Spring mvc - Configuring Error handling for XML and JSON Response - spring

Question

i have one REST API method :which will return Xml as response . Just for simplicity assume it throws simple Exception.
#RequestMapping(value = "machine/xmlData", method = RequestMethod.GET, produces = "application/xml")
public ResponseEntity<String> getXml(HttpServletRequest request)
throws Exception {
return getDataFromService();
}
Now i am handling the Exception in REST Controller like this.
This is generic Exception Handle method, for other API methods as well.(Xml or JSON Response)
#ExceptionHandler(Exception.class)
#ResponseStatus(value = HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)
public ResponseEntity HandleException(Exception ex, HttpServletRequest request) {
ex.printStackTrace();
// here logic to generate Custom error Object
return new ResponseEntity<Object>(customErrorObject, HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
}
Case 1: Accept :"application/xml" and valid Response from Service
Everything works fine.
Case 2: Accept :"application/xml" and Exception from Service
then i get 406 Not Representable
As per my understanding it is
because ResponseEntity from HandleException is JSON and accept header
is "application/xml" thats why i am getting 406.
Is there anyway that i can send the error Response from HandleException method as xml and json ?
I know on REST API methods we can define something like this produces={"application/json","application/xml"} i am struggling to put this on HandleException Method.
Any tip would be of great help.
Thanks.

Answer 1

You could take advantage of the spring-mvc HttpMessageConverters by using the #ResponseBody annotation( https://spring.io/blog/2013/05/11/content-negotiation-using-spring-mvc). This annotation is responsible for choosing the correct messageConverter for a given response type.
For your response to be xml or json compatible you need to do the following:
#XmlRootElement
#XmlAccessorType(XmlAccessType.FIELD)
public class WrappedExceptionResponse {
public String respone;
public String getRespone() {
return respone;
}
public void setRespone(String respone) {
this.respone = respone;
}
}
And change your exception handler method to
#ExceptionHandler(Exception.class)
#ResponseStatus(value = HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)
public #ResponseBody WrappedExceptionResponse HandleException(Exception ex, HttpServletRequest request) {
// ex.printStackTrace();
// here logic to generate Custom error Object
WrappedExceptionResponse resp=new WrappedExceptionResponse();
resp.setRespone(ex.getMessage());
return resp;
And then your exception response would be dependent on the content-type you give.