In Spring Boot, the application.properties file is commonly used to define database connection properties. This file allows you to configure various aspects of your Spring Boot application, including database-related settings such as connection URLs, usernames, and passwords. The other options are not typically used for defining database connection properties.

The @SpringBootApplication annotation in Spring Boot includes several other annotations, such as @Configuration, @EnableAutoConfiguration, and @ComponentScan. It is the primary annotation to enable a Spring Boot application and combines various configuration and component scanning annotations. While other options may exist as individual annotations, @SpringBootApplication is the one that encompasses them all in the context of a Spring Boot application.

In a microservices architecture, service discovery is crucial. It allows microservices to locate and communicate with each other independently, promoting autonomy and independence.

The @Service annotation in Spring is used to define a class as a service bean, typically used for business logic. It has the same functionality as @Component but adds semantic value, indicating that the class is a service component. While @Component is a generic stereotype, @Service is specific to services, making the code more expressive and helping developers understand the role of the class. It doesn't provide security features or make the class a database entity.

In Spring Boot, to bind the method return value as the response body, you can use the @ResponseBody annotation. This annotation indicates that the return value of the method should be converted to JSON or another format and included in the HTTP response body. It's commonly used when you want to return data from a controller method in a RESTful web service.

The @Modifying annotation is used in a Spring Data JPA repository method when you want to execute a non-selecting query, such as an UPDATE or DELETE operation, on the database. This annotation informs Spring that the method will modify the database, allowing it to manage the transaction appropriately. The other options are not suitable scenarios for using @Modifying.

In Spring Boot, the "@Service" annotation is a specialized form of the "@Component" annotation used to represent the application's business logic. It helps Spring identify the class as a service component, allowing it to be automatically detected and used within the application context. The other options, such as "@Repository," "@Controller," and "@Configuration," serve different purposes and are not specifically intended for application logic in the same way as "@Service."

To prevent a controller method from being exposed over HTTP in a Spring Boot application, you can configure it in the application.properties file by setting the appropriate properties. Using the @NoHttpExpose annotation is not a standard Spring Boot feature. Placing the controller class in a specific package does not control HTTP exposure. However, by default, only the controllers in the same or sub-packages of the main application class are scanned and exposed over HTTP.

You can ensure that a custom Auto Configuration is processed after a specific Auto Configuration by using the @AutoConfigureAfter annotation and specifying the class or classes that should be processed before your custom configuration. This allows you to define the order of Auto Configuration processing. The other options do not provide a direct way to control the order of Auto Configuration.

Connection pooling is a technique used to minimize the overhead of opening and closing database connections in a Spring Boot application. It involves creating a pool of pre-initialized database connections that can be reused, reducing the time and resources required to establish new connections each time a database interaction is needed.