Only first request mapping resolves Java Spring Boot (circular view path) - spring

Question

I'm trying to map several request paths in my Spring Boot application. It's a RESTful web service but I wanted to have two views (main and help) for user interface. I've tried tweaking the names of the return string (ie. from "help.html to "help"), as well as cleaning my project and rebuilding, but I cannot figure why one view resolves and the other view does not and returns a circular path. I've also tried creating a separate HelpController and mapping it there. I don't see anything different I am doing between the two.
Here is my MainController.java:
#Controller
public class MainController {
#RequestMapping(value = "/help", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public String help(){
System.out.println("GET called on help page");
return "help.html";
}
#RequestMapping(value = "/main", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public String landing(){
System.out.println("GET called on index page");
return "landing.html";
}
}
My App.java:
#SpringBootApplication
#EnableAutoConfiguration(exclude = {DataSourceAutoConfiguration.class, HibernateJpaAutoConfiguration.class})
public class App {
// private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(App.class.toString());
public static void main(String[] args){
SpringApplication.run(App.class, args);
}
}
I put my two html templates in the resources/static directory:
But only one of these two paths resolve correctly. main.html looks great:
But help.html has a circular reference I cannot resolve or understand:
Here is my pom.xml (certain tags omitted for privacy):
<build>
<sourceDirectory>src</sourceDirectory>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.5.1</version>
<configuration>
<source>1.8</source>
<target>1.8</target>
</configuration>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.5.2.RELEASE</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<goals>
<goal>repackage</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.0.0</version>
<configuration>
<warSourceDirectory>WebContent</warSourceDirectory>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
<repositories>
<repository>
<id>dynamodb-local-oregon</id>
<name>DynamoDB Local Release Repository</name>
<url>https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/dynamodb-local/release</url>
</repository>
</repositories>
<parent>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
<version>1.5.2.RELEASE</version>
</parent>
<dependencies>
<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.springframework.boot/spring-boot-starter-web -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
<version>1.5.2.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.github.derjust/spring-data-dynamodb -->
<dependency>
<groupId>com.github.derjust</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-data-dynamodb</artifactId>
<version>4.5.0</version>
</dependency>
<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.amazonaws/aws-java-sdk-dynamodb -->
<dependency>
<groupId>com.amazonaws</groupId>
<artifactId>aws-java-sdk-dynamodb</artifactId>
<version>1.11.125</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.data</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-data-releasetrain</artifactId>
<version>Gosling-SR1</version>
<type>pom</type>
<scope>import</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.amazonaws</groupId>
<artifactId>aws-java-sdk-bom</artifactId>
<version>${aws-java-sdk.version}</version>
<type>pom</type>
<scope>import</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-tomcat</artifactId>
<version>1.5.2.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
<version>4.3.7.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
<version>4.3.7.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
<version>4.3.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-data-jpa</artifactId>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
<artifactId>hibernate-entitymanager</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
<version>4.3.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
<version>3.0.1</version>
<scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>jstl</groupId>
<artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
<version>1.2</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-beans</artifactId>
<version>4.3.7.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
<version>4.3.4.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
<version>4.3.3.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
<artifactId>jackson-databind</artifactId>
<version>${jackson.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
<version>3.0.1</version>
<scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>com.amazonaws</groupId>
<artifactId>DynamoDBLocal</artifactId>
<version>${aws.dynamodblocal.version}</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
</project>

Answer 1

the simplest way to solve your issue is to change the mapping from /help to something else, or rename the static file help.html.
The reason for the circular dependency is because the view name help.html will again get mapped to your controller. Spring MVC uses a suffix to determine a mimetype of the response by default, this means that a method mapped to /help, will intercept the /help.html request as well