Allow @Controller methods to produce a response with no body and custom headers by returning an HttpHeaders instance [SPR-11129] #15755
Description
Andy Wilkinson opened SPR-11129 and commented
Currently, a RESTful create method may be implemented something like this:
@RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.POST, value = "")
ResponseEntity<Void> create() {
…
HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
headers.setLocation(…);
return new ResponseEntity<>(headers, HttpStatus.CREATED);
}
I'd like to be able to implement it without having to use ResponseEntity:
@RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.POST, value = "")
@ResponseStatus(HttpStatus.CREATED)
HttpHeaders create() {
…
HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
headers.setLocation(…);
return headers;
}
It tried this and was a little surprised to learn that it rendered the headers as the body of a x-www-form-urlencoded response:
MockHttpServletResponse:
Status = 201
Error message = null
Headers = {Content-Type=[application/x-www-form-urlencoded], Content-Length=[43]}
Content type = application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Body = Location=http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%2Fgames%2F1
Forwarded URL = null
Redirected URL = null
Cookies = []
It's often the case that a create method will be the only place where ResponseEntity is needed (see Ben Hale's RESTful API design example for example) so it would be nice for that need to be removed. Secondly, it allows the response status to be declarative making it possible to auto-generate accurate API documentation.
A workaround that enables API documentation generation is to continue using ResponseEntity but to duplicate the response status:
@RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.POST, value = "")
@ResponseStatus(HttpStatus.CREATED)
ResponseEntity<Void> create() {
…
HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
headers.setLocation(…);
return new ResponseEntity<>(headers, HttpStatus.CREATED);
}
Affects: 3.2.5
1 votes, 5 watchers