How to Setup Spring Boot with Vue.js Frontend

As a programmer, you will often be confronted with projects where you will need to work out things between the backend and frontend and though there are multiple frameworks to work with, not every framework from either side can comply with each other.

Of course, we always have the APIs to fix and fit things in between, but that can take time and then there are times when we need to find the right combination through trial and error. But here, we are about to discuss a proven combination – Spring Boot with Vue.js.

Now several experienced developers have already worked with this combination while offering front-end web development services and yielded desired results for themselves and for clients as well.

But there are still others who are looking to find and work out things between the server side and client side with perfect ease and poise. In this article, you can find the basics on how to set up Spring Boot with Vue.js frontend in order to create self-contained, robust applications.

But before commencing on the technical details, we take a quick look at the benefits offered by this combination.

Benefits of Using Spring Boot with Vue

It is known that Vue is a JavaScript framework that is used for the creation of versatile web UIs. It houses a rich ecosystem that varies from libraries to fully-feature frameworks. 

It’s a great substitute for React and utilizes virtual DOM and offers view components (like React). But it appeals to developers because of its simpler implementation and easier learning curve.

Spring Boot on the other hand, is an extremely powerful technology that provides flexible libraries along with an extensive set of extensions and third-party libraries. It has almost everything that developers need to create top-notch apps.

So what happens when you combine these two? How do you benefit from them? 

Here are the reasons why

Faster Development

Spring Boot provides several out-of-box, pre-built functionalities that allow developers to develop and deploy their applications really fast. Vue.js, on the other hand, offers reactive frontend development with its component-based architecture. 

The combination of these two results in less boilerplate code and hence more rapid development.

Better Scalability

Spring Boot evolved from Spring Framework and was meant to handle high-traffic applications and help offer better scalability with features such as monitoring, load balancing, caching, and monitoring. 

Security

Spring Boot has a robust security framework, called Spring Security that helps in the development of secured apps with features like comprehensive support for authentication, protection against clickjacking, and session fixation. 

Vue.js also provides features like client-side routing, which helps augment the security of your front-end development. Together, these technologies can strengthen the security of your app.

Community Support

Both Spring Boot and Vue.js have large and active communities that supply programmers with a wealth of development tools, resources, and immediate help. This means that developers can leverage the strengths of both these communities and accelerate their development and address any issues that may arise.

Steps for Setting up Spring Boot with Vue.js

In order to set up Spring Boot with the Vue.js frontend framework, a developer needs to follow the general steps listed below. However, one should know that certain steps can be skipped or may get added depending on the project you are working on. But in the case of a generic app, these steps should hold well.

1. The first step is the creation and implementation of a Spring Boot project. Now you can do this by using your preferred IDE. The most common ones are Spring tool suite, Netbeans, and Eclipse.

But to implement the project via IDEs, you will need JDK 8 or later versions. You can also Spring Initializr to create a new project. Make sure that you add the required dependencies.

2. You also need to generate the needed Java Classes like repository interfaces and entity classes for defining data models.

3. If absolutely necessary, you can set up a database for data storage. Luckily, Spring Boot provides in-built support for some major systems like MySQL and PostgreSQL. The database connection can be configured in the application.yml file.

4. Next step is the creation and implementation of RESTful APIs with the use of Spring Web. The APIs shall expose the data and will allow Vue.js to communicate and interact with the backend.

5. Now you need to build a new Vue project which can be done either manually or with Vue CLI. In case, you use Vue CLI, you need to run the command vue create my-vue-app in the terminal. You can replace my-vue-app with the name of the project/app.

This command will create your new project and will also install the necessary dependencies.

6. Next you will need to install and use Axios as that will help in using up the RESTful APIs by your Vue app. Axios is an HTTP client that enables making XMLHttpRequests from the browser. It’s Promise-based and makes it easy to intercept and transform requests and responses.

Use the command $ npm install axios to install Axios. You can then import it into your Vue components and use it to make HTTP requests to backend APIs.

7. The next step is to create your Vue application which you can do by running the command npm run build in your terminal. You then need to bundle the app into a static file and build a static dist folder to contain the app.

8. The last step involves serving the Vue app with Spring Boot’s static resources. You will need to code this part to enable Spring Boot to hand out its static resources from the dist folder.

Voila! Your Spring Boot has been set up successfully with Vue.js. You can now work with your app that will use both frameworks together.

Take Away

There’s no doubt that both Vue.js and Spring Boot are excellent frameworks to work with. While Spring brings sturdiness to the app, Vue introduces the missing dynamicity.

Knowing this combination shall help both a developer and a front-end development company as it will enable either to provide cutting-edge development solutions with prompt and productivity.