The Ultimate Guide to Using Stomp Websocket with Spring Boot

Introduction

Websockets are a powerful tool for building real-time applications. They enable bidirectional communication between client and server, allowing applications to push data to clients in real-time. Stomp is a subprotocol of websockets that provides additional features such as message framing, acknowledgments, and subscriptions. Spring Boot is a popular framework for building Java web applications. In this article, we will explore how to use Stomp websocket with Spring Boot.

What is Stomp?

Stomp stands for Streaming Text Oriented Messaging Protocol. It is a simple and lightweight protocol for messaging between clients and servers. Stomp provides a frame-based message format, allowing messages to be sent and received in a structured way. Stomp supports acknowledgments, transactions, and subscriptions, making it an ideal protocol for building real-time applications.

What is Spring Boot?

Spring Boot is a framework for building Java web applications. It provides a set of tools and conventions for building robust and scalable applications. Spring Boot makes it easy to create standalone, production-grade Spring-based applications that can run on any platform.

Why use Stomp with Spring Boot?

Stomp provides a powerful messaging protocol for building real-time applications. When combined with Spring Boot, it becomes easy to build scalable and robust real-time applications. Spring Boot provides a set of tools and conventions that make it easy to configure and deploy Stomp-based applications. Together, Stomp and Spring Boot provide a powerful platform for building real-time applications.

Getting Started with Stomp and Spring Boot

Before we dive into the details of using Stomp with Spring Boot, let’s first set up a basic Spring Boot application. We will use Spring Initializr to generate a new Spring Boot project. You can access Spring Initializr at https://start.spring.io/.

Step 1: Create a new Spring Boot project

1. Open Spring Initializr in your web browser.
2. Select the options for your project, such as group, artifact, and dependencies.
3. Click the “Generate” button to generate a new Spring Boot project.
4. Download and extract the generated project.

Step 2: Add the necessary dependencies

In order to use Stomp with Spring Boot, we need to add the necessary dependencies to our project. We can do this by adding the following lines to our pom.xml file:

Code:

<dependency><groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId><artifactId>spring-boot-starter-websocket</artifactId></dependency><dependency><groupId>org.webjars</groupId><artifactId>webjars-locator-core</artifactId></dependency><dependency><groupId>org.webjars</groupId><artifactId>sockjs-client</artifactId><version>1.0.2</version></dependency><dependency><groupId>org.webjars</groupId><artifactId>stomp-websocket</artifactId><version>2.3.3</version></dependency>

Step 3: Configure the Spring Boot application

Next, we need to configure our Spring Boot application to use Stomp websockets. We can do this by adding the following lines to our application.properties file:

Code:

spring.websocket.path=/stompspring.messages.host=0.0.0.0spring.messages.port=8080

The spring.websocket.path property sets the path for our Stomp websocket endpoint. The spring.messages.host and spring.messages.port properties specify the host and port for our application.

Step 4: Create a Stomp websocket endpoint

Now that we have set up our Spring Boot application, we can create a Stomp websocket endpoint. We can do this by creating a new class that extends AbstractWebSocketMessageBrokerConfigurer and overrides the configureMessageBroker and registerStompEndpoints methods:

Code:

@Configuration@EnableWebSocketMessageBrokerpublic class WebSocketConfig extends AbstractWebSocketMessageBrokerConfigurer {@Overridepublic void configureMessageBroker(MessageBrokerRegistry config) {config.enableSimpleBroker("/topic");config.setApplicationDestinationPrefixes("/app");}@Overridepublic void registerStompEndpoints(StompEndpointRegistry registry) {registry.addEndpoint("/stomp-websocket").withSockJS();}}

The configureMessageBroker method configures the message broker, which is responsible for sending and receiving messages. The registerStompEndpoints method registers the Stomp websocket endpoint, which is used to establish a connection between the client and server.

Step 5: Create a Stomp controller

Finally, we need to create a Stomp controller that handles incoming messages. We can do this by creating a new class that is annotated with @Controller and @MessageMapping:

Code:

@Controllerpublic class StompController {@MessageMapping("/hello")@SendTo("/topic/greetings")public Greeting greeting(HelloMessage message) throws Exception {Thread.sleep(1000); // simulated delayreturn new Greeting("Hello, " + message.getName() + "!");}}

The @MessageMapping annotation specifies the endpoint for incoming messages. The @SendTo annotation specifies the endpoint for outgoing messages.

Conclusion

In this article, we have explored how to use Stomp websocket with Spring Boot. We have learned how to set up a basic Spring Boot application, add the necessary dependencies, configure the application, create a Stomp websocket endpoint, and create a Stomp controller. With these tools, we can build powerful real-time applications that push data to clients in real-time. Stomp and Spring Boot provide a powerful platform for building real-time applications.

FAQ

What is a websocket?

A websocket is a protocol for bidirectional communication between client and server. It enables real-time communication between clients and servers, allowing applications to push data to clients in real-time.

What is Stomp?

Stomp is a subprotocol of websockets that provides additional features such as message framing, acknowledgments, and subscriptions. Stomp provides a powerful messaging protocol for building real-time applications.

What is Spring Boot?

Spring Boot is a framework for building Java web applications. It provides a set of tools and conventions for building robust and scalable applications.

Why use Stomp with Spring Boot?

Stomp provides a powerful messaging protocol for building real-time applications. When combined with Spring Boot, it becomes easy to build scalable and robust real-time applications.

How do I set up a Stomp websocket endpoint with Spring Boot?

You can set up a Stomp websocket endpoint with Spring Boot by creating a new class that extends AbstractWebSocketMessageBrokerConfigurer and overrides the configureMessageBroker and registerStompEndpoints methods.