Spring Boot - How can I pass custom values in HTTP Post api? - spring

Question

I'm new with Spring Boot and I have difficult to understand how can I pass data. For example:
I want pass those data to my server:
{
"code", 1,
"name": "C01"
}
So I have create always a custom Object with code and name as attributes to have this http post api?
#RequestMapping(value = "/new/", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public ResponseEntity<?> createOrder(#RequestBody CustomObject customObject){
...
}
Another solution I see that can be this but I can't pass numbers (int code), right?
#RequestMapping(value = "/new/{code}/{name}", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public ResponseEntity<?> createOrder(#PathVariable("code") int code, #PathVariable("name") String name) {
...
}
Kind regards :)

Answer 1

You can pass code and name as PathVariables just like in your example:
#RequestMapping(value = "/new/{code}/{name}")
public ResponseEntity<?> createOrder(#PathVariable("code") int code, #PathVariable("name") String name) {
...
}
A PathVariable can be an int or a String or a long or a Date, according to the docs:
A #PathVariable argument can be of any simple type such as int, long, Date, etc. Spring automatically converts to the appropriate type or throws a TypeMismatchException if it fails to do so.
You could also define a PathVariable of type Map<String, Object> like this:
#RequestMapping(value = "/new/{code}/{name}")
public ResponseEntity<?> createOrder(#PathVariable("map") Map<String, Object> map) {
Integer code = (Integer) map.get("code");
String name = (String) map.get("name");
...
}
You could even use #RequestParam and supply the data in the form of URL query parameters.
So, there are numerous ways in which data can be passed to a Spring MVC controller (more details in the docs) but I think the convention for posting complex data (by "complex" I mean more than a single piece of state) is to define a request body which contains a serialised form of that complex state i.e. what you showed in the first example in your queston:
#RequestMapping(value = "/new/", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public ResponseEntity<?> createOrder(#RequestBody CustomObject customObject){
...
}

Answer 2

If this question is about RESTful best practice, since you are developing webservice for creating an Order object, this is how I would design it
Order.java
public class Order {
private Integer code;
private String name;
public Integer getCode() {
return code;
}
public void setCode(final Integer code) {
this.code = code;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(final String name) {
this.name = name;
}
}
Controller
#RequestMapping(value = "/orders", method = RequestMethod.POST)
#ResponseStatus(HttpStatus.CREATED)
public ResponseEntity<Order> createOrder(#Valid #RequestBody Order order){
...
}
Technically, you can do many things to achieve the same thing, but that will not be a RESTful service, it will be an RPC at best.