🚀 Building a To-Do App with Java Play Framework and MySQL

When I first set out to build a full-stack web app from scratch, I wanted something practical — simple enough to ship, yet complex enough to challenge me. That led me to building a To-Do List web app using Java (Play Framework) and MySQL.

This post walks you through what I built, how I built it, and what I learned.

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🔧 What I Built

The To-Do App lets users:

• ✅ Add tasks with a title, description, and reminders

• ✏️ Edit tasks

• ❌ Delete tasks

• 🗂️ View a list of all tasks

Walkthrough video 👉 Watch here

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🛠️ Tech Stack

• Backend: Java (Play Framework)

• Frontend: HTML + CSS (Bootstrap), JavaScript

• Database: MySQL

I used sbt as the build tool and the app runs on port 9000 locally.

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📸 Screenshots

Here's what the app looks like in action:

🔹 Homepage

🔹 Add Task View

🔹 Task List with Edit Options

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📦 Project Setup

Prerequisites

• Java 11+

• Play Framework

• MySQL

• sbt

Getting Started

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/todo2.git
cd todo2

Configure the Database

Create a MySQL DB called todo_db, then edit conf/application.conf:

db.default.driver=com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver
db.default.url="jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/todo_db"
db.default.username="your_mysql_user"
db.default.password="your_mysql_password"

Run the App

sbt run

Then open: http://localhost:9000/

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📡 API Endpoints

I tested all endpoints using Postman with sample payloads.

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🗂 Folder Structure

📂 app
 ┣ 📂 controllers  # Java controllers
 ┣ 📂 models       # Data models
 ┣ 📂 views        # HTML templates
📂 conf
 ┗ 📄 application.conf  # Configs
📂 public
 ┣ 📂 stylesheets
 ┣ 📂 javascript
📂 migrations

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🤓 What I Learned

• How to structure a Play Framework project from scratch

• Integrating MySQL with JDBC and configuration management

• Creating and consuming REST APIs in Java

• Basic state management and frontend UI rendering

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✨ What’s Next?

In the future, I’m thinking of:

• Adding user authentication

• Email reminders

• A mobile-first redesign

If you'd like to contribute or try it out yourself, check it out here:
👉 GitHub Repo

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💬 Let’s Talk

Have feedback or ideas? I’d love to hear from you. Drop a comment here or connect with me on LinkedIn.

If this helped you, consider giving the repo a ⭐ on GitHub.

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🧠 Final Words

This was one of those projects that taught me to break things, fix them, and document the chaos — and honestly, that's what tech is about.