Spring Boot + MySQL REST API for Customer Feedback Collection

This project is a fully functional backend application built with Java 21 and Spring Boot 3.5.x, designed to collect, store, and manage customer feedback for a shopping platform. It includes RESTful API endpoints, form validation, database persistence via JPA, and an optional HTML form for quick feedback submission.

✅ REST API for feedback submission & retrieval ✅ MySQL persistence via Spring Data JPA ✅ Request validation using Jakarta Validation ✅ Docker Compose setup for MySQL ✅ Optional Thymeleaf form for direct user input ✅ Maven-based build for easy setup and deployment

shopping-feedback/ │ ├── src/ │ ├── main/java/com/example/shoppingfeedback/ │ │ ├── controller/ # REST API endpoints │ │ ├── dto/ # Request DTOs & validation │ │ ├── model/ # JPA entity definitions │ │ ├── repository/ # Data access layer │ │ ├── service/ # Business logic layer │ │ └── ShoppingFeedbackApplication.java │ └── resources/ │ ├── application.properties │ └── templates/ # Optional Thymeleaf HTML form │ ├── pom.xml └── docker-compose.yml 

Edit the database credentials in src/main/resources/application.properties:

spring.datasource.url=jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/shopping_feedback?useSSL=false&serverTimezone=UTC spring.datasource.username=root spring.datasource.password=changeme spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=update spring.jpa.show-sql=true

Run MySQL locally using Docker Compose:

docker compose up -d

MySQL will start with:

• Database: shopping_feedback
• User: appuser
• Password: apppassword

Then update your application.properties:

spring.datasource.username=appuser spring.datasource.password=apppassword

Base URL: http://localhost:8080/api/feedback

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/feedback \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{  "name": "Jane Doe",  "contact": "+2348012345678",  "rating": 4,  "itemsNotFound": "Olive oil, Wheat flour",  "priceToReduce": "Tomatoes are expensive",  "improvementSuggestion": "Open more checkout counters"  }'

curl http://localhost:8080/api/feedback

curl http://localhost:8080/api/feedback/1

1️⃣ Start MySQL (either locally or via Docker). 2️⃣ Update your credentials in application.properties. 3️⃣ Build and run the app:

mvn clean package java -jar target/shopping-feedback-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar

Or run directly from your IDE:

ShoppingFeedbackApplication.java 

Access the API at:

http://localhost:8080/api/feedback 

If you enabled Thymeleaf, open: src/main/resources/templates/feedback-form.html

You can serve this from a simple controller to collect feedback via a browser form.

• Add authentication for feedback admins
• Integrate Swagger/OpenAPI documentation
• Add email notifications for new feedback
• Introduce pagination and filtering
• Deploy with Docker + Spring Boot container

This project is licensed under the MIT License — feel free to use and modify for your learning or production needs.

Designed as a learning-friendly yet production-ready Spring Boot starter demonstrating:

“How to build a REST API with MySQL integration and validation — from code to container.”