How can I conveniently conditionally set the HTTP status code in an Spring MVC request handler?
I have a request handler that responds to POST requests, for creation of a new resource. If the request is valid I want it to redirect to the URI of the new resource, returning a 201 (Created) HTTP status code. If the request is invalid I want it to give the user a chance to correct the error in the submitted form, and should not give a status code of 201.
 @RequestMapping(value = { "/myURI/" }, method = RequestMethod.POST)
 public String processNewThingForm(
    @ModelAttribute(value = "name") final String name,
    final BindingResult bindingResult) {
  myValidator.validate(name, bindingResult);
  if (!bindingResult.hasErrors()) {
     getService().createThing(name);
     return "redirect:" + name;
  } else {
     return "newThingView";
  }
}
But that does not give the correct response status for the redirection case.
I can't simply add a @ResponseStatus, because there are two possible statuses. I'm hoping there is a neater way than manually manipulating the HttpServletResponse. And I want to indicate the view name to use, so I can not have the request handler return a ResponseEntity object with the status set appropriately.
 
     
    