Using Amazon SQS with Spring Boot

YatinJuly 28th, 2020Last Updated: July 27th, 2020

0 1,772 8 minutes read

Welcome readers, in this tutorial, we will see how to set up a Standard Queue on Amazon SQS and create a simple spring boot application to send a message to the queue and retrieve from the queue.

1. Introduction

Before going further in this tutorial we will take a look at the common terminology such as introduction to Spring Boot and Amazon SQS.

1.1 What is Spring boot?

Spring boot is a module that provides rapid application development feature to the spring framework including auto-configuration, standalone-code, and production-ready code
It creates applications that are packaged as jar and are directly started using embedded servlet container (such as Tomcat, Jetty or Undertow). Thus, no need to deploy the war files
It simplifies the maven configuration by providing the starter template and helps to resolve the dependency conflicts. It automatically identifies the required dependencies and imports them in the application
It helps in removing the boilerplate code, extra annotations, and XML configurations
It provides a powerful batch processing and manages the rest endpoints
It provides an efficient JPA-starter library to effectively connect the application with the relational databases
It offers a Microservice architecture and cloud configuration that manages all the application related configuration properties in a centralized manner.

1.2 What is Amazon SQS?

It is a fully managed message queuing service that lets developers integrate and decouple distributed architectures. It is a temporary repository for messages that are awaiting processing. Acts as a buffer between the component producing and saving data, and the component receiving the data for processing. It resolves problems that arise if the producer is producing faster than the consumer can process it or if the producer and consumer are intermittently connected to the network. This is known as decoupling or loose coupling and this helps to achieve elasticity in an application.

It is a pull-based mechanism
Messages are up to 256 kilobytes in size
Messages can be kept in the queue from 1 min to 14 days and the default retention period s 4 days
Guarantees that the messages will be processed at least once
Supports two types i.e. Standard and FIFO queues

As in this tutorial, we are primarily focusing on the Standard queue so let us take a look at these queues.

1.2.1 Standard Queues in Amazon SQS

Provide unlimited throughput
Offers best-effort ordering but sometimes messages might be delivered in an order different from which they were sent
Offers at least once delivery but sometimes more than one copy of a message is delivered

Let us go ahead with the tutorial implementation but before going any further I’m assuming that readers are aware of the Spring boot and AWS basics and have an AWS account for testing purposes (i.e. creation of Standard queue on SQS console).

2. Using Amazon SQS with Spring Boot

Here is a systematic guide for implementing this tutorial.

2.1 Create a Standard queue on AWS

Creating a queue on AWS is a simple process. Sign in to AWS console with your credentials and navigate to the SQS console. Once you land onto the SQS page click on Create Queue button and something like below will be shown.

Fill in the queue name and select the Standard queue radio button and leave rest details as default. Submit the form and on the successful creation of the queue, you will get a green toaster saying queue created successfully.

Users can download the high-resolution images from the Downloads section.

2.2 Tools Used for Spring boot application and Project Structure

We are using Eclipse, JDK 8, and Maven. In case you’re confused about where you should create the corresponding files or folder, let us review the project structure of the spring boot application.

Let us start building the application!

3. Creating a Spring boot application

Below are the steps involved in developing the application.

3.1 Maven Dependency

Here, we specify the dependency for the Spring boot. Maven will automatically resolve the other dependencies. The updated file will have the following code.

pom.xml

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 
    <groupId>com.springboot.amazonsqs</groupId>
    <artifactId>SpringbootAmazonSqsTutorial</artifactId>
    <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
 
    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>2.0.5.RELEASE</version>
    </parent>
 
    <properties>
        <java.version>1.8</java.version>
        <spring-cloud.version>Finchley.SR1</spring-cloud.version>
    </properties>
 
    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-aws</artifactId>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-aws-messaging</artifactId>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>
 
    <dependencyManagement>
        <dependencies>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-cloud-dependencies</artifactId>
                <version>${spring-cloud.version}</version>
                <type>pom</type>
                <scope>import</scope>
            </dependency>
        </dependencies>
    </dependencyManagement>
 
    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>
</project>

3.2 Application Properties file

Create a new properties file at the location: SpringbootAmazonSqsTutorial/src/main/resources/ and add the AWS IAM credentials for the user who will be able to talk to SQS and perform the required actions. In case developers need a read for AWS IAM they can head over to this link.

application.yml

server:
  port: 10091   # Application port
   
cloud:
  aws:
    region:
      static: ap-south-1   # Region where you have created the queue. In this example, we have created the queue in 'ap-south-1' region.
      auto: false
    credentials:
      access-key:   # YOUR_ACCESS_KEY
      secret-key:   # YOUR_SECRET_KEY

3.3 Java Classes

Let us write all the java classes involved in this application.

3.3.1 Implementation/Main class

Add the following code to the main class to bootstrap the application from the main method.

SpringbootSqsTutorial.java

package com.springboot.amazonsqs;
 
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
 
// @SpringBootApplication annotation enables the auto-configuration feature of the spring boot module (i.e. java-based configuration and component scanning).
@SpringBootApplication
public class SpringbootSqsTutorial {
 
    private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(SpringbootSqsTutorial.class);
 
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // The "run()" method returns the "ConfigurableApplicationContext" instance which can be further used by the spring application.
        SpringApplication.run(SpringbootSqsTutorial.class, args);
        LOGGER.info("Springboot with amazonsqs application started successfully.");
    }
}

3.3.2 Configuration class

Add the following code to the configuration class where we define the configuration for Amazon SQS.

SqsConfig.java

package com.springboot.amazonsqs.config;
 
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
import org.springframework.cloud.aws.messaging.core.QueueMessagingTemplate;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Primary;
 
import com.amazonaws.auth.AWSStaticCredentialsProvider;
import com.amazonaws.auth.BasicAWSCredentials;
import com.amazonaws.services.sqs.AmazonSQSAsync;
import com.amazonaws.services.sqs.AmazonSQSAsyncClientBuilder;
 
// Marker annotation that tells spring to generate bean definitions at runtime for the methods annotated with @Bean annotation.
@Configuration
public class SqsConfig {
 
    // Value is populated by the region code.
    @Value("${cloud.aws.region.static}")
    private String region;
 
    // Value is populated with the aws access key.
    @Value("${cloud.aws.credentials.access-key}")
    private String awsAccessKey;
 
    // Value is populated with the aws secret key
    @Value("${cloud.aws.credentials.secret-key}")
    private String awsSecretKey;
 
    // @Bean annotation tells that a method produces a bean that is to be managed by the spring container.
    @Bean
    public QueueMessagingTemplate queueMessagingTemplate() {
        return new QueueMessagingTemplate(amazonSQSAsync());
    }
 
    @Bean
    // @Primary annotation gives a higher preference to a bean (when there are multiple beans of the same type).
    @Primary
    // AmazonSQSAsync is an interface for accessing the SQS asynchronously. 
    // Each asynchronous method will return a Java Future object representing the asynchronous operation.
    public AmazonSQSAsync amazonSQSAsync() {
        return AmazonSQSAsyncClientBuilder
                .standard()
                .withRegion(region)
                .withCredentials(new AWSStaticCredentialsProvider(
                        new BasicAWSCredentials(awsAccessKey, awsSecretKey)))
                .build();
    }
}

3.3.3 Controller class

Add the following code to the controller class designed to handle the incoming requests. The class is annotated with the @RestController annotation which consists of the HTTP POST method to accept the user input and an SQS Listener method that polls the messages from the SQS queue and displays it on the console. Also, note Message is a simple POJO class that consists of id and message parameters.

SqsCtrl.java

package com.springboot.amazonsqs.ctrl;
 
import javax.validation.Valid;
 
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.cloud.aws.messaging.core.QueueMessagingTemplate;
import org.springframework.cloud.aws.messaging.listener.SqsMessageDeletionPolicy;
import org.springframework.cloud.aws.messaging.listener.annotation.SqsListener;
import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
import org.springframework.messaging.handler.annotation.Header;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PostMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestBody;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ResponseStatus;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;
 
import com.springboot.amazonsqs.model.Message;
 
// For creating the REST controllers.
@RestController
// Used to map incoming web requests onto the handler methods in the controller.
@RequestMapping(value = "/sqs")
public class SqsCtrl {
 
    // Name of the queue. Developers are free to choose their queue name.
    private static final String QUEUE = "spring-boot-amazon-sqs";
 
    public static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(SqsCtrl.class);
 
    // QueueMessagingTemplate initializes the messaging template by configuring the destination resolver as well as the message converter.
    @Autowired
    private QueueMessagingTemplate queueMessagingTemplate;
 
    // HTTP POST url - http://localhost:10091/sqs/send
    @PostMapping(value = "/send")
    // @ResponseStatus annotation marks the method with the status-code and the reason message that should be returned.
    @ResponseStatus(code = HttpStatus.CREATED)
    public void sendMessageToSqs(@RequestBody @Valid final Message message) {
        LOGGER.info("Sending the message to the Amazon sqs.");
        queueMessagingTemplate.convertAndSend(QUEUE, message);
        LOGGER.info("Message sent successfully to the Amazon sqs.");
    }
 
    // @SqsListener listens to the message from the specified queue.
    // Here in this example we are printing the message on the console and the message will be deleted from the queue once it is successfully delivered.
    @SqsListener(value = QUEUE, deletionPolicy = SqsMessageDeletionPolicy.ON_SUCCESS)
    public void getMessageFromSqs(@Valid Message message, @Header("MessageId") String messageId) {
        LOGGER.info("Received message= {} with messageId= {}", message, messageId);
        // TODO - Developer can do some operations like saving the message to the database, calling any 3rd party etc.
    }
}

4. Run the Application

To execute the application, right-click on the SpringbootSqsTutorial.java class, Run As -> Java Application.

5. Project Demo

Open the Postman tool and hit the following URL to send an HTTP POST request to the controller method.

// HTTP POST URL
http://localhost:10091/sqs/send
 
// Sample Request Body for the HTTP POST call
{
    "id": 102,
    "message": "Welcome to spring sqs tutorial"
}

Once the request is successfully processed by the application and the HTTP 200 OK response is received, we’ll head over the application’s console log. As we have a method annotated with the @SqsListener annotation it keeps polling the messages from the queue and will display them onto the console as soon as it is fetched from the queue.

-- Message1
2020-07-20 23:10:55.553  INFO 16828 --- [io-10091-exec-1] com.springboot.amazonsqs.ctrl.SqsCtrl    : Sending the message to the Amazon sqs.
2020-07-20 23:10:55.670  INFO 16828 --- [io-10091-exec-1] com.springboot.amazonsqs.ctrl.SqsCtrl    : Message sent successfully to the Amazon sqs.
2020-07-20 23:10:55.698  INFO 16828 --- [enerContainer-3] com.springboot.amazonsqs.ctrl.SqsCtrl    : Received message= Message [id=101, message=Hello-world] with messageId= be289e3e-4af9-4631-9740-872569cf16e1
 
-- Message2
2020-07-20 23:11:17.150  INFO 16828 --- [io-10091-exec-3] com.springboot.amazonsqs.ctrl.SqsCtrl    : Sending the message to the Amazon sqs.
2020-07-20 23:11:17.208  INFO 16828 --- [io-10091-exec-3] com.springboot.amazonsqs.ctrl.SqsCtrl    : Message sent successfully to the Amazon sqs.
2020-07-20 23:11:17.232  INFO 16828 --- [enerContainer-3] com.springboot.amazonsqs.ctrl.SqsCtrl    : Received message= Message [id=102, message=Welcome to spring sqs tutorial] with messageId= 7adb304d-5cc3-4649-bc28-9322112ed437

That is all for this tutorial and I hope the article served you whatever you were looking for. Happy Learning and do not forget to share!

6. Summary

In this section, we learned:

Spring Boot and Amazon SQS
Steps to create a Standard Queue on Amazon SQS console
Steps to implement SQS in spring boot with a simple application

You can download the sample application as an Eclipse project in the Downloads section.

7. Download the Eclipse Project

This was an example of using Amazon SQS with Spring boot.

Download
You can download the full source code of this example here: Using Amazon SQS with Spring Boot

Using Amazon SQS with Spring Boot

1. Introduction

1.1 What is Spring boot?

1.2 What is Amazon SQS?

1.2.1 Standard Queues in Amazon SQS

2. Using Amazon SQS with Spring Boot

2.1 Create a Standard queue on AWS

2.2 Tools Used for Spring boot application and Project Structure

3. Creating a Spring boot application

3.1 Maven Dependency

3.2 Application Properties file

3.3 Java Classes

3.3.1 Implementation/Main class

3.3.2 Configuration class

3.3.3 Controller class

Thank you!

4. Run the Application

5. Project Demo

6. Summary

7. Download the Eclipse Project

Thank you!

Yatin

Thank you!

1. Introduction

1.1 What is Spring boot?

1.2 What is Amazon SQS?

1.2.1 Standard Queues in Amazon SQS

2. Using Amazon SQS with Spring Boot

2.1 Create a Standard queue on AWS

2.2 Tools Used for Spring boot application and Project Structure

3. Creating a Spring boot application

3.1 Maven Dependency

3.2 Application Properties file

3.3 Java Classes

3.3.1 Implementation/Main class

3.3.2 Configuration class

3.3.3 Controller class

Thank you!

4. Run the Application

5. Project Demo

6. Summary

7. Download the Eclipse Project

Thank you!

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Thank you!