How do you implement a custom Spring Boot banner, and what are the benefits of doing so?

In a Spring Boot application, a banner is displayed in the console window when the application starts up. This banner displays information such as the application name, version number, and copyright notice. By default, Spring Boot provides a simple banner, but you can create a custom banner to display more information or to add some branding to your application.

To create a custom banner in a Spring Boot application, you can create a text file named banner.txt in the src/main/resources directory of your project. You can then add ASCII art or other text to this file to create your custom banner. Here’s an example of a simple custom banner:

******************************************
*  My Awesome Spring Boot Application    *
******************************************

You can also use special variables in the banner.txt file to display dynamic information, such as the version number of your application or the current date and time. Here’s an example:

******************************************
*      My Awesome Spring Boot App        *
*               v\${application.version}                *
*         \${spring-boot.version}            *
*          \${application.description}          *
*              \${application.name}              *
*              \${application.date}              *
******************************************

In this example, the $application.version variable will be replaced with the version number of your application, the $spring-boot.version variable will be replaced with the version number of Spring Boot, and so on.

To enable your custom banner in your Spring Boot application, you can add the following line to your application.properties file:

    spring.banner.location=classpath:banner.txt

This will tell Spring Boot to use the banner.txt file located in the classpath to display the banner.

The benefits of creating a custom banner for your Spring Boot application include the ability to display more information about your application, to add some branding or personality to your application, and to provide a more customized experience for your users. Additionally, a custom banner can make your application stand out and be more memorable.