the class is a persistent Java class.
– @Table annotation provides the table that maps this entity.
– @Id annotation is for the primary key.
– @GeneratedValue annotation is used to define generation strategy for the primary key. GenerationType.AUTO means Auto Increment field.
– @Column annotation is used to define the column in database that maps annotated field.

Create Repository Interface

Let’s create a repository to interact with Tutorials from the database.
In repository package, create TutorialRepository interface that extends JpaRepository.

repository/TutorialRepository.java

package com.bezkoder.spring.jpa.postgresql.repository;
...

public interface TutorialRepository extends JpaRepository<Tutorial, Long> {
  List<Tutorial> findByPublished(boolean published);

  List<Tutorial> findByTitleContaining(String title);
}

Now we can use JpaRepository’s methods: save(), findOne(), findById(), findAll(), count(), delete(), deleteById()… without implementing these methods.

We also define custom finder methods:
– findByPublished(): returns all Tutorials with published having value as input published.
– findByTitleContaining(): returns all Tutorials which title contains input title.

The implementation is plugged in by Spring Data JPA automatically.

You can modify this Repository:
– to work with Pagination, the instruction can be found at:
Spring Boot Pagination & Filter example | Spring JPA, Pageable
– or to sort/order by multiple fields with the tutorial:
Spring Data JPA Sort/Order by multiple Columns | Spring Boot

You also find way to write Unit Test for this JPA Repository at:
Spring Boot Unit Test for JPA Repositiory with @DataJpaTest

Create Spring Rest APIs Controller

Finally, we create a controller that provides APIs for creating, retrieving, updating, deleting and finding Tutorials.

controller/TutorialController.java

package com.bezkoder.spring.jpa.postgresql.controller;
...

@CrossOrigin(origins = "http://localhost:8081")
@RestController
@RequestMapping("/api")
public class TutorialController {

	@Autowired
	TutorialRepository tutorialRepository;

	@GetMapping("/tutorials")
	public ResponseEntity<List<Tutorial>> getAllTutorials(@RequestParam(required = false) String title) {
		...
	}

	@GetMapping("/tutorials/{id}")
	public ResponseEntity<Tutorial> getTutorialById(@PathVariable("id") long id) {
		...
	}

	@PostMapping("/tutorials")
	public ResponseEntity<Tutorial> createTutorial(@RequestBody Tutorial tutorial) {
		...
	}

	@PutMapping("/tutorials/{id}")
	public ResponseEntity<Tutorial> updateTutorial(@PathVariable("id") long id, @RequestBody Tutorial tutorial) {
		...
	}

	@DeleteMapping("/tutorials/{id}")
	public ResponseEntity<HttpStatus> deleteTutorial(@PathVariable("id") long id) {
		...
	}

	@DeleteMapping("/tutorials")
	public ResponseEntity<HttpStatus> deleteAllTutorials() {
		...
	}

	@GetMapping("/tutorials/published")
	public ResponseEntity<List<Tutorial>> findByPublished() {
		...
	}
}

– @CrossOrigin is for configuring allowed origins.
– @RestController annotation is used to define a controller and to indicate that the return value of the methods should be be bound to the web response body.
– @RequestMapping("/api") declares that all Apis’ url in the controller will start with /api.
– We use @Autowired to inject TutorialRepository bean to local variable.

You can continue with step by step to implement this Spring Boot Server (with Github) in the post:
Spring Boot, PostgreSQL: Build Rest CRUD Apis example with Maven & Spring JPA

Or Reactive Rest API: Spring Boot R2DBC + PostgreSQL example

Run Spring Boot Server

Run Spring Boot application with command: mvn spring-boot:run.

Vue.js Front-end

Overview

– The App component is a container with router-view. It has navbar that links to routes paths.

– TutorialsList component gets and displays Tutorials.
– Tutorial component has form for editing Tutorial’s details based on :id.
– AddTutorial component has form for submission new Tutorial.

– These Components call TutorialDataService methods which use axios to make HTTP requests and receive responses.

Technology

• vue: 2.6.10
• vue-router: 3.1.3
• axios: 0.19.0

If you want to use Vue 3 instead, please visit:
Vue 3 CRUD example with Axios & Vue Router

Project Structure

– package.json contains 3 main modules: vue, vue-router, axios.
– There are 3 components: TutorialsList, Tutorial, AddTutorial.
– router.js defines routes for each component.
– http-common.js initializes axios with HTTP base Url and headers.
– TutorialDataService has methods for sending HTTP requests to the Apis.
– vue.config.js configures port for this Vue Client.

Setup Vue.js Project

Open cmd at the folder you want to save Project folder, run command:
vue create vue-js-client-crud

You will see some options, choose default (babel, eslint).
After the process is done. We create new folders and files like the following tree:

---

public

index.html

src

components

AddTutorial.vue

Tutorial.vue

TutorialsList.vue

services

TutorialDataService.js

App.vue

main.js

package.json

---

Open public/index.html, add bootstrap inside <head> tag:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    ...
    <title>vue-js-client-crud</title>
    <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="//unpkg.com/bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" />
  </head>
  <body>
    ...
  </body>
</html>

Add Vue Router to Vue.js 2 CRUD App

– Run the command: npm install vue-router.

– In src folder, create router.js and define Router as following code:

import Vue from "vue";
import Router from "vue-router";

Vue.use(Router);

export default new Router({
  mode: "history",
  routes: [
    {
      path: "/",
      alias: "/tutorials",
      name: "tutorials",
      component: () => import("./components/TutorialsList")
    },
    {
      path: "/tutorials/:id",
      name: "tutorial-details",
      component: () => import("./components/Tutorial")
    },
    {
      path: "/add",
      name: "add",
      component: () => import("./components/AddTutorial")
    }
  ]
});

– Open src/main.js, then import router:

import Vue from 'vue'
import App from './App.vue'
import router from './router'

Vue.config.productionTip = false

new Vue({
  router,
  render: h => h(App),
}).$mount('#app')

Add Navbar and Router View to Vue.js 2 CRUD App

Let’s open src/App.vue, this App component is the root container for our application, it will contain a navbar.

<template>
  <div id="app">
    <nav class="navbar navbar-expand navbar-dark bg-dark">
      <router-link to="/" class="navbar-brand">bezKoder</router-link>
      <div class="navbar-nav mr-auto">
        <li class="nav-item">
          <router-link to="/tutorials" class="nav-link">Tutorials</router-link>
        </li>
        <li class="nav-item">
          <router-link to="/add" class="nav-link">Add</router-link>
        </li>
      </div>
    </nav>

    <div class="container mt-3">
      <router-view />
    </div>
  </div>
</template>

<script>
export default {
  name: "app"
};
</script>

Initialize Axios for Vue.js 2 CRUD HTTP Client

Now we’re gonna install axios with command: npm install axios.
Then, under src folder, we create http-common.js file like this:

import axios from "axios";

export default axios.create({
  baseURL: "http://localhost:8080/api",
  headers: {
    "Content-type": "application/json"
  }
});

Remember to change the baseURL, it depends on REST APIs url that your Server configures.

Create Data Service

Our service will use axios from HTTP client above to send HTTP requests.

services/TutorialDataService.js

import http from "../http-common";

class TutorialDataService {
  getAll() {
    return http.get("/tutorials");
  }

  get(id) {
    return http.get(`/tutorials/${id}`);
  }

  create(data) {
    return http.post("/tutorials", data);
  }

  update(id, data) {
    return http.put(`/tutorials/${id}`, data);
  }

  delete(id) {
    return http.delete(`/tutorials/${id}`);
  }

  deleteAll() {
    return http.delete(`/tutorials`);
  }

  findByTitle(title) {
    return http.get(`/tutorials?title=${title}`);
  }
}

export default new TutorialDataService();

Create Vue Components

As I’ve said before, we have 3 components corresponding to 3 routes defined in Vue Router.

• Add new Item
• List of items
• Item details

You can continue with step by step to implement this Vue App (with Github) in the post:
Vue.js CRUD App with Vue Router & Axios

Or using Vuetify (with Github): Vuetify data-table example with a CRUD App

Run Vue.js Client

You can run our Vue App with command: npm run serve.
If the process is successful, open Browser with Url: http://localhost:8081/ and check it.

Conclusion

Now we have an overview of Spring Boot Vue.js CRUD example when building a CRUD App with PostgreSQL database.

We also take a look at client-server architecture for REST API using Spring Web MVC & Spring Data JPA, as well as Vue.js project structure for building a front-end app to make HTTP requests and consume responses.

Next tutorials show you more details about how to implement the system:
– Back-end / Back-end with Reactive Rest API
– Front-end:

• Vue 2
• Vue 3

Run both Project on same server/port:
How to integrate Vue.js with Spring Boot

If you want a Typescript version for the Vue App, it is here:
Vue Typescript CRUD Application to consume Web API example

Serverless with Firebase:
– Vue Firebase Realtime Database: CRUD example
– Vue Firestore: Build a CRUD App example

Happy learning, see you again!

Further Reading

• Spring Data JPA
• Spring Web MVC
• https://www.npmjs.com/package/axios

Source Code

You can find Github source code for this tutorial at: Spring Boot with Vue.js Github