WEB-INF not included in WebApp using SpringBoot, Spring-MVC and Maven

Mariano L :

I have a webapp using Spring-MVC built with Maven. When I generate the JAR file the app start just fine. The controller is execute but when I reach this part:

@RequestMapping(value = "/test-block", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public ModelAndView block(Model model) {
    return new ModelAndView("templates/test-block");
}

I get this error:

There was an unexpected error (type=Not Found, status=404).
/WEB-INF/templates/test-block.jsp

Note that debugging or running in the IDE works fine.

My folder:

src
|--main
   |--java
      |--com.xxx // sources
      webapp
      |--WEB-INF
         |--templates
            |--*.jsp // jsp files
      resources
      |--application.properties

My application properties:

spring.mvc.view.prefix=/WEB-INF/
spring.mvc.view.suffix=.jsp

I checked the generated JAR file and I can't see WEB-INF anywhere.

edit:

pom file:

    <packaging>war</packaging>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
                <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            </plugin>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <configuration>
                    <source>8</source>
                    <target>8</target>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

Nicholas K :

You should create a .war rather than a .jar for a web application and you will see the WEB-INF folder.

Also change

spring.mvc.view.prefix=/WEB-INF/ to spring.mvc.view.prefix=/WEB-INF/templates and

ModelAndView("templates/test-block") to ModelAndView("test-block") to address the 404 error.