spring rest webservice return boolean value

Question

I have a simple webservice that check if username is present and returns a boolean

@RequestMapping(method=RequestMethod.GET, value="/isUsernameTaken/{username}", headers={"Accept=application/xml"})
public @ResponseBody Boolean isUsernameTaken(@PathVariable String username) throws FinderException {
    boolean isUsernameTaken = userManager.isUsernameTaken(username);
    return isUsernameTaken;
}

using a debugger, my isUsername does get set to true or false depending on input

my client looks as follows

public static void main(String[] args) {
    ApplicationContext ctx = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("classpath:spring/ws/rest-servlet.xml");
    RestTemplate restTemplate = ctx.getBean("restTemplate", RestTemplate.class);

    String plainCreds = "rest:123456";
    byte[] plainCredsBytes = plainCreds.getBytes();
    byte[] base64CredsBytes = Base64.encodeBase64(plainCredsBytes);
    String base64Creds = new String(base64CredsBytes);

    HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
    headers.add("Authorization", "Basic " + base64Creds);
    headers.setAccept(Arrays.asList(MediaType.APPLICATION_XML));

    HttpEntity<String> request = new HttpEntity<>(headers);
    ResponseEntity<Boolean> response = restTemplate.exchange("http://localhost:8031/WebService/service/isUsernameTaken/admin", HttpMethod.GET, request, Boolean.class);
    Boolean msg = response.getBody();


    System.out.print(msg);
}

I get a 406 Not Acceptable exception

my spring configuration looks as follows

    <context:component-scan base-package="com.merc.ws.service" />

<import resource="../business-config.xml" />

<mvc:annotation-driven />

<!-- To enable @RequestMapping process on type level and method level -->
<!-- Convert Input -->
<bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.annotation.DefaultAnnotationHandlerMapping" />
<bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.annotation.AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter" >
    <property name="messageConverters">
        <list>
            <ref bean="marshallingConverter" />
        </list>
    </property>
</bean>

<bean id="marshallingConverter" class="org.springframework.http.converter.xml.MarshallingHttpMessageConverter">
    <property name="marshaller" ref="jaxbMarshaller" />       
    <property name="unmarshaller" ref="jaxbMarshaller" />
</bean>

<bean id="jaxbMarshaller" class="org.springframework.oxm.jaxb.Jaxb2Marshaller">
    <property name="classesToBeBound">
        <list>
            <value>com.merc.domain.User</value>
        </list>
    </property>
</bean>

<bean id="restTemplate" class="org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate">   
    <property name="messageConverters">   
        <list>     
            <ref bean="marshallingConverter"/>   
        </list>   
    </property> 
</bean>

Raedwald · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-22 18:32:38Z

2

According to the HTTP standard, status 406 (Not Acceptable) means

The resource identified by the request is only capable of generating response entities which have content characteristics not acceptable according to the accept headers sent in the request.

Your controller method says

 @RequestMapping(method=RequestMethod.GET, value="/isUsernameTaken/{username}", headers={"Accept=application/xml"})

So your controller will serve only requests that request Accept=application/xml. Requests for all other representations of the resource will result in in 406 response status.

I conclude that your client request (GET) is not asking for application/xml.

Your client asks for a ResponseEntity<Boolean> from the RestTemplate. So the Accept header sent to the server will list the media types of all the message-converters of the client that can convert a Boolean. Your only message converter is jaxbMarshaller. I'm not familiar with that converter, but I guess you have not correctly configured its Spring-bean so it will convert from a Boolean.

edited Jan 22, 2014 at 18:32

answered Jan 22, 2014 at 12:57

Raedwald

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3 Comments

user373201 Over a year ago

any ideas on how to fix it

Raedwald Over a year ago

Your fault is in your client, or how you are using your client.

user373201 Over a year ago

I have provided the client code, if not too much trouble can you tell me what mistake am i making

Marcel Stör · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-23 06:31:37Z

0

Your client needs to send application/xml accept headers:

...
HttpHeaders headers = new HttpHeaders();
headers.add("Authorization", "Basic " + base64Creds);
headers.setAccept(Arrays.asList(MediaType.APPLICATION_XML));
// done manually that'd be 
// headers.add("Accept", "application/xml");
...

edited Jan 23, 2014 at 6:31

answered Jan 22, 2014 at 21:42

Marcel Stör

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1 Comment

user373201 Over a year ago

I have updated the client to include setAccept but still get the exact same result. Please help

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