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Spring Boot: Optional mapping of request parameters to POJO

I'm trying to map request parameters of a controller method into a POJO object, but only if any of its fields are present. However, I can't seem to find a way to achieve this. I have the following POJO:
public class TimeWindowModel {
#NotNull
public Date from;
#NotNull
public Date to;
}
If none of the fields are specified, I'd like to get an empty Optional, otherwise I'd get an Optional with a validated instance of the POJO. Spring supports mapping request parameter into POJO objects by leaving them unannotated in the handler:
#GetMapping("/shop/{shopId}/slot")
public Slice<Slot> getSlots(#RequestAttribute("staff") Staff staff,
#PathVariable("shopId") Long shopId, #Valid TimeWindowModel timeWindow) {
// controller code
}
With this, Spring will map request parameters "from" and "to" to an instance of TimeWindowModel. However, I want to make this mapping optional. For POST requests you can use #RequestBody #Valid Optional<T>, which will give you an Optional<T> containing an instance of T, but only if a request body was provided, otherwise it will be empty. This makes #Valid work as expected.
When not annotated, Optional<T> doesn't appear to do anything. You always get an Optional<T> with an instance of the POJO. This is problematic when combined with #Valid because it will complain that "from" and "to" are not set.
The goal is to get either (a) an instance of the POJO where both "from" and "to" are not null or (b) nothing at all. If only one of them is specified, then #Valid should fail and report that the other is missing.

I came up with a solution with a custom HandlerMethodArgumentResolver, Jackson and Jackson Databind.
The annotation:
#Target(ElementType.PARAMETER)
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public #interface RequestParamBind {
}
The resolver:
public class RequestParamBindResolver implements HandlerMethodArgumentResolver {
private final ObjectMapper mapper;
public RequestParamBindResolver(ObjectMapper mapper) {
this.mapper = mapper.copy();
this.mapper.disable(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES);
}
#Override
public boolean supportsParameter(MethodParameter parameter) {
return parameter.getParameterAnnotation(RequestParamBind.class) != null;
}
#Override
public Object resolveArgument(MethodParameter parameter, ModelAndViewContainer mav, NativeWebRequest webRequest, WebDataBinderFactory binderFactory) throws Exception {
// take the first instance of each request parameter
Map<String, String> requestParameters = webRequest.getParameterMap()
.entrySet().stream()
.collect(Collectors.toMap(Map.Entry::getKey, e -> e.getValue()[0]));
// perform the actual resolution
Object resolved = doResolveArgument(parameter, requestParameters);
// *sigh*
// see: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18091936/spring-mvc-valid-validation-with-custom-handlermethodargumentresolver
if (parameter.hasParameterAnnotation(Valid.class)) {
String parameterName = Conventions.getVariableNameForParameter(parameter);
WebDataBinder binder = binderFactory.createBinder(webRequest, resolved, parameterName);
// DataBinder constructor unwraps Optional, so the target could be null
if (binder.getTarget() != null) {
binder.validate();
BindingResult bindingResult = binder.getBindingResult();
if (bindingResult.getErrorCount() > 0)
throw new MethodArgumentNotValidException(parameter, bindingResult);
}
}
return resolved;
}
private Object doResolveArgument(MethodParameter parameter, Map<String, String> requestParameters) {
Class<?> clazz = parameter.getParameterType();
if (clazz != Optional.class)
return mapper.convertValue(requestParameters, clazz);
// special case for Optional<T>
Type type = parameter.getGenericParameterType();
Class<?> optionalType = (Class<?>)((ParameterizedType)type).getActualTypeArguments()[0];
Object obj = mapper.convertValue(requestParameters, optionalType);
// convert back to a map to find if any fields were set
// TODO: how can we tell null from not set?
if (mapper.convertValue(obj, new TypeReference<Map<String, String>>() {})
.values().stream().anyMatch(Objects::nonNull))
return Optional.of(obj);
return Optional.empty();
}
}
Then, we register it:
#Configuration
public class WebConfig implements WebMvcConfigurer {
//...
#Override
public void addArgumentResolvers(
List<HandlerMethodArgumentResolver> argumentResolvers) {
argumentResolvers.add(new RequestParamBindResolver(new ObjectMapper()));
}
}
Finally, we can use it like so:
#GetMapping("/shop/{shopId}/slot")
public Slice<Slot> getSlots(#RequestAttribute("staff") Staff staff,
#PathVariable("shopId") Long shopId,
#RequestParamBind #Valid Optional<TimeWindowModel> timeWindow) {
// controller code
}
Which works exactly as you'd expect.
I'm sure it's possible to accomplish this by using Spring's own DataBind classes in the resolver. However, Jackson Databind seemed like the most straight-forward solution. That said, it's not able to distinguish between fields that are set to null and fields that just not set. This is not really an issue for my use-case, but it's something that should be noted.

To implement logic (a) both not null or (b) both are nulls you need to implement custom validation.
Examples are here:
https://blog.clairvoyantsoft.com/spring-boot-creating-a-custom-annotation-for-validation-edafbf9a97a4
https://www.baeldung.com/spring-mvc-custom-validator
Generally, you create a new annotation, it's just a stub, and then you create a validator which implements ConstraintValidator where you provide your logic and then you put your new annotation to your POJO.

Spring Boot using Json as request parameters instead of an entity/model

Our company is planning to switch our microservice technology to Spring Boot. As an initiative I did some advanced reading and noting down its potential impact and syntax equivalents. I also started porting the smallest service we had as a side project.
One issue that blocked my progress was trying to convert our Json request/response exchange to Spring Boot.
Here's an example of the code: (This is Nutz framework for those who don't recognize this)
#POST
#At // These two lines are equivalent to #PostMapping("/create")
#AdaptBy(type=JsonAdapter.class)
public Object create(#Param("param_1") String param1, #Param("param_2) int param2) {
MyModel1 myModel1 = new MyModel1(param1);
MyModel2 myModel2 = new MyModel2(param2);
myRepository1.create(myMode12);
myRepository2.create(myModel2);
return new MyJsonResponse();
}
On PostMan or any other REST client I simply pass POST:
{
"param_1" : "test",
"param_2" : 1
}
I got as far as doing this in Spring Boot:
#PostMapping("/create")
public Object create(#RequestParam("param_1") String param1, #RequestParam("param_2) int param2) {
MyModel1 myModel1 = new MyModel1(param1);
MyModel2 myModel2 = new MyModel2(param2);
myRepository1.create(myMode12);
myRepository2.create(myModel2);
return new MyJsonResponse();
}
I am not sure how to do something similar as JsonAdapter here. Spring doesn't recognize the data I passed.
I tried this but based on the examples it expects the Json paramters to be of an Entity's form.
#RequestMapping(path="/wallet", consumes="application/json", produces="application/json")
But I only got it to work if I do something like this:
public Object (#RequestBody MyModel1 model1) {}
My issue with this is that MyModel1 may not necessarily contain the fields/parameters that my json data has.
The very useful thing about Nutz is that if I removed JsonAdapter it behaves like a regular form request endpoint in spring.
I couldn't find an answer here in Stack or if possible I'm calling it differently than what existing spring devs call it.
Our bosses expect us (unrealistically) to implement these changes without forcing front-end developers to adjust to these changes. (Autonomy and all that jazz). If this is unavoidable what would be the sensible explanation for this?

In that case you can use Map class to read input json, like
#PostMapping("/create")
public Object create(#RequestBody Map<String, ?> input) {
sout(input.get("param1")) // cast to String, int, ..
}

I actually figured out a more straightforward solution.
Apparently this works:
#PostMapping("/endpoint")
public Object endpoint(#RequestBody MyWebRequestObject request) {
String value1 = request.getValue_1();
String value2 = request.getValue_2();
}
The json payload is this:
{
"value_1" : "hello",
"value_2" : "world"
}
This works if MyRequestObject is mapped like the json request object like so. Example:
public class MyWebRequestObject {
String value_1;
String value_2
}
Unmapped values are ignored. Spring is smart like that.
I know this is right back where I started but since we introduced a service layer for the rest control to interact with, it made sense to create our own request model object (DTOs) that is separate from the persistence model.

You can use #RequestBody Map as a parameter for #PostMapping, #PutMapping and #PatchMapping. For #GetMapping and #DeleteMapping, you can write a class which implements Converter to convert from json-formed request parameters to Map. And you would register that class as a bean with #Component annotation. Then you can bind your parameters to #RequestParameter Map.
Here is an example of Converter below.
#Component
public class StringToMapConverter implements Converter<String, Map<String, Object>> {
private final ObjectMapper objectMapper;
#Autowired
public StringToMapConverter(ObjectMapper objectMapper) {
this.objectMapper = objectMapper;
}
#Override
public Map<String, Object> convert(String source) {
try {
return objectMapper.readValue(source, new TypeReference<Map<String, Object>>(){});
} catch (IOException e) {
return new HashMap<>();
}
}
}
If you want to exclude specific field of your MyModel1 class, use #JsonIgnore annotation onto the field like below.
class MyModel1 {
private field1;
#JsonIgnore field2;
}
Then, I guess you can just use what you have done.(I'm not sure.)
public Object (#RequestBody MyModel1 model1) {}

i think that you can use a strategy that involve dto
https://auth0.com/blog/automatically-mapping-dto-to-entity-on-spring-boot-apis/
you send a json to your rest api that is map like a dto object, after you can map like an entity or use it for your needs

try this:
Add new annotation JsonParam and implement HandlerMethodArgumentResolver of this, Parse json to map and get data in HandlerMethodArgumentResolver
{
"aaabbcc": "aaa"
}
#Target(ElementType.PARAMETER)
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public #interface JsonParam {
String value();
}
#Component
public class JsonParamMethodResolver implements HandlerMethodArgumentResolver {
#Override
public boolean supportsParameter(MethodParameter parameter) {
return parameter.hasParameterAnnotation(JsonParam.class);
}
#Override
public Object resolveArgument(MethodParameter parameter, ModelAndViewContainer mavContainer, NativeWebRequest webRequest, WebDataBinderFactory binderFactory) throws Exception {
RepeatedlyRequestWrapper nativeRequest = webRequest.getNativeRequest(RepeatedlyRequestWrapper.class);
if (nativeRequest == null) {
return null;
}
Gson gson = new Gson();
Map<String, Object> response = gson.fromJson(nativeRequest.getReader(), new TypeToken<Map<String, Object>>() {
}.getType());
if (response == null) {
return null;
}
JsonParam parameterAnnotation = parameter.getParameterAnnotation(JsonParam.class);
String value = parameterAnnotation.value();
Class<?> parameterType = parameter.getParameterType();
return response.get(value);
}
}
#Configuration
public class JsonParamConfig extends WebMvcConfigurerAdapter {
#Autowired
JsonParamMethodResolver jsonParamMethodResolver;
#Override
public void addArgumentResolvers(List<HandlerMethodArgumentResolver> argumentResolvers) {
argumentResolvers.add(jsonParamMethodResolver);
}
}
#PostMapping("/methodName")
public void methodName(#JsonParam("aaabbcc") String ddeeff) {
System.out.println(username);
}

Get original mapping value inside Spring controller method

Since I'm using the CQRS pattern, I'm trying to create a single controller method that accepts every POST call with a command in its request body and send it.
I'm almost there, but I can't get the path variables.
I created a custom HandlerMapping
#Bean
public HandlerMapping requestMappingHandlerMapping() throws NoSuchMethodException {
for (final UrlEnum urlEnumItem : UrlEnum.values()) {
requestMappingHandlerMapping.registerMapping(new RequestMappingInfo(urlEnumItem.getCommandName(),
new PatternsRequestCondition(urlEnumItem.getUrl()),
null,
null,
null,
null,
null,
null),
commandController,
commandController.getClass().getDeclaredMethod("commandHandler", HttpServletRequest.class)
);
}
return requestMappingHandlerMapping;
}
and this is my controller method signature
#RequestMapping(method = {RequestMethod.POST, RequestMethod.PUT}, produces = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_UTF8_VALUE)
public ResponseEntity<Object> commandHandler(final HttpServletRequest request) throws Exception {
// controller code here
}
If the url path is something like /api/test it works, but with something like /api/test/{idEntity} I don't have any PathVariable available in the request.
I tried everything like
String originalUrl = (String) request.getAttribute(
HandlerMapping.BEST_MATCHING_PATTERN_ATTRIBUTE);
which returns the valued url (i.e. /api/test/1234), not the template, or adding
#PathVariable Map<String, Object> parameters
as a parameter in the method, which is empty.
Debugging the request object it seems there isn't anything useful to identify the path variables.
Maybe I should interrogate the HandlerMapping, but I can't have access to it in the controller method.
Is there a way to extract the pathVariables in the controller method?

It was an error in the configuration. I shouldn't have added the RequestMapping annotation to the controller method because it overrode my configuration.
Now I have
#RestController
public class CommandController extends AbstractController {
private final MappingJackson2JsonView mappingJackson2JsonView = new MappingJackson2JsonView();
#Override
protected ModelAndView handleRequestInternal(final HttpServletRequest request, final HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
// controller code here
return new ModelAndView(mappingJackson2JsonView);
}
}

Spring MVC - How to return simple String as JSON in Rest Controller

My question is essentially a follow-up to this question.
#RestController
public class TestController
{
#RequestMapping("/getString")
public String getString()
{
return "Hello World";
}
}
In the above, Spring would add "Hello World" into the response body. How can I return a String as a JSON response? I understand that I could add quotes, but that feels more like a hack.
Please provide any examples to help explain this concept.
Note: I don't want this written straight to the HTTP Response body, I want to return the String in JSON format (I'm using my Controller
with RestyGWT which requires the response to be in valid JSON
format).

Either return text/plain (as in Return only string message from Spring MVC 3 Controller) OR wrap your String is some object
public class StringResponse {
private String response;
public StringResponse(String s) {
this.response = s;
}
// get/set omitted...
}
Set your response type to MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE (= "application/json")
#RequestMapping(value = "/getString", method = RequestMethod.GET,
produces = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
and you'll have a JSON that looks like
{ "response" : "your string value" }

JSON is essentially a String in PHP or JAVA context. That means string which is valid JSON can be returned in response. Following should work.
#RequestMapping(value="/user/addUser", method=RequestMethod.POST)
#ResponseBody
public String addUser(#ModelAttribute("user") User user) {
if (user != null) {
logger.info("Inside addIssuer, adding: " + user.toString());
} else {
logger.info("Inside addIssuer...");
}
users.put(user.getUsername(), user);
return "{\"success\":1}";
}
This is okay for simple string response. But for complex JSON response you should use wrapper class as described by Shaun.

In one project we addressed this using JSONObject (maven dependency info). We chose this because we preferred returning a simple String rather than a wrapper object. An internal helper class could easily be used instead if you don't want to add a new dependency.
Example Usage:
#RestController
public class TestController
{
#RequestMapping("/getString")
public String getString()
{
return JSONObject.quote("Hello World");
}
}

You can easily return JSON with String in property response as following
#RestController
public class TestController {
#RequestMapping(value = "/getString", produces = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
public Map getString() {
return Collections.singletonMap("response", "Hello World");
}
}

Simply unregister the default StringHttpMessageConverter instance:
#Configuration
public class WebMvcConfiguration extends WebMvcConfigurationSupport {
/**
* Unregister the default {#link StringHttpMessageConverter} as we want Strings
* to be handled by the JSON converter.
*
* #param converters List of already configured converters
* #see WebMvcConfigurationSupport#addDefaultHttpMessageConverters(List)
*/
#Override
protected void extendMessageConverters(List<HttpMessageConverter<?>> converters) {
converters.removeIf(c -> c instanceof StringHttpMessageConverter);
}
}
Tested with both controller action handler methods and controller exception handlers:
#RequestMapping("/foo")
public String produceFoo() {
return "foo";
}
#ExceptionHandler(FooApiException.class)
public String fooException(HttpServletRequest request, Throwable e) {
return e.getMessage();
}
Final notes:
extendMessageConverters is available since Spring 4.1.3, if are running on a previous version you can implement the same technique using configureMessageConverters, it just takes a little bit more work.
This was one approach of many other possible approaches, if your application only ever returns JSON and no other content types, you are better off skipping the default converters and adding a single jackson converter. Another approach is to add the default converters but in different order so that the jackson converter is prior to the string one. This should allow controller action methods to dictate how they want String to be converted depending on the media type of the response.

I know that this question is old but i would like to contribute too:
The main difference between others responses is the hashmap return.
#GetMapping("...")
#ResponseBody
public Map<String, Object> endPointExample(...) {
Map<String, Object> rtn = new LinkedHashMap<>();
rtn.put("pic", image);
rtn.put("potato", "King Potato");
return rtn;
}
This will return:
{"pic":"a17fefab83517fb...beb8ac5a2ae8f0449","potato":"King Potato"}

Make simple:
#GetMapping("/health")
public ResponseEntity<String> healthCheck() {
LOG.info("REST request health check");
return new ResponseEntity<>("{\"status\" : \"UP\"}", HttpStatus.OK);
}

Add produces = "application/json" in #RequestMapping annotation like:
#RequestMapping(value = "api/login", method = RequestMethod.GET, produces = "application/json")
Hint: As a return value, i recommend to use ResponseEntity<List<T>> type. Because the produced data in JSON body need to be an array or an object according to its specifications, rather than a single simple string. It may causes problems sometimes (e.g. Observables in Angular2).
Difference:
returned String as json: "example"
returned List<String> as json: ["example"]

Add #ResponseBody annotation, which will write return data in output stream.

This issue has driven me mad: Spring is such a potent tool and yet, such a simple thing as writing an output String as JSON seems impossible without ugly hacks.
My solution (in Kotlin) that I find the least intrusive and most transparent is to use a controller advice and check whether the request went to a particular set of endpoints (REST API typically since we most often want to return ALL answers from here as JSON and not make specializations in the frontend based on whether the returned data is a plain string ("Don't do JSON deserialization!") or something else ("Do JSON deserialization!")). The positive aspect of this is that the controller remains the same and without hacks.
The supports method makes sure that all requests that were handled by the StringHttpMessageConverter(e.g. the converter that handles the output of all controllers that return plain strings) are processed and in the beforeBodyWrite method, we control in which cases we want to interrupt and convert the output to JSON (and modify headers accordingly).
#ControllerAdvice
class StringToJsonAdvice(val ob: ObjectMapper) : ResponseBodyAdvice<Any?> {
override fun supports(returnType: MethodParameter, converterType: Class<out HttpMessageConverter<*>>): Boolean =
converterType === StringHttpMessageConverter::class.java
override fun beforeBodyWrite(
body: Any?,
returnType: MethodParameter,
selectedContentType: MediaType,
selectedConverterType: Class<out HttpMessageConverter<*>>,
request: ServerHttpRequest,
response: ServerHttpResponse
): Any? {
return if (request.uri.path.contains("api")) {
response.getHeaders().contentType = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON
ob.writeValueAsString(body)
} else body
}
}
I hope in the future that we will get a simple annotation in which we can override which HttpMessageConverter should be used for the output.

Simple and Straightforward send any object or return simple List
#GetMapping("/response2")
#ResponseStatus(HttpStatus.CONFLICT)
#ResponseBody List<String> Response2() {
List<String> response = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList("Response2"));
return response;
}
I have added HttpStatus.CONFLICT as Random response to show how to pass RequestBody also the HttpStatus

Annotate your method with the #ResponseBody annotation to tell spring you are not trying to render a view and simple return the string plain

Could Spring MVC call #ModelAttribute after #RequestMapping?

I have a controller like this:
#Controller
public class HomeController {
#RequestMapping(value = "/update", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public String update(#RequestParam("user") User user, ModelMap model){
SaveUserToDatabase(user);
return "index";
}
#ModelAttribute("user")
String getUser() {
return LoadCurrentUserFromDataBase();
}
}
In short, my views would render user in almost every actions in HomeController,
but I don't want to code:
model.addAttribute("user", LoadCurrentUserFromDataBase())
in every actions, instead I'm seeking a way like #ModelAttribute to expose user to all my views.
However, according to the docs, #ModelAttribute methods in a controller are invoked before #RequestMapping methods, within the same controller.
As to my code, getUser is called before update, but i'd like to get the updated user.
Is there a way to expose the user attribute after actions without explicitly call model.addAttribute in every actions?

Each time you do a POST, make a redirection. That way, your POST method will only be responsible for updating the data, and the updated data will be loaded by the target controller.
So in this case, the update() method would redirect to another controller which would call the getUser() method before its GET method.

The Post / redirect / GET solution is valid if it works for you.
However, I had a similar situation where I had model attributes that needed to be written by all my controllers, after request processing (tracking information mostly). What I did was to register a custom interface (e.g. AdditionalModelDataSupplier), which I apply to all controllers that need to provide additional data. The interface would have a method like this:
void provideAdditionalData(Model model, HttpServletRequest request);
Now, I wrote an interceptor that in the postHandle method checks the Controller bean for this interface and calls this method:
#Override
public void postHandle(final HttpServletRequest request, final HttpServletResponse response, final Object handler,
final ModelAndView modelAndView) throws Exception {
AdditionalModelDataSupplier modelDataSupplier = findAdditionalModelDataSupplier(handler);
if (modelDataSupplier != null) {
final ModelMap modelMap = modelAndView.getModelMap();
final Model targetModel;
if (modelMap instanceof Model) {
targetModel = (Model) modelMap;
} else {
// the modelmap doesn't implement model, so we need to provide a wrapper view
targetModel = new ForwardingModel(modelMap);
}
modelDataSupplier.provideAdditionalData(targetModel, request);
}
}
#Nullable
private static AdditionalModelDataSupplier findAdditionalModelDataSupplier(final Object handler) {
if (handler instanceof AdditionalModelDataSupplier) {
return (AdditionalModelDataSupplier) handler;
}
if (handler instanceof HandlerMethod) {
HandlerMethod handlerMethod = (HandlerMethod) handler;
Object bean = handlerMethod.getBean();
if (bean instanceof AdditionalModelDataSupplier) {
return (AdditionalModelDataSupplier) bean;
}
}
return null;
}
(the ForwardingModel class mentioned above is trivial to create, it just delegates everything to the ModelMap)