Spring Boot, JPA/Hibernate, PostgreSQL example: CRUD

In this tutorial, we’re gonna build a Spring Boot CRUD Rest API example with Maven that use Spring Data JPA/Hibernate to interact with PostgreSQL database. You’ll know:

How to configure Spring Data, JPA, Hibernate to work with PostgreSQL Database
How to define Data Models and Repository interfaces
Way to create Spring Rest Controller to process HTTP requests
Way to use Spring Data JPA to interact with PostgreSQL Database

More Practice:
– Spring Boot + GraphQL + PostgreSQL example
– Reactive: Spring Boot R2DBC + PostgreSQL example
– Spring Boot Thymeleaf CRUD example
– Spring Boot, Spring Security, PostgreSQL: JWT Authentication example
– Spring Boot Rest XML example – Web service with XML Response
– Spring Boot Multipart File upload example
– Spring Boot Pagination and Sorting example
– Documentation: Spring Boot Swagger 3 example
– Caching: Spring Boot Redis Cache example
– Validation: Validate Request Body in Spring Boot
– Dockerize: Docker Compose: Spring Boot and Postgres example

Associations:
– Spring Boot One To One example with JPA, Hibernate
– Spring Boot One To Many example with JPA, Hibernate
– Spring Boot Many to Many example with JPA, Hibernate

Fullstack:
– Vue + Spring Boot + PostgreSQL example
– Angular 8 + Spring Boot + PostgreSQL example
– Angular 10 + Spring Boot + PostgreSQL example
– Angular 11 + Spring Boot + PostgreSQL example
– Angular 12 + Spring Boot + PostgreSQL example
– Angular 13 + Spring Boot + PostgreSQL example
– Angular 14 + Spring Boot + PostgreSQL example
– Angular 15 + Spring Boot + PostgreSQL example
– Angular 16 + Spring Boot + PostgreSQL example
– React + Spring Boot + PostgreSQL example

Exception Handling:
– Spring Boot @ControllerAdvice & @ExceptionHandler example
– @RestControllerAdvice example in Spring Boot

Testing:
– Spring Boot Unit Test for JPA Repository
– Spring Boot Unit Test for Rest Controller

Contents

Overview of Spring Boot, PostgreSQL example with Maven
Technology
Project Structure
Create & Setup Spring Boot project
Connect to PostgreSQL database
Define Data Model
Create Repository Interface
Create Spring Rest APIs Controller
Run & Test
Conclusion
Source Code
Further Reading

Overview of Spring Boot, PostgreSQL example with Maven

We will build a Spring Boot + PostgreSQL + Rest CRUD API for a Tutorial application in that:

Each Tutorial has id, title, description, published status.
Apis help to create, retrieve, update, delete Tutorials.
Apis also support custom finder methods such as find by published status or by title.

These are APIs that we need to provide:

Methods	Urls	Actions
POST	/api/tutorials	create new Tutorial
GET	/api/tutorials	retrieve all Tutorials
GET	/api/tutorials/:id	retrieve a Tutorial by `:id`
PUT	/api/tutorials/:id	update a Tutorial by `:id`
DELETE	/api/tutorials/:id	delete a Tutorial by `:id`
DELETE	/api/tutorials	delete all Tutorials
GET	/api/tutorials/published	find all published Tutorials
GET	/api/tutorials?title=[keyword]	find all Tutorials which title contains `keyword`

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

If you want to use JdbcTemplate instead, kindly visit:
Spring Boot JdbcTemplate & PostgreSQL example: CRUD App

Technology

Java 17 / 11 / 8
Spring Boot 3 / 2 (with Spring Web MVC, Spring Data JPA)
PostgreSQL
Maven 3.6.1

Maven Project Structure

Let me explain it briefly.

– 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.

We can improve the example by adding Comments for each Tutorial. It is the One-to-Many Relationship and I write a tutorial for this at:
Spring Boot One To Many example with JPA, Hibernate

Or add Tags with Many-to-Many Relationship:
Spring Boot Many to Many example with JPA, Hibernate

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>

Connect to PostgreSQL database

Under src/main/resources folder, open application.properties and configure Spring Data Source, JPA/Hibernate:

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;

	public Tutorial() {

	}

	public Tutorial(String title, String description, boolean published) {
		this.title = title;
		this.description = description;
		this.published = published;
	}

	public long getId() {
		return id;
	}

	public String getTitle() {
		return title;
	}

	public void setTitle(String title) {
		this.title = title;
	}

	public String getDescription() {
		return description;
	}

	public void setDescription(String description) {
		this.description = description;
	}

	public boolean isPublished() {
		return published;
	}

	public void setPublished(boolean isPublished) {
		this.published = isPublished;
	}

	@Override
	public String toString() {
		return "Tutorial [id=" + id + ", title=" + title + ", desc=" + description + ", published=" + 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;

import java.util.List;

import org.springframework.data.jpa.repository.JpaRepository;

import com.bezkoder.spring.jpa.postgresql.model.Tutorial;

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.

More Derived queries at:
JPA Repository query example in Spring Boot

Custom query with @Query annotation:
Spring JPA @Query example: Custom query in Spring Boot

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 Repository with @DataJpaTest

Or: Spring Boot Unit Test for Rest Controller

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;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Optional;

import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.CrossOrigin;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.DeleteMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.GetMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PathVariable;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PostMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PutMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestBody;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestParam;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

import com.bezkoder.spring.jpa.postgresql.model.Tutorial;
import com.bezkoder.spring.jpa.postgresql.repository.TutorialRepository;

@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) {
		try {
			List<Tutorial> tutorials = new ArrayList<Tutorial>();

			if (title == null)
				tutorialRepository.findAll().forEach(tutorials::add);
			else
				tutorialRepository.findByTitleContaining(title).forEach(tutorials::add);

			if (tutorials.isEmpty()) {
				return new ResponseEntity<>(HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT);
			}

			return new ResponseEntity<>(tutorials, HttpStatus.OK);
		} catch (Exception e) {
			return new ResponseEntity<>(null, HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
		}
	}

	@GetMapping("/tutorials/{id}")
	public ResponseEntity<Tutorial> getTutorialById(@PathVariable("id") long id) {
		Optional<Tutorial> tutorialData = tutorialRepository.findById(id);

		if (tutorialData.isPresent()) {
			return new ResponseEntity<>(tutorialData.get(), HttpStatus.OK);
		} else {
			return new ResponseEntity<>(HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND);
		}
	}

	@PostMapping("/tutorials")
	public ResponseEntity<Tutorial> createTutorial(@RequestBody Tutorial tutorial) {
		try {
			Tutorial _tutorial = tutorialRepository
					.save(new Tutorial(tutorial.getTitle(), tutorial.getDescription(), false));
			return new ResponseEntity<>(_tutorial, HttpStatus.CREATED);
		} catch (Exception e) {
			return new ResponseEntity<>(null, HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
		}
	}

	@PutMapping("/tutorials/{id}")
	public ResponseEntity<Tutorial> updateTutorial(@PathVariable("id") long id, @RequestBody Tutorial tutorial) {
		Optional<Tutorial> tutorialData = tutorialRepository.findById(id);

		if (tutorialData.isPresent()) {
			Tutorial _tutorial = tutorialData.get();
			_tutorial.setTitle(tutorial.getTitle());
			_tutorial.setDescription(tutorial.getDescription());
			_tutorial.setPublished(tutorial.isPublished());
			return new ResponseEntity<>(tutorialRepository.save(_tutorial), HttpStatus.OK);
		} else {
			return new ResponseEntity<>(HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND);
		}
	}

	@DeleteMapping("/tutorials/{id}")
	public ResponseEntity<HttpStatus> deleteTutorial(@PathVariable("id") long id) {
		try {
			tutorialRepository.deleteById(id);
			return new ResponseEntity<>(HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT);
		} catch (Exception e) {
			return new ResponseEntity<>(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
		}
	}

	@DeleteMapping("/tutorials")
	public ResponseEntity<HttpStatus> deleteAllTutorials() {
		try {
			tutorialRepository.deleteAll();
			return new ResponseEntity<>(HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT);
		} catch (Exception e) {
			return new ResponseEntity<>(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
		}

	}

	@GetMapping("/tutorials/published")
	public ResponseEntity<List<Tutorial>> findByPublished() {
		try {
			List<Tutorial> tutorials = tutorialRepository.findByPublished(true);

			if (tutorials.isEmpty()) {
				return new ResponseEntity<>(HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT);
			}
			return new ResponseEntity<>(tutorials, HttpStatus.OK);
		} catch (Exception e) {
			return new ResponseEntity<>(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
		}
	}
}

– @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.

Run & Test

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

tutorials table will be automatically generated in Database.
If you check PostgreSQL for example, you can see things like this:

testdb=# \d tutorials
             Table "public.tutorials"
   Column    |          Type          | Modifiers
-------------+------------------------+-----------
 id          | bigint                 | not null
 description | character varying(255) |
 published   | boolean                |
 title       | character varying(255) |
Indexes:
    "tutorials_pkey" PRIMARY KEY, btree (id)

Create some Tutorials:

testdb=# SELECT * FROM tutorials;
 id |    description    | published |            title
----+-------------------+-----------+------------------------------
  1 | Tut#1 Description | f         | Spring Boot Tut#1
  2 | Tut#2 Description | f         | PostgreSQL Tut#2
  3 | Tut#3 Description | f         | Spring Data JPA Tut#3
  4 | Tut#4 Description | f         | Maven Tut#4
  5 | Tut#5 Description | f         | Spring Boot PostgreSQL Tut#5
(5 rows)

Update some Tutorials:

testdb=# SELECT * FROM tutorials;
 id |    description    | published |            title
----+-------------------+-----------+------------------------------
  3 | Tut#3 Description | f         | Spring Data JPA Tut#3
  5 | Tut#5 Description | f         | Spring Boot PostgreSQL Tut#5
  2 | Desc for Tut#2    | t         | PostgreSQL DB Tut#2
  4 | Desc for Tut#4    | t         | Maven Tut#4
  1 | Desc for Tut#1    | t         | Spring Boot Tut#1
(5 rows)

Get all Tutorials:

Get a Tutorial by Id:

Find all published Tutorials:

Find all Tutorials which title contains ‘ring’:

Delete a Tutorial:

testdb=# SELECT * FROM tutorials;
 id |    description    | published |            title
----+-------------------+-----------+------------------------------
  3 | Tut#3 Description | f         | Spring Data JPA Tut#3
  5 | Tut#5 Description | f         | Spring Boot PostgreSQL Tut#5
  2 | Desc for Tut#2    | t         | PostgreSQL DB Tut#2
  1 | Desc for Tut#1    | t         | Spring Boot Tut#1
(4 rows)

Delete all Tutorials:

testdb=# SELECT * FROM tutorials;
 id | description | published | title
----+-------------+-----------+-------
(0 rows)

You can use the Simple HTTP Client using Axios to check it.

Or: Simple HTTP Client using Fetch API

Conclusion

Today we’ve built a Spring Boot PostgreSQL example with Rest CRUD API using Maven & Spring Data JPA, Hibernate.

We also see that JpaRepository supports a great way to make CRUD operations and custom finder methods without need of boilerplate code.

Custom query with @Query annotation:
Spring JPA @Query example: Custom query in Spring Boot

If you want to add Pagination to this Spring project, you can find the instruction at:
Spring Boot Pagination & Filter example | Spring JPA, Pageable

To sort/order by multiple fields:
Spring Data JPA Sort/Order by multiple Columns | Spring Boot

Handle Exception for this Rest APIs is necessary:
– Spring Boot @ControllerAdvice & @ExceptionHandler example
– @RestControllerAdvice example in Spring Boot

Or way to write Unit Test for the JPA Repository:
Spring Boot Unit Test for JPA Repository with @DataJpaTest

Happy learning! See you again.

Source Code

You can find the complete source code for this tutorial on Github.

More Derived queries at:
JPA Repository query example in Spring Boot

Using JdbcTemplate instead:
Spring Boot JdbcTemplate & PostgreSQL example: CRUD App

Spring Boot + GraphQL + PostgreSQL example
Or Reactive: Spring Boot R2DBC + PostgreSQL example

Documentation: Spring Boot + Swagger 3 example (with OpenAPI 3)
Caching: Spring Boot Redis Cache example
Validation: Validate Request Body in Spring Boot
Dockerize: Docker Compose: Spring Boot and Postgres example

8 thoughts to “Spring Boot, JPA/Hibernate, PostgreSQL example: CRUD”

zafer says:

October 2, 2021 at 4:18 pm

Thanks a lot , it helped me so much. Great tutorial !
Laure Elridge says:

September 22, 2021 at 9:18 pm

Good tutorial! Your article is persuading to the point that I never stop myself to say something regarding it. You’re working effectively, Keep it up.
Fafa says:

September 10, 2021 at 2:42 am

Can you please tell me how you have implemente the search function, Also how can I search two fields?
1. bezkoder says:
  
  September 10, 2021 at 4:00 am
  
  Hi, you can find how to implement Search function with 2 fields at:
  Query Methods
Fafa says:

September 10, 2021 at 2:26 am

Where did you implement findByTitleContaining method?
1. bezkoder says:
  
  September 10, 2021 at 3:59 am
  
  Hi, Spring Data JPA implements it automatically. You can find more details at:
  Query Methods
Mint says:

August 13, 2021 at 1:07 am

Nice tutorial. Thank you!
Jay Cee says:

May 11, 2021 at 4:38 pm

Great tutorial!