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Tutorial: Your first RESTful web service

This tutorial describes how to create a simple RESTful web service in IntelliJ IDEA and deploy it to the GlassFishTomcat application server. The service will output Hello, World! when you access a specific URL through the web browser or otherwise send a GET request to this URL. Use the switcher at the top of the page for instructions for a different application server.

You will create a new Java Enterprise project, add the necessary Java code, tell IntelliJ IDEA where your GlassFishTomcat server is located, then use a run configuration to build the artifact, start the server, and deploy the artifact to it.

Here is what you will need:

  • Java SE Development Kit (JDK) version 1.8 or later. You can get the JDK directly from IntelliJ IDEA as described in Java Development Kit (JDK) or download and install it manually, for example Oracle JDK.

  • The GlassFish application server version 3.0.1 or later. You can get the latest release from the official reference implementation web site. The Web Profile subset should be enough for the purposes of this tutorial.

  • The Tomcat application server version 7 or later.

  • A web browser to view your web application.

Create a new Java Enterprise project

IntelliJ IDEA includes a dedicated wizard for creating Java Enterprise projects based on various Java EE and Jakarta EE implementations. In this tutorial, we will create a simple web application.

  1. From the main menu, select File | New | Project.

  2. In the New Project dialog, select Java Enterprise.

    New Java Enterprise project wizard
    New Java Enterprise project wizard

    Enter a name for your project: RestGlassfishHelloWorldRestTomcatHelloWorld. For this tutorial, use Java 1.8 as the project SDK and select the REST service template. Don't select or add an application server, we will do it later. Select Maven and JUnit. Click Next to continue.

  3. In the Dependencies list, select the following:

    • CDI

    • JAX-RS

    • Servlet

    • Eclipse Jersey Server

    • Weld SE

    New Java Enterprise project wizard
    New Java Enterprise project wizard

    Click Finish.

IntelliJ IDEA creates the default project structure.

Explore the default project structure

IntelliJ IDEA creates a project with some boilerplate code that you can build and deploy successfully.

  • pom.xml is the Project Object Model with Maven configuration information, including dependencies and plugins necessary for building the project.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd"> <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion> <groupId>com.example</groupId> <artifactId>RestGlassfishHelloWorld</artifactId> <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version> <name>RestGlassfishHelloWorld</name> <packaging>war</packaging> <properties> <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding> <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target> <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source> <junit.version>5.7.1</junit.version> </properties> <dependencies> <dependency> <groupId>javax.enterprise</groupId> <artifactId>cdi-api</artifactId> <version>2.0.SP1</version> <scope>provided</scope> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>javax.ws.rs</groupId> <artifactId>javax.ws.rs-api</artifactId> <version>2.1.1</version> <scope>provided</scope> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId> <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId> <version>4.0.1</version> <scope>provided</scope> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId> <artifactId>junit-jupiter-api</artifactId> <version>${junit.version}</version> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId> <artifactId>junit-jupiter-engine</artifactId> <version>${junit.version}</version> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> </dependencies> <build> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId> <version>3.3.1</version> </plugin> </plugins> </build> </project>
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd"> <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion> <groupId>com.example</groupId> <artifactId>RestTomcatHelloWorld</artifactId> <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version> <name>RestTomcatHelloWorld</name> <packaging>war</packaging> <properties> <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding> <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target> <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source> <junit.version>5.7.1</junit.version> </properties> <dependencies> <dependency> <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId> <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId> <version>4.0.1</version> <scope>provided</scope> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.containers</groupId> <artifactId>jersey-container-servlet</artifactId> <version>2.34</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.media</groupId> <artifactId>jersey-media-json-jackson</artifactId> <version>2.34</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.inject</groupId> <artifactId>jersey-cdi2-se</artifactId> <version>2.34</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.jboss.weld.se</groupId> <artifactId>weld-se-core</artifactId> <version>3.1.8.Final</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId> <artifactId>junit-jupiter-api</artifactId> <version>${junit.version}</version> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId> <artifactId>junit-jupiter-engine</artifactId> <version>${junit.version}</version> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> </dependencies> <build> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId> <version>3.3.1</version> </plugin> </plugins> </build> </project>
  • The HelloResource class is a root resource class, which uses the following JAX-RS annotations to implement the RESTful web service:

    • The @Path annotation identifies the URI for accessing this resource, relative to the application root.

    • The @GET annotation indicates that the hello() method will process HTTP GET requests to the specified URI.

    • The @Produces annotation specifies the MIME media type that the method produces and returns.

    package com.example.RestGlassfishHelloWorld; import javax.ws.rs.GET; import javax.ws.rs.Path; import javax.ws.rs.Produces; @Path("/hello-world") public class HelloResource { @GET @Produces("text/plain") public String hello() { return "Hello, World!"; } }
    package com.example.RestTomcatHelloWorld; import javax.ws.rs.GET; import javax.ws.rs.Path; import javax.ws.rs.Produces; @Path("/hello-world") public class HelloResource { @GET @Produces("text/plain") public String hello() { return "Hello, World!"; } }
  • The HelloApplication class is a subclass of javax.ws.rs.core.Application, which is used to configure the environment where the application runs REST resources defined in your resource classes. The @ApplicationPath annotation identifies the URL mapping for the application root.

    package com.example.RestGlassfishHelloWorld; import javax.ws.rs.ApplicationPath; import javax.ws.rs.core.Application; @ApplicationPath("/api") public class HelloApplication extends Application { }
    package com.example.RestTomcatHelloWorld; import javax.ws.rs.ApplicationPath; import javax.ws.rs.core.Application; @ApplicationPath("/api") public class HelloApplication extends Application { }

Configure the application server

Let IntelliJ IDEA know where the GlassFishTomcat application server is located.

  1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), select Build, Execution, Deployment | Application Servers.

  2. Click the Add button and select Glassfish ServerTomcatTomcat Server.

  3. Specify the path to the GlassFishTomcat server install location. IntelliJ IDEA detects and sets the name and version appropriately.

    GlassFish application server configuration
    Tomcat application server configuration

Create a run configuration

IntelliJ IDEA needs a run configuration to build the artifacts and deploy them to your application server.

  1. From the main menu, select Run | Edit Configurations.

  2. In the Run/Debug Configurations dialog, click the Add button, expand the Glassfish ServerTomcat Server node, and select Local.

  3. Fix any warnings that appear at the bottom of the run configuration settings dialog.

    Run configuration warning

    Most likely, you will need to fix the following:

    • On the Server tab, set the Server Domain to domain1.

    • On the Deployment tab, add the artifact that you want to deploy: RestGlassfishHelloWorld:war exploded RestTomcatHelloWorld:war exploded

  4. On the Server tab, set the URL to point to the root resource:

    http://localhost:8080/RestGlassfishHelloWorld-1.0-SNAPSHOT/api/hello-world
    http://localhost:8080/RestTomcatHelloWorld_war_exploded/api/hello-world
    GlassFish run configuration done
    Tomcat run configuration done
  5. Click OK to save the run configuration.

  6. To run the configuration, press Alt+Shift+F10 and select the created application server configuration.

    Alternatively, if you have your run configuration selected in the main toolbar at the top, you can press Shift+F10 to run it.

This run configuration builds the artifacts, then starts the GlassFishTomcat server, and deploys the artifacts to the server. You should see the corresponding output in the Run tool window.

Started GlassFish server and deployed application in the Run tool window
Started Tomcat server and deployed application in the Run tool window

Once this is done, it opens the specified URL in your web browser.

Deployed application output in the web browser
Deployed application output in the web browser

Troubleshooting

If you are using IntelliJ IDEA version 2020.2.2 or earlier, the New Project wizard will not add all of the necessary dependencies required for Tomcat. In this case, open pom.xml and add the following dependencies:

<dependency> <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.media</groupId> <artifactId>jersey-media-json-jackson</artifactId> <version>2.31</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.inject</groupId> <artifactId>jersey-hk2</artifactId> <version>2.31</version> </dependency>

For example, in version 2020.2.3, the generated pom.xml looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd"> <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion> <groupId>com.example</groupId> <artifactId>RestTomcatHelloWorld</artifactId> <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version> <name>RestTomcatHelloWorld</name> <packaging>war</packaging> <properties> <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target> <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source> <junit.version>5.6.2</junit.version> </properties> <dependencies> <dependency> <groupId>javax.ws.rs</groupId> <artifactId>javax.ws.rs-api</artifactId> <version>2.1.1</version> <scope>provided</scope> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.containers</groupId> <artifactId>jersey-container-servlet</artifactId> <version>2.31</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.media</groupId> <artifactId>jersey-media-json-jackson</artifactId> <version>2.31</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.inject</groupId> <artifactId>jersey-hk2</artifactId> <version>2.31</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.core</groupId> <artifactId>jersey-client</artifactId> <version>2.31</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId> <artifactId>junit-jupiter-api</artifactId> <version>${junit.version}</version> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.junit.jupiter</groupId> <artifactId>junit-jupiter-engine</artifactId> <version>${junit.version}</version> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> </dependencies> <build> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId> <version>3.3.0</version> </plugin> </plugins> </build> </project>
Last modified: 01 August 2022