Can @PathVariable return null if it's not found?

Question

Is it possible to make the @PathVariable to return null if the path variable is not in the url? Otherwise I need to make two handlers. One for /simple

Answer 1

I just tested this just now, but by combining the above solution i got this:

@RequestMapping(value = {"/simple", "/simple/{game}"}, method = RequestMethod.GET)
public ModelAndView gameHandler(@PathVariable(value = "game", required = false) String example,
                                HttpServletRequest request) {
    if (example != null) {
        //...
    } else {
        //pick first, ...
    }
}

Now when you use "/simple", String example will be null instead of throwing Exception.

Short solution, no fancy Optional<> or Map<>