@ExceptionHandler should be able to return ResponseEntity [SPR-8839]

[spring-projects-issues]

Dave Syer opened SPR-8839 and commented

@ExceptionHandler should be able to return ResponseEntity, for consistency with @RequestMapping, and to enable custom (dynamic) status codes to be added to the response (@ResponseStatus has to be hardcoded). It's pretty easy to do this - you just add a handler for ResponseEntity to the AnnotationMethodExceptionHandlerResolver.

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Affects: 3.0.6

[spring-projects-issues]

Rossen Stoyanchev commented

This is supported in Spring 3.1 already with the new @MVC support classes, specifically the ExceptionHandlerExceptionResolver, which replaces the AnnotationMethodHandlerExceptionResolver.

[spring-projects-issues]

Dave Syer commented

I see. That should work, but only if I use mvc:annotation-driven/ right? It seems like both ExceptionHandlerExceptionResolver and AnnotationMethodExceptionHandlerResolver exist and their functions are very similar. The former is still a default strategy for the DispatcherServlet whereas the latter is only activated by the namespace. Could we make it less confusing by making the new ExceptionHandlerExceptionResolver a default strategy as well and maybe deprecate the AnnotationMethodExceptionHandlerResolver?

[spring-projects-issues]

Rossen Stoyanchev commented

Yes ExceptionHandlerExceptionResolver is the default for mvc:annotation-driven and for @EnableWebMvc. It replaces the AnnotationMethodExceptionHandlerResolver and is the preferred choice. However use of the new @MVC support classes at this point is still optional. There is a strong incentive to do that since new functionality is only available that way but we're not changing the defaults just yet.

[spring-projects-issues]

Rossen Stoyanchev commented

Marking this "Complete" since we actually did add support for ResponseEntity with the addition of ExceptionHandlerExceptionResolver.