Building Your First Web Application in Java

Simple web application using plain Java

Photo by Ilya Pavlov on Unsplash

In this article, we’ll create a simple web application using plain Java, without relying on external frameworks like Spring. We’ll build a basic HTTP server that responds to client requests. By the end of this tutorial, you’ll understand how to handle HTTP requests and responses using Java’s built-in libraries.

Creating a Simple HTTP Server

We’ll use the com.sun.net.httpserver.HttpServer class, which is part of the JDK, to create a basic HTTP server.

1. Create a New Java Project

• Open your IDE and create a new Java project named SimpleWebApp.

2. Create a Main Class

• Create a new class named SimpleHttpServer.java in your project's src directory.

import com.sun.net.httpserver.HttpServer;
import com.sun.net.httpserver.HttpHandler;
import com.sun.net.httpserver.HttpExchange;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.net.InetSocketAddress;

public class SimpleHttpServer {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        // Create an HttpServer instance listening on port 8080
        HttpServer server = HttpServer.create(new InetSocketAddress(8080), 0);

        //…