How to enable neo4j webadmin when using spring-data-neo4j?

Question

I am bootstrapping a new project from the Accessing Neo4j Data with REST example. The example uses an embedded database rather than a standalone neo4j server, but I would like to use the Neo4J webadmin interface for visualisation of my data. How do I enable the webadmin interface starting from this configuration?

(They got WrappingNeoServerBootstrapper working in use WrappingNeoServerBootstrapper with spring-data-neo4j but a lot of knowledge is omitted from the answer, e.g. it is not even mentioned where to place to the configuration. Being new to POMs, Spring Boot and Neo4j I therefore can't make use of that answer.)

Answer 1

The example you are using needs some tweaking to enable the Neo4j browser. I started from a different example, the Accessing Data with Neo4j example and it worked well.

You will need to do the following:

1. Change the version on your spring boot pom to 1.2.1.Release:

    <parent>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
        <version>1.2.1.RELEASE</version>
    </parent>
   

2. Add dependencies for Neo4jServer:

   <dependency>
       <groupId>org.neo4j.app</groupId>
       <artifactId>neo4j-server</artifactId>
       <version>2.1.5</version>
   </dependency>
   <dependency>
       <groupId>org.neo4j.app</groupId>
       <artifactId>neo4j-server</artifactId>
       <version>2.1.5</version>
       <classifier>static-web</classifier>
   </dependency>
   

3. Implement the Spring Boot command line runner in your Application.class:

    public class Application extends Neo4jConfiguration implements CommandLineRunner{
   

4. Autowire a reference to your GraphDatabaseService in your Application.class:

   @Autowired
   GraphDatabaseService db;
   

5. @Override the run method from CommanLineRunner in your Application.class:

   @Override
   public void run(String... strings) throws Exception {
       // used for Neo4j browser
       try {
           WrappingNeoServerBootstrapper neoServerBootstrapper;
           GraphDatabaseAPI api = (GraphDatabaseAPI) db;
   
           ServerConfigurator config = new ServerConfigurator(api);
           config.configuration()
               .addProperty(Configurator.WEBSERVER_ADDRESS_PROPERTY_KEY, "127.0.0.1");
           config.configuration()
               .addProperty(Configurator.WEBSERVER_PORT_PROPERTY_KEY, "8686");
   
           neoServerBootstrapper = new WrappingNeoServerBootstrapper(api, config);
           neoServerBootstrapper.start();
       } catch(Exception e) {
           //handle appropriately
       }
       // end of Neo4j browser config
   }
   

When you are all done, your Application.class should look like this:

package hello;

import org.neo4j.graphdb.GraphDatabaseService;
import org.neo4j.graphdb.factory.GraphDatabaseFactory;
import org.neo4j.kernel.GraphDatabaseAPI;
import org.neo4j.server.WrappingNeoServerBootstrapper;
import org.neo4j.server.configuration.Configurator;
import org.neo4j.server.configuration.ServerConfigurator;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.boot.CommandLineRunner;
import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.EnableAutoConfiguration;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Import;
import org.springframework.data.neo4j.config.EnableNeo4jRepositories;
import org.springframework.data.neo4j.config.Neo4jConfiguration;
import org.springframework.data.rest.webmvc.config.RepositoryRestMvcConfiguration;

@Configuration
@EnableNeo4jRepositories
@Import(RepositoryRestMvcConfiguration.class)
@EnableAutoConfiguration
public class Application extends Neo4jConfiguration implements CommandLineRunner{

    public Application() {
        setBasePackage("hello");
    }

    @Bean(destroyMethod = "shutdown")
    public GraphDatabaseService graphDatabaseService() {
        return new GraphDatabaseFactory().newEmbeddedDatabase("target/hello.db");
    }

    @Autowired
    GraphDatabaseService db;



    @Override
    public void run(String... strings) throws Exception {
        // used for Neo4j browser
        try {
            WrappingNeoServerBootstrapper neoServerBootstrapper;
            GraphDatabaseAPI api = (GraphDatabaseAPI) db;

            ServerConfigurator config = new ServerConfigurator(api);
            config.configuration()
                    .addProperty(Configurator.WEBSERVER_ADDRESS_PROPERTY_KEY, "127.0.   0.1");
            config.configuration()
                    .addProperty(Configurator.WEBSERVER_PORT_PROPERTY_KEY, "8686");

            neoServerBootstrapper = new WrappingNeoServerBootstrapper(api, config);
            neoServerBootstrapper.start();
        } catch(Exception e) {
            //handle appropriately
        }
        // end of Neo4j browser config
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
    }


}

The Neo4j browser will be available on the host and port configured in your run() method.