H HTTP Status Code in Springboot API Endpoint.

In order to specify HTTP Status Code in Spring API Endpoint’s response, there seem to exist multiple options and workarounds.

Listed 2 workarounds are the ones that I found to be straightforward to implement.

• Return ResponseEntity
• Throw ResponseStatusException

Return ResponseEntity.

The ResponseEntity from org.springframework.http was an amazing find. With ResponseEntity, we can add or modify multiple metadata of the response we wish to send.

Example

import org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity;

@DeleteMapping
public ResponseEntity<?> deleteBlock(@RequestBody Block block) {
    Boolean blockDeleted = blockService.deleteBlock(block);

    Map<String, Object> response = new HashMap<>();
    response.put("error", !blockDeleted);
    response.put("message", blockDeleted ? 
        "Successfully deleted the block -> {}".formatted(block) : 
        "Failed to delete the block.");

    return ResponseEntity.status(blockDeleted ? 
        HttpStatus.OK : 
        HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND)
        .body(response);
}

Throw ResponseStatusException.

The ResponseStatusException from org.springframework.web.server is another simple alternative depending on the use-case but for me, simply to modify the HTTP Status Code, I found ResponseStatusException to be equally simple.

Example

import org.springframework.web.server.ResponseStatusException;

@PostMapping
public Map<String, Object> registerBlock(@RequestBody Block block) {
    Boolean blockRegistered = blockService.addblock(block);

    Map<String, Object> response = new HashMap<>();
    response.put("error", !blockRegistered);
    response.put("message", blockRegistered ? 
        "Successfully saved the block information." : 
        "Failed to save the new block in the database.");

    if (!blockRegistered) {
        throw new ResponseStatusException(
            HttpStatus.CONFLICT, 
            "Block with the email {} already exists.".formatted(
                block.getEmail()));
    }

    return response;
}