What is the best way to return different types of ResponseEntity in Spring MVC or Spring-Boot

Question

I have written simple rest application using Spring MVC 4 (or Spring-Boot). Within the controller I have return ResponseEntity. But in some cases I want to give

Answer 1

You can use a map with your object or string like bellow :

@RequestMapping(value = "/path", 
        method = RequestMethod.GET, 
        produces = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
    @ResponseBody
    public ResponseEntity<Map<String,String>> getData(){

    Map<String,String> response = new HashMap<String, String>();

    boolean isValid = // some logic
    if (isValid){
        response.put("ok", "success saving data");
        return ResponseEntity.accepted().body(response);
    }
    else{
        response.put("error", "an error expected on processing file");
        return ResponseEntity.badRequest().body(response);
    }

}

Answer 2

Note: if you upgrade from spring boot 1 to spring boot 2 there is a ResponseStatusException which has a Http error code and a description.

So, you can effectively use generics they way it is intended.

The only case which is a bit challenging for me, is the response type for a status 204 (ok with no body). I tend to mark those methods as ResponseEntity<?>, because ResponseEntity<Void> is less predictive.

Answer 3

Spring 2 introduced ResponseStatusException using this you can return String, different HTTP status code, DTO at the same time.

@PostMapping("/save")
public ResponseEntity<UserDto> saveUser(@RequestBody UserDto userDto) {
    if(userDto.getId() != null) {
        throw new ResponseStatusException(HttpStatus.NOT_ACCEPTABLE,"A new user cannot already have an ID");
    }
    return ResponseEntity.ok(userService.saveUser(userDto));
}

Answer 4

You can return generic wildcard <?> to return Success and Error on a same request mapping method

public ResponseEntity<?> method() {
    boolean b = // some logic
    if (b)
        return new ResponseEntity<Success>(HttpStatus.OK);
    else
        return new ResponseEntity<Error>(HttpStatus.CONFLICT); //appropriate error code
}

@Mark Norman answer is the correct approach

Answer 5

I used to use a class like this. The statusCode is set when there is an error with the error message set in message. Data is stored either in the Map or in a List as and when appropriate.

/**
* 
*/
package com.test.presentation.response;

import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.Map;

/**
 * A simple POJO to send JSON response to ajax requests. This POJO enables  us to
 * send messages and error codes with the actual objects in the application.
 * 
 * 
 */
@SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
public class GenericResponse {

/**
 * An array that contains the actual objects
 */
private Collection rows;

/**
 * An Map that contains the actual objects
 */
private Map mapData;

/**
 * A String containing error code. Set to 1 if there is an error
 */
private int statusCode = 0;

/**
 * A String containing error message.
 */
private String message;

/**
 * An array that contains the actual objects
 * 
 * @return the rows
 */
public Collection getRows() {
    return rows;
}

/**
 * An array that contains the actual objects
 * 
 * @param rows
 *            the rows to set
 */
public void setRows(Collection rows) {
    this.rows = rows;
}

/**
 * An Map that contains the actual objects
 * 
 * @return the mapData
 */
public Map getMapData() {
    return mapData;
}

/**
 * An Map that contains the actual objects
 * 
 * @param mapData
 *            the mapData to set
 */
public void setMapData(Map mapData) {
    this.mapData = mapData;
}

/**
 * A String containing error code.
 * 
 * @return the errorCode
 */
public int getStatusCode() {
    return statusCode;
}

/**
 * A String containing error code.
 * 
 * @param errorCode
 *            the errorCode to set
 */
public void setStatusCode(int errorCode) {
    this.statusCode = errorCode;
}

/**
 * A String containing error message.
 * 
 * @return the errorMessage
 */
public String getMessage() {
    return message;
}

/**
 * A String containing error message.
 * 
 * @param errorMessage
 *            the errorMessage to set
 */
public void setMessage(String errorMessage) {
    this.message = errorMessage;
}

}

Hope this helps.

Answer 6

Using custom exception class you can return different HTTP status code and dto object.

@PostMapping("/save")
public ResponseEntity<UserDto> saveUser(@RequestBody UserDto userDto) {
    if(userDto.getId() != null) {
        throw new UserNotFoundException("A new user cannot already have an ID");
    }
    return ResponseEntity.ok(userService.saveUser(userDto));
}

Exception class

import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ResponseStatus;

@ResponseStatus(value = HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND, reason = "user not found")
public class UserNotFoundException extends RuntimeException {

    public UserNotFoundException(String message) {

        super(message);
    }
}