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Spring ResponseEntity best practice

I am new to RESTful web services in general, and am learning the Spring implementation of web services.
I am particularly interested in learning how to properly use ResponseEntity return types for most of my use cases.
I have one endpoint:
/myapp/user/{id}
This endpoint supports a GET request, and will return a JSON formatted string of the User object whose ID is {id}. I plan to annotate the controller method as producing JSON.
In the case that a user with ID {id} exists, I set a status of 200, and set the JSON string of the user in the body.
In the event that no user exists with that ID, I was going to return some flavor of a 400 error, but I am not sure what to set in the body of the ResponseEntity. Since I annotate the endpoint method as producing JSON, should I come up with a generic POJO that represents an error, and return that as JSON?

You don´t need to use a generic Pojo, using RequestMapping you can create different responses for every Http code. In this example I show how to control errors and give a response accordingly.
This is the RestController with the service specification
#RestController
public class User {
#RequestMapping(value="/myapp/user/{id}", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public ResponseEntity<String> getId(#PathVariable int id){
if(id>10)
throw new UserNotFoundException("User not found");
return ResponseEntity.ok("" + id);
}
#ExceptionHandler({UserNotFoundException.class})
public ResponseEntity<ErrorResponse> notFound(UserNotFoundException ex){
return new ResponseEntity<ErrorResponse>(
new ErrorResponse(ex.getMessage(), 404, "The user was not found") , HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND);
}
}
Within the getId method there is a little logic, if the customerId < 10 It should response the Customer Id as part of the body message but an Exception should be thrown when the customer is bigger than 10 in this case the service should response with an ErrorResponse.
public class ErrorResponse {
private String message;
private int code;
private String moreInfo;
public ErrorResponse(String message, int code, String moreInfo) {
super();
this.message = message;
this.code = code;
this.moreInfo = moreInfo;
}
public String getMessage() {
return message;
}
public int getCode() {
return code;
}
public String getMoreInfo() {
return moreInfo;
}
}
And finally I'm using an specific Exception for a "Not Found" error
public class UserNotFoundException extends RuntimeException {
public UserNotFoundException(String message) {
super(message);
}
}

In the event that no user exists with that ID, I was going to return
some flavor of a 400 error, but I am not sure what to set in the body
of the ResponseEntity. Since I annotate the endpoint method as
producing JSON, should I come up with a generic POJO that represents
an error, and return that as JSON?
This is definitely a possible solution, if you want to add e.g. a more specific reason why the request failed or if you want to add a specific I18N message or just want to generify your API to provide some abstract structure.
I myself prefer the solution #Herr Derb suggested, if there is nothing to return, don't return anything. The returned data may be completely unnecessary/unused and the receiver may just discard it if the return code is anything else than 2XX.
This may be related:
http://www.bbenson.co/post/spring-validations-with-examples/
The author describes how to validate incoming models and builds a generic error response. Maybe this is something you want to do...

Custom response on bad request using spring RestController

I have the following controller. I am using Spring to create Restful APIs.
#RestController
public class UserController extends RestControlValidator {
#RequestMapping(value = "/user/", method = RequestMethod.POST, headers = "Accept=application/json", consumes = "application/json", produces = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
public #ResponseBody List newUser(#RequestBody #Valid UserInput input,BindingResult result)
{Some code}
}
The UserInput class looks like this:
public class UserInput{
#NotEmpty
private String emailId;
#NotEmpty
private String fName;
private String lName;
private int sex;
//getters and setters
Now when I try and access /user/ with data {"sex":"Male"}, I get the following response:
I want the response in case of such a request to be:
{"errors":{"sex":"The value must be an integer"}}
Is there any way of customising BAD REQUEST responses in Spring?

Considering the current scenario the most ideal solution would be to alter the behavior of HandlerMethodArgumentResolve as the json to pojo constructed by #RequestBody fails because we dont get a chance to check the wrong data and this check can very well be done in the custom message converter
A. first we would need to create LanguageMessageConverter as follows
public class LanguageMessageConverter extends
AbstractHttpMessageConverter<Language> {
private Gson gson = new Gson();
public LanguageMessageConverter() {
super(new MediaType("application", "json", Charset.forName("UTF-8")));
}
#Override
protected boolean supports(Class<?> clazz) {
return Language.class.equals(clazz);
}
Map<String, String> mp = new HashMap<>();
#Override
protected Language readInternal(Class<? extends Language> clazz,
HttpInputMessage httpInputMessage) throws IOException,
HttpMessageNotReadableException {
Map langmp = gson.fromJson(
convertStreamToString(httpInputMessage.getBody()), Map.class);
for (Field field : clazz.getDeclaredFields()) {
if (!langmp.get(field.getName()).getClass().getCanonicalName().equals(field.getType().getCanonicalName())) {
if (field.getType().getCanonicalName().equals("java.lang.Integer")||field.getType().getCanonicalName().toString().equals("int")) {
langmp.put(field.getName(), "0");
} else if (field.getType().equals("java.lang.String")) {
//TODO COde needs to be improved here because this check is not efficient
langmp.put(field.getName(), "wrong");
}
}
}
Language lang = gson.fromJson(gson.toJson(langmp), clazz);
return lang;
}
we need to set the media type new MediaType("application", "json", Charset.forName("UTF-8")) which will make sure this class intervenes the mentioned MIME type
Considering we need to manipulate the result I found it best to convert it to map langmp (There are better JSON Parsers which can be used)
Since we need to to understand the existing type I used reflection api to get the fields via getDeclaredFields()
Using the above made the logical check using the datatype to understand if the type is incorrect for eg if the field datatype is int and if it is found as String then corresponding map value will be substituted
once that is done the map will hold the updated values where in if the data was wrong a default value would be set eg if the int var is set to 0 since the originating json had a String in it.
Once that is done the updated map is converted to the concerned class.
B. Secondly we need to register the custom MessageConverter in the dispatcher xml i.e. LanguageMessageConverter
<mvc:annotation-driven >
<mvc:message-converters register-defaults="true">
<bean class="com.comp.org.controller.LanguageMessageConverter" />
</mvc:message-converters>
</mvc:annotation-driven>
register-defaults="true" is very important since we are adding Custom MessageConverter but we also need the other existing converters working along with the one we have added
LanguageMessageConverter needs to be registered here.
C. Considering the concerned pojo is populated with the necessary details it would reach our controller post processing in the custom converter now we would add the manual validation eg. if the int variable has 0 the necessary error json should be returned
As per your request even if the json consists of the wrong data the custom message converter should process it and accordingly in the controller we can validate the condition mentioned.
The code definitely can be improved further. Kindly let me know if this solution fulfilled your requirement or any part of the code requires further elaboration and hopefully addressed your concern.

I had the same issue, than I solved that way:
Create an Object called Error, like that (don't forget to implement Serializable...):
private String fieldName;
private String errorCode;
private String defaultMessage;
public Error() {
}
public Error(String fieldName, String errorCode, String defaultMessage) {
this.fieldName = fieldName;
this.errorCode = errorCode;
this.defaultMessage = defaultMessage;
}
/* getters, setters */
Inside the #RestController method you ave to call inputValidator.validate() method (if you didn't create an Object Validator for your UserInput then we're really don't speaking the same language...)
// validating the userInput
userInputValidator.validate(userInput, bindingResult);
if (bindingResult.hasErrors()) {
List<Error> errors = new ArrayList<>(bindingResult.getErrorCount());
for (FieldError fieldWithError : bindingResult.getFieldErrors()) {
errors.add(new Error(fieldWithError.getField(), fieldWithError.getCode(), fieldWithError.getDefaultMessage()));
}
return errors;
}
// in case of success:
return null;
Finally you'll have to translate the JSON object to your client side. You'll have two kind of objects:
3.1. null (undefined depending on the language you're using)
3.2. A JSON object like that:
[
{
"fieldName": "name",
"errorCode": "user.input.name.in.blank",
"defaultMessage": "Insert a valid name!"
},
{
"fieldName": "firstPhone",
"errorCode": "user.input.first.phone.blank",
"defaultMessage": "Insert a valid first phone!"
}
]

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

Spring Rest RequestMethod.GET returns 400 Bad Request for #RequestParam required=true when missing

I am new to Spring and Rest Endpoints.
I have a controller, which accepts #RequestParam and returns a JSON Response.
By default the #RequestParam required = "true", which is how I need it.
I am using Spring 3.1.3
This is my Get Method in the controller:
#Controller
#RequestMapping("/path")
public class MyController{
#RequestMapping(value = "/search/again.do", method = RequestMethod.GET, produces = {
"application/json"
})
public ResponseEntity<?> find(#RequestParam(value = "test", required = true) final String test) {
return new ResponseEntity<String>("Success ", HttpStatus.OK);
}
}
When I send a get with the request param it hits the endpoint , which is how I expect.
Example : path/search/again.do?test=yes
Everything is perfect.
This is where I am having issue:
When I send a Get with that value missing:
Example: path/search/again.do
I get a 400 Bad Request. May be this is correct.
But what I want to achieve is. When the required value is missing in the GET request.
I can send a JSON response as that #RequestParam Value test is missing.
Can anybody guide me how to achieve this.
I am not sure what I am missing.
Thanks in advance.

If you look closely at your code, you'll see that the answer is staring right at you. Just change required to false and you should be good to go. When the user doesn't provide a value for GET parameter test, then you can return a special message.
#Controller
#RequestMapping("/path")
public class MyController {
#RequestMapping(value = "/search/again.do", method = RequestMethod.GET, produces = {
"application/json"
})
public ResponseEntity<?> find(#RequestParam(value = "test", required = false) final String test) {
if (test == null) {
return new ResponseEntity<String>("test parameter is missing", HttpStatus.OK);
}
else {
return new ResponseEntity<String>("Success ", HttpStatus.OK);
}
}
}

Solution 1: You can use custom #ExceptionHandler in your controller, e.g
#ExceptionHandler(MissingServletRequestParameterException.class)
public ResponseEntity<?> paramterValidationHandler(HttpServletResquest request){
//validate the request here and return an ResponseEntity Object
}
Solution 2: Would be custom spring ErrorController which I never have tried myself but it possible to override it.
Solution 3: You can write an ControllerAdvice for a global controller exception handling.

Well if you set the parameter test is required. U just can't send the request without that param. Try to change the param required= false and handle the missing param in the method. You can us something likeif(test==null) throw new Exception("Param test missing")

Dropwizard example giving 400 error when creating new resource

I am new to the Dropwizard framework. I am trying to work on creating a new resource similar to person and people resource mentioned in the tutorial here https://github.com/dropwizard/dropwizard/tree/master/dropwizard-example.
I am creating a document class like this -
#Entity
#Table(name = "document")
#NamedQueries({
#NamedQuery(
name = "com.example.helloworld.core.Document.findAll",
query = "SELECT d FROM Document d"
),
#NamedQuery(
name = "com.example.helloworld.core.Document.findById",
query = "SELECT d FROM Document d WHERE d.Id = :Id"
)
})
public class Document {
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
private long Id;
#Column(name = "ProcessingSetID")
private String ProcessingSetID;
#Column(name = "processed")
private String processed;
public long getId() {
return Id;
}
public void setId(long id) {
this.Id = id;
}
public String getProcessingSetID() {
return ProcessingSetID;
}
public void setProcessingSetID(String processingSetID) {
ProcessingSetID = processingSetID;
}
public String getProcessed() {
return processed;
}
public void setProcessed(String processed) {
this.processed = processed;
}
}
My document Dao is like this,
public Optional<Document> findById(Long id) {
return Optional.fromNullable(get(id));
}
public Document create(Document document) {
return persist(document);
}
public List<Document> findAll() {
return list(namedQuery("com.example.helloworld.core.Document.findAll"));
}
}
I am trying to call the POST method on my document resource,
#Path("/documents")
#Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
public class DocumentsResource {
private final DocumentDao documentDAO;
private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(DocumentsResource.class);
public DocumentsResource(DocumentDao documentDAO) {
this.documentDAO = documentDAO;
}
#POST
#UnitOfWork
public Document createDocument(Document document) {
log.info("inside POST method of document.");
System.out.println("inside POST method of document.....");
return documentDAO.create(document);
}
#GET
#UnitOfWork
public List<Document> listDocuments() {
return documentDAO.findAll();
}
}
But I am getting a 400 response back from my client request, please find below the client request
Client client = Client.create();
WebResource webResource = client.resource("http://localhost:8080/documents");
String input = "{\"processed\":\"new process\",\"ProcessingSetID\":\"new iD\"}";
ClientResponse response =
webResource.type("application/json").post(ClientResponse.class, input);
if (response.getStatus() != 200) {
throw new RuntimeException("Failed : HTTP error code : "
+ response.getStatus());
}
I tried to debug the problem, but the call is not reaching the POST method at the first place. It seems that it is not creating the document object from the JSON string, but i could not see a reason for that. Also when I do an entry directly in my database and make a GET call, perfect JSON string equivalent to object is received.

To get helpful message regarding 400 error, register this on jersey:
environment.jersey().register(new JsonProcessingExceptionMapper(true));
It will give more detailed message on 400 response, useful for debugging.

A little background: Dropwizard utilizes Jersey, and Jersey is what ultimately gives you back the 400 Bad Request response, probably along with a vague and laconic message.
In order to see exactly what did bother Jackson (which in turn bothered Jersey), I started out by sending a blank (empty) JSON object and see whether it was accepted (it did - and all the fields in the POJO where zero-initialized). Then I started to add fields, sending each such object along, until I reached the problematic field (in my case it was a boolean field which should have been a Boolean).
I think I can spot two difficulties in your POJO (the Document class):
The getters/setters should be annotated with #JsonProperty.
Try to change Id's type to Long (nullable long). If you are concerned about getting a null in that field, you can have the getter return a zero or any default value instead.

I faced the same issue. The errors are suppressed and not passed properly in the stack trace.
What I did was to add a try catch around the function. Then added a debugger point in the exception. I was able to figure out the exact reason.
You could try something like this.
#POST
#UnitOfWork
public Document createDocument(Document document) throws Exception{
....
}
Add debugger points in the Exception class. You will find out the exact reason of the parsing failure.
Hope I am clear and it helps!

Http status 400 means "bad request". Which it is, the json you are sending is not a valid Document.
This in turn means you will never reach the body of
#POST
#UnitOfWork
public Document createDocument(Document document){}
To solve it, try passing the json:
String input = "{\"id\":\"123456789\",\"processed\":\"new process\",\"ProcessingSetID\":\"new iD\"}";
Replace 123456789 with your actual id.
PS. it might be a good idea (depending on your scenario) to create a DTO for Document instead of passing the actual entity around.

If you are registering the Jersey's CsrfProtectionFilter in your Dropwizard *Application.java within the run(...) method, make sure you're adding the X-Requested-By header to all of your state changing HTTP calls (POST, PUT, etc). The server will return an HTTP 400 Bad Request if that header is not found in the request.