Launch browser automatically after spring-boot webapp is ready

Question

How do I launch a browser automatically after starting the spring boot application.Is there any listener method callback to check if the webapp has been deployed and is read

Answer 1

I've recently been attempting to get this working myself, I know it's been a while since this question was asked but my working (and very basic/simple) solution is shown below. This is a starting point for anyone wanting to get this working, refactor as required in your app!

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

import java.awt.*;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URISyntaxException;

@SpringBootApplication
public class Application {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
        openHomePage();
    }

    private static void openHomePage() {
        try {
            URI homepage = new URI("http://localhost:8080/");
            Desktop.getDesktop().browse(homepage);
        } catch (URISyntaxException | IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
        try {
            rt.exec("cmd /c start chrome.exe https://localhost:8080");
        } catch (IOException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

The code above worked for me. Change chrome.exe to the browser of your choice and Url to to your choice. Note: You must include the scheme - http or https, and the browser you choose must me installed, else your app will run without opening the browser automatically. Works only for windows though.

Answer 3

Below code worked for me:

@EventListener({ApplicationReadyEvent.class})
void applicationReadyEvent() {
    System.out.println("Application started ... launching browser now");
    browse("www.google.com");
}

public static void browse(String url) {
    if(Desktop.isDesktopSupported()){
        Desktop desktop = Desktop.getDesktop();
        try {
            desktop.browse(new URI(url));
        } catch (IOException | URISyntaxException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }else{
        Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
        try {
            runtime.exec("rundll32 url.dll,FileProtocolHandler " + url);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

@SpringBootApplication
@ComponentScan(basePackageClasses = com.io.controller.HelloController.class)
public class HectorApplication {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
       SpringApplication.run(HectorApplication.class, args);
       openHomePage();
    }

    private static void openHomePage() throws IOException {
       Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
       rt.exec("rundll32 url.dll,FileProtocolHandler " + "http://localhost:8080");
    }
}

Answer 5

You could do it by some java code. I am not sure if spring boot has something out of the box.

import java.awt.Desktop;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URISyntaxException;

public class Browser {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String url = "http://www.google.com";

        if(Desktop.isDesktopSupported()){
            Desktop desktop = Desktop.getDesktop();
            try {
                desktop.browse(new URI(url));
            } catch (IOException | URISyntaxException e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }else{
            Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
            try {
                runtime.exec("xdg-open " + url);
            } catch (IOException e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 6

If you package the application as a WAR file, configure an application server, like Tomcat, and restart the configured application server through your IDE, IDEs can automatically open a browser-tab.

If you want to package your application as a JAR file, your IDE will not be able to open a web browser, so you have to open a web browser and type the desired link(localhost:8080). But in the developing phase, taking these boring steps might be very tedious.

It is possible to open a browser with Java programming language after the spring-boot application gets ready. You can use the third-party library like Selenium or use the following code snippet.

The code snippet to open a browser

@EventListener({ApplicationReadyEvent.class})
private void applicationReadyEvent()
{
    if (Desktop.isDesktopSupported())
    {
        Desktop desktop = Desktop.getDesktop();
        try
        {
            desktop.browse(new URI(url));
        } catch (IOException | URISyntaxException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    } else
    {
        Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
        String[] command;

        String operatingSystemName = System.getProperty("os.name").toLowerCase();
        if (operatingSystemName.indexOf("nix") >= 0 || operatingSystemName.indexOf("nux") >= 0)
        {
            String[] browsers = {"opera", "google-chrome", "epiphany", "firefox", "mozilla", "konqueror", "netscape", "links", "lynx"};
            StringBuffer stringBuffer = new StringBuffer();

            for (int i = 0; i < browsers.length; i++)
            {
                if (i == 0) stringBuffer.append(String.format("%s \"%s\"", browsers[i], url));
                else stringBuffer.append(String.format(" || %s \"%s\"", browsers[i], url));
            }
            command = new String[]{"sh", "-c", stringBuffer.toString()};
        } else if (operatingSystemName.indexOf("win") >= 0)
        {
            command = new String[]{"rundll32 url.dll,FileProtocolHandler " + url};

        } else if (operatingSystemName.indexOf("mac") >= 0)
        {
            command = new String[]{"open " + url};
        } else
        {
            System.out.println("an unknown operating system!!");
            return;
        }

        try
        {
            if (command.length > 1) runtime.exec(command); // linux
            else runtime.exec(command[0]); // windows or mac
        } catch (IOException e)
        {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }    
}

Using Selenium to open a browser

To use the selenium library add the following dependency to your pom.xml file.

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.seleniumhq.selenium</groupId>
    <artifactId>selenium-java</artifactId>
    <version>3.141.59</version>
</dependency>

Then in your main class, add the following code snippet.

@EventListener({ApplicationReadyEvent.class})
private void applicationReadyEvent()
{
    String url = "http://localhost:8080";

    // pointing to the download driver
    System.setProperty("webdriver.chrome.driver", "Downloaded-PATH/chromedriver");
    ChromeDriver chromeDriver = new ChromeDriver();
    chromeDriver.get(url);
}

Notice: It is possible to use most of the popular browsers like FirefoxDriver, OperaDriver, EdgeDriver, but it is necessary to download browsers' drivers beforehand.