How To Load Custom Login Page In Spring Boot

In this article, I will guide you through the process of loading a custom login page in Spring Boot. As a developer who has worked extensively with Spring Boot, I understand the importance of having a personalized login page that aligns with the branding and design of your application.

Spring Security provides a robust authentication and authorization framework for securing your Spring Boot application. By default, Spring Security comes with a pre-configured login form that you can customize to some extent. However, if you want to go beyond the default login page and create a fully customized experience, you’ll need to follow a few steps.

Step 1: Create the Custom Login Page

The first step is to create the HTML/CSS template for your custom login page. You can use any modern front-end framework like Bootstrap or Materialize to design an aesthetically pleasing page. Make sure to include the necessary form fields like username and password.

For example, let’s say we create a file called login.html inside the templates folder of our Spring Boot project.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Custom Login Page</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.5.0/css/bootstrap.min.css">
</head>
<body>
    <div class="container">
        <h2>Custom Login Page</h2>
        <form action="/login" method="post">
            <div class="form-group">
                <label for="username">Username</label>
                <input type="text" class="form-control" id="username" name="username" required>
            </div>
            <div class="form-group">
                <label for="password">Password</label>
                <input type="password" class="form-control" id="password" name="password" required>
            </div>
            <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Login</button>
        </form>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

Feel free to modify this template according to your application’s requirements and design preferences.

Step 2: Configuring Spring Security

Now that we have our custom login page, we need to configure Spring Security to use this page for authentication. To do this, we’ll create a configuration class that extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter and override the configure(HttpSecurity http) method.

Here’s an example configuration class:

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.builders.HttpSecurity;
import org.springframework.security.config.annotation.web.configuration.WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter;

@Configuration
public class SecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {

    @Override
    protected void configure(HttpSecurity http) throws Exception {
        http
            .authorizeRequests()
                .antMatchers("/login").permitAll()
                .anyRequest().authenticated()
                .and()
            .formLogin()
                .loginPage("/login")
                .defaultSuccessUrl("/dashboard")
                .and()
            .logout()
                .logoutSuccessUrl("/login?logout")
                .and()
            .csrf().disable();
    }
}

In this configuration, we’ve allowed access to the /login page for all users. The .defaultSuccessUrl("/dashboard") line specifies the URL to which the user will be redirected after successful authentication.

Step 3: Run and Test the Application

With the custom login page and Spring Security configuration in place, you can now run your Spring Boot application and test the login functionality. Access the /login URL in your browser, and you should see your custom login page.

Fill in the username and password fields with test credentials and submit the form. If the authentication is successful, you should be redirected to the specified default success URL.

Conclusion

Customizing the login page in a Spring Boot application provides a more personalized experience for your users. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can create and integrate a custom login page seamlessly into your Spring Boot application.

Remember that security is a critical aspect of any application, so ensure that your custom login page adheres to secure coding practices and includes necessary validation and protection mechanisms.

Feel free to experiment with different designs and add additional functionality to enhance the overall login experience for your users.