Before Spring Boot: Manually Creating Configurations for Each Add-On

Before the advent of Spring Boot, developers had to manually configure various components of a Spring application. This process involved writing extensive XML or Java-based configuration code for even the simplest setups. While this provided flexibility, it also made development cumbersome, error-prone, and time-consuming. This blog delves into practical, industry-focused examples to illustrate how developers managed configurations manually before Spring Boot simplified the process.

1. Setting Up a Spring Web Application

Before Spring Boot, creating a web application required defining servlets, view resolvers, and more manually.

XML Configuration Example

web.xml (Servlet Configuration):

<web-app>
    <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>
</web-app>

dispatcher-servlet.xml (Spring MVC Configuration):