Thinking about how to create a custom spring banner that truly stands out? Whether you’re sprucing up your storefront, decorating for an event, or just welcoming the new season, a personalized banner brings your vision to life. But with so many options, it’s easy to feel lost.
This article breaks down how to custom-make a spring banner—covering design choices, material tips, and step-by-step guidance—to help you craft something beautiful and unique with confidence.
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How to Create a Custom Banner in Spring Boot
Customizing the banner in your Spring Boot application is a fun and straightforward way to make your application stand out. The Spring Boot banner is the text art (usually ASCII art) you see printed in the console when your application starts. Adding your own banner is not only a cool branding touch but can also present useful system information stylishly.
Let’s dive into exactly how you can give your Spring Boot app its own personality with a custom banner—step by step.
What is the Spring Boot Banner and Why Customize It?
When you run any Spring Boot application, you’re greeted with a default ASCII art banner in your console, reading “Spring” with version information below it. While this is charmingly retro, you might want your app’s startup to feel more integrated with your company, project, or even just your sense of humor.
Here are a few reasons for customizing your banner:
- Brand identity: Display your company name, logo, or project mascot.
- Project information: Easily show app name, version, or release date.
- Debugging help: Quickly spot environment or config details during development.
- Just for fun: Start the day with your favorite ASCII meme!
Customizing the banner is simple, powerful, and only takes a few minutes.
Step by Step: Creating a Custom Spring Boot Banner
Ready to make your own banner? Follow these easy steps:
1. Create Your ASCII Banner Art
The banner is typically ASCII text, which means you can write or draw anything that fits in plain text.
- Use online ASCII art generators to turn your project or company name into stylized text.
- You can also draw your own banner in any text editor.
Some tips:
– Keep it simple; complex art can look messy in the console.
– Use a fixed-width font (like Courier or Consolas) to design.
– Aim for a banner height under 20 lines for readability.
– Avoid special characters that might not render well on different platforms.
2. Save the Banner as banner.txt
Spring Boot looks for a file named banner.txt in your application’s src/main/resources directory by default.
- Open your project in an editor.
- Navigate to
src/main/resources. - Create a new file named
banner.txt. - Paste your ASCII art into this file.
That’s it! On your next run, you’ll see your creation in the start-up logs.
3. Adding Variables and Placeholders
Spring Boot allows you to make your banner dynamic by including built-in variables:
${application.version}— shows your app version${application.formatted-version}— shows the app version, nicely formatted${spring-boot.version}— Spring Boot version${spring-boot.formatted-version}— formatted Spring Boot version${AnsiColor.NAME}— adds color (like${AnsiColor.GREEN}or${AnsiColor.RED})${env.VARIABLE}— prints an environment variable${systemProperties.PROPERTY}— prints a Java system property
Example:
____ _ _ _
| _ \ _ __ ___ __| | __| | ___ | |
| |_) | '__/ _ \ '__|/ _` |/ _ \| |
| __/| | | __/ | | (_| | (_) | |
|_| |_| \___|_| \__,_|\___/|_|
:: Spring Boot :: (${spring-boot.version})
4. (Optional) Use a Custom Banner File Name or Location
Want to keep your banner somewhere else or use a different filename? You can specify the banner location in your application.properties or application.yml file.
For example, to use a banner located at myfolder/mybanner.txt:
spring.banner.location=classpath:myfolder/mybanner.txt
5. (Optional) Use an Image as a Banner
If you want to get really creative, Spring Boot can also use image files (banner.jpg, banner.png, or banner.gif in the resources folder). The image will be converted to ASCII and displayed.
Just add your image to the resources directory with one of the above names.
Advanced Customization: Code-Based and Multi-Banner Options
While banner.txt is the most common method, there are more advanced ways to control banners.
1. Programmatic Banner Customization
You can implement a custom Java class to generate or control the banner dynamically:
import org.springframework.boot.Banner;
import org.springframework.core.env.Environment;
public class MyBanner implements Banner {
@Override
public void printBanner(
Environment environment,
Class sourceClass,
PrintStream out) {
out.println("==== My Custom Banner ====");
out.println("Application: " + environment.getProperty("spring.application.name"));
out.println("==========================");
}
}
To use this, configure it in your SpringApplication:
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication app = new SpringApplication(MyApp.class);
app.setBanner(new MyBanner());
app.run(args);
}
This gives you total control and can access any environment variables you want.
2. Multiple Banners
Spring Boot will only display one banner at startup by default. If you’d like to display different banners based on profiles or environments, you can:
- Use conditional logic if you write a programmatic banner.
- Manually copy the appropriate banner file into
resourcesbefore building. - Leverage build tools to inject different banners for different environments.
Key Benefits of Custom Banners
- Branding: Every developer or administrator who starts your app immediately sees your brand.
- Clarity: Show app version, environment, or critical info right up front.
- Fun: It brightens up the sometimes tedious process of monitoring logs or debugging.
- Professionalism: Clients and users see attention to detail that sets your application apart.
Best Practices and Practical Tips
Want your custom banner to shine? Here are some tried-and-true tips:
- Keep it Readable: Avoid overly complex ASCII art.
- Use Colors Sparingly: While you can use ANSI color codes, too much color can make logs hard to read.
- Show Useful Info: Display like version, build date, or environment name for easy identification.
- Check Formatting: View your banner in the consoles or environments where your app will run; sometimes spacing or characters look different.
- Don’t Disclose Sensitive Data: Never include sensitive information (like passwords, API keys, or server IPs).
- Automate for Environments: For CI/CD or multiple deploy environments, automate banner creation or placeholder replacement as needed.
Challenges and Potential Pitfalls
While customizing your banner is generally straightforward, a few things could trip you up:
- Character Encoding Issues: Some terminals render certain ASCII characters oddly. Stick to standard text and test in your deployment environment.
- Overly Large Banners: Large banner files can make logs harder to read or push important log entries off-screen.
- Unreadable on Dark/Light Backgrounds: If you use color, consider backgrounds your team uses.
- Version Mismatch: Accidentally displaying an incorrect version or environment in the banner due to hardcoding.
The solution is simple: keep banners simple, test in context, and use variables to keep info up to date.
Cost Considerations (Shipping, Delivery, or Merchandising Banners)
If you’re wondering about costs, note that creating custom banners in Spring Boot is a completely free, code-side activity. It’s all digital; no costs for delivery, shipping, or third-party graphics tools are involved. ASCII art generators and even Spring Boot itself are freely available.
If you’re shipping your application (e.g., as an artifact, Docker image, or deliverable to clients), just be sure your banner file is included in your resources folder so it appears for every environment. There’s no shipping or delivery cost associated with this feature.
Conclusion
Customizing your Spring Boot banner is one of the simplest ways to add flair, identity, and utility to your application logs. It requires adding a single banner.txt file to your resources folder, optionally including dynamic placeholders, and enjoying a personalized startup every time you launch your app. Whether you choose a classic logo, vital information, or just an inspirational message, you’ll bring personality and utility to your codebase with minimal effort.
Unlock your creativity and let your Spring Boot app say “hello” in its own unique way!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can I use images for Spring Boot banners, or am I limited to plain text?
You can absolutely use images! Just place a file named banner.jpg, banner.png, or banner.gif in your resources directory. Spring Boot converts the image to ASCII art and displays it at startup. Keep in mind, simple images work best for clear results.
How do I add color to my Spring Boot banner?
Spring Boot supports ANSI color codes. You can use placeholders like ${AnsiColor.RED} in your banner.txt to add color. Remember, excessive or poorly chosen colors may make logs difficult to read, so use them wisely.
Can I have different banners for different environments (dev, test, prod)?
Yes! You can use Spring profiles to load different banner.txt files or programmatically set the banner in your JavaConfig depending on the active profile. Automating banner selection helps distinguish between environments at a glance.
What happens if I don’t provide a banner.txt file?
If no banner.txt (or image file) is present in your resources, Spring Boot simply displays its default banner. If you prefer to see no banner at all, you can disable it via configuration by setting spring.main.banner-mode=off.
Is there any security risk in displaying application details in the banner?
While banners themselves are not a security risk, avoid including sensitive data like passwords or exact server IPs. Stick to public-facing version info or harmless environment data. When in doubt, keep banners informative but generic.
Custom banners are a small touch that signal care and professionalism in every Spring Boot application. Give yours a try and make your application launches memorable!