Spring MVC - Listbox Example

The following example shows how to use Listbox in forms using the Spring Web MVC framework. To begin with, let us have a working Eclipse IDE in place and follow the subsequent steps to develop a Dynamic Form based Web Application using the Spring Web Framework.
package com.tutorialspoint;

public class User {
	
   private String username;
   private String password;
   private String address;
   private boolean receivePaper;
   private String [] favoriteFrameworks;   
   private String gender;
   private String favoriteNumber;
   private String country;
   private String [] skills;
   
   public String getUsername() {
      return username;
   }
   public void setUsername(String username) {
      this.username = username;
   }

   public String getPassword() {
      return password;
   }
   public void setPassword(String password) {
      this.password = password;
   }
   public String getAddress() {
      return address;
   }
   public void setAddress(String address) {
      this.address = address;
   }
   public boolean isReceivePaper() {
      return receivePaper;
   }
   public void setReceivePaper(boolean receivePaper) {
      this.receivePaper = receivePaper;
   }
   public String[] getFavoriteFrameworks() {
      return favoriteFrameworks;
   }
   public void setFavoriteFrameworks(String[] favoriteFrameworks) {
      this.favoriteFrameworks = favoriteFrameworks;
   }
   public String getGender() {
      return gender;
   }
   public void setGender(String gender) {
      this.gender = gender;
   }
   public String getFavoriteNumber() {
      return favoriteNumber;
   }
   public void setFavoriteNumber(String favoriteNumber) {
      this.favoriteNumber = favoriteNumber;
   }
   public String getCountry() {
      return country;
   }
   public void setCountry(String country) {
      this.country = country;
   }
   public String[] getSkills() {
      return skills;
   }
   public void setSkills(String[] skills) {
      this.skills = skills;
   }
}

package com.tutorialspoint;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;

import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ModelAttribute;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.ModelAndView;
import org.springframework.ui.ModelMap;

@Controller
public class UserController {

   @RequestMapping(value = "/user", method = RequestMethod.GET)
   public ModelAndView user() {
      User user = new User();	  
	  user.setFavoriteFrameworks((new String []{"Spring MVC","Struts 2"}));
      user.setGender("M");
	  ModelAndView modelAndView = new ModelAndView("user", "command", user);
	  return modelAndView;
   }

   @RequestMapping(value = "/addUser", method = RequestMethod.POST)
   public String addUser(@ModelAttribute("SpringWeb")User user, 
      ModelMap model) {
      model.addAttribute("username", user.getUsername());
      model.addAttribute("password", user.getPassword());
      model.addAttribute("address", user.getAddress());
      model.addAttribute("receivePaper", user.isReceivePaper());
	  model.addAttribute("favoriteFrameworks", user.getFavoriteFrameworks());
      model.addAttribute("gender", user.getGender());
      model.addAttribute("favoriteNumber", user.getFavoriteNumber());
      model.addAttribute("country", user.getCountry());
      model.addAttribute("skills", user.getSkills());
      return "users";
   }
   
   @ModelAttribute("webFrameworkList")
   public List<String> getWebFrameworkList() {
      List<String> webFrameworkList = new ArrayList<String>();
      webFrameworkList.add("Spring MVC");
      webFrameworkList.add("Struts 1");
      webFrameworkList.add("Struts 2");
      webFrameworkList.add("Apache Wicket");
      return webFrameworkList;
   }
   
   @ModelAttribute("numbersList")
   public List<String> getNumbersList() {
      List<String> numbersList = new ArrayList<String>();
      numbersList.add("1");
      numbersList.add("2");
      numbersList.add("3");
      numbersList.add("4");
      return numbersList;
   }

   @ModelAttribute("countryList")
   public Map<String, String> getCountryList() {
      Map<String, String> countryList = new HashMap<String, String>();
      countryList.put("US", "United States");
      countryList.put("CH", "China");
      countryList.put("SG", "Singapore");
      countryList.put("MY", "Malaysia");
      return countryList;
   }
   
   @ModelAttribute("skillsList")
   public Map<String, String> getSkillsList() {
      Map<String, String> skillList = new HashMap<String, String>();
      skillList.put("Hibernate", "Hibernate");
      skillList.put("Spring", "Spring");
      skillList.put("Apache Wicket", "Apache Wicket");
      skillList.put("Struts", "Struts");
      return skillList;
   }
}
Here, for the first service method user(), we have passed a blank User object in the ModelAndView object with name "command", because the spring framework expects an object with name "command", if you are using <form:form> tags in your JSP file. So, when the user() method is called, it returns the user.jsp view.
The second service method addUser() will be called against a POST method on the HelloWeb/addUser URL. You will prepare your model object based on the submitted information. Finally, the "users" view will be returned from the service method, which will result in rendering the users.jsp.
<%@taglib uri = "http://www.springframework.org/tags/form" prefix = "form"%>
<html>
   <head>
      <title>Spring MVC Form Handling</title>
   </head>
   <body>

      <h2>User Information</h2>
      <form:form method = "POST" action = "/HelloWeb/addUser">
         <table>
            <tr>
               <td><form:label path = "username">User Name</form:label></td>
               <td><form:input path = "username" /></td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td><form:label path = "password">Age</form:label></td>
               <td><form:password path = "password" /></td>
            </tr>  
            <tr>
               <td><form:label path = "address">Address</form:label></td>
               <td><form:textarea path = "address" rows = "5" cols = "30" /></td>
            </tr>  
            <tr>
               <td><form:label path = "receivePaper">Subscribe Newsletter</form:label></td>
               <td><form:checkbox path = "receivePaper" /></td>
            </tr> 
            <tr>
               <td><form:label path = "favoriteFrameworks">Favorite Web Frameworks</form:label></td>
               <td><form:checkboxes items = "${webFrameworkList}" path = "favoriteFrameworks" /></td>       
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td><form:label path = "gender">Gender</form:label></td>
               <td>
                  <form:radiobutton path = "gender" value = "M" label = "Male" />
                  <form:radiobutton path = "gender" value = "F" label = "Female" />
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td><form:label path = "favoriteNumber">Favorite Number</form:label></td>
               <td>
                  <form:radiobuttons path = "favoriteNumber" items = "${numbersList}" />        	
               </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td><form:label path = "country">Country</form:label></td>
               <td>
                  <form:select path = "country">
                     <form:option value = "NONE" label = "Select"/>
                     <form:options items = "${countryList}" />
                  </form:select>     	
               </td>
            </tr>  
            <tr>
               <td><form:label path = "skills">Skills</form:label></td>
               <td>
                  <form:select path = "skills" items = "${skillsList}"
                     multiple = "true" />
               </td>
            </tr>  	  
            <tr>
               <td colspan = "2">
                  <input type = "submit" value = "Submit"/>
               </td>
            </tr>
         </table>  
      </form:form>
   </body>
</html>
Here, we are using a <form:select /> tag , with the attribute multiple=true to render an HTML listbox. For example −
<form:select path = "skills" items = "${skillsList}" multiple = "true" />
It will render following HTML content.
<select id = "skills" name = "skills" multiple = "multiple">
   <option value = "Struts">Struts</option>
   <option value = "Hibernate">Hibernate</option>
   <option value = "Apache Wicket">Apache Wicket</option>
   <option value = "Spring">Spring</option>
</select>
<input type = "hidden" name = "_skills" value = "1"/>
<%@taglib uri = "http://www.springframework.org/tags/form" prefix = "form"%>
<html>
   <head>
      <title>Spring MVC Form Handling</title>
   </head>
   <body>

      <h2>Submitted User Information</h2>
      <table>
         <tr>
            <td>Username</td>
            <td>${username}</td>
         </tr>
         <tr>
            <td>Password</td>
            <td>${password}</td>
         </tr>    
         <tr>
            <td>Address</td>
            <td>${address}</td>
         </tr>  
         <tr>
            <td>Subscribed to Newsletter</td>
            <td>${receivePaper}</td>
         </tr>    
         <tr>
            <td>Favorite Web Frameworks</td>
            <td> <% String[] favoriteFrameworks = (String[])request.getAttribute("favoriteFrameworks");
               for(String framework: favoriteFrameworks) {
                  out.println(framework);
               }
            %></td>
         </tr>     	 
         <tr>
            <td>Gender</td>
            <td>${(gender=="M"? "Male" : "Female")}</td>
         </tr>
         <tr>
            <td>Favourite Number</td>
            <td>${favoriteNumber}</td>
         </tr>   
         <tr>
            <td>Country</td>
            <td>${country}</td>
         </tr>
         <tr>
            <td>Skills</td>
            <td> <% String[] skills = (String[])request.getAttribute("skills");
            for(String skill: skills) {
               out.println(skill);
            }
            %></td>
         </tr>   	  
      </table>  
   </body>
</html>
Once you are done with creating source and configuration files, export your application. Right click on your application, use Export → WAR File option and save the HelloWeb.war file in Tomcat's webapps folder.
Now, start the Tomcat server and make sure you are able to access other webpages from the webapps folder using a standard browser. Try a URL − http://localhost:8080/HelloWeb/user and we will see the following screen, if everything is fine with the Spring Web Application.
After submitting the required information, click on the submit button to submit the form. You should see the following screen, if everything is fine with your Spring Web Application.
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