How to run Spring Boot web application in Eclipse itself?

Question

I am able to run few sample applications in my Eclipse (STS). Now, I want to run a web application within eclipse itself.

I tried with sample application "spring-boot-sample-web-jsp" given at the link and I am able to export its war into external tomcat and run the application. Now my question is how to run a Spring Boot Web application into eclipse itself?

Answer 1

This answer is late, but I was having the same issue. I found something that works.
In eclipse Project Explorer, right click the project name -> select "Run As" -> "Maven Build..."
In the goals, enter spring-boot:run then click Run button.

I have the STS plug-in (i.e. SpringSource Tool Suite), so on some projects I will get a "Spring Boot App" option under Run As. But, it doesn't always show up for some reason. I use the above workaround for those.
Here is a reference that explains how to run Spring boot apps:
Spring boot tutorial

Answer 2

Just run the main method which is in the class SampleWebJspApplication. Spring Boot will take care of all the rest (starting the embedded tomcat which will host your sample application).