How to return a html page from a restful controller in spring boot?

Question

I want to return a simple html page from controller, but I get only the name of the file not its content. Why?

This is my controller code:

@RestController public class HomeController {      @RequestMapping("/")     public String welcome() {         return "login";     } } 

This is my project structure:

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Answer 1

When using @RestController like this:

@RestController public class HomeController {      @RequestMapping("/")     public String welcome() {         return "login";     } } 

This is the same as you do like this in a normal controller:

@Controller public class HomeController {      @RequestMapping("/")     @ResponseBody     public String welcome() {         return "login";     } } 

Using @ResponseBody returns return "login"; as a String object. Any object you return will be attached as payload in the HTTP body as JSON.

This is why you are getting just login in the response.

Answer 2

Follow below steps:

1. Must put the html files in resources/templates/

2. Replace the @RestController with @Controller

3. Remove if you are using any view resolvers.

4. Your controller method should return file name of view without extension like return "index"

5. Include the below dependencies:

   <dependency>     <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>     <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId> </dependency> <dependency>     <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>     <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf</artifactId> </dependency> <dependency>     <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>     <artifactId>spring-boot-devtools</artifactId> </dependency>`