Spring Boot Data REST, HATEOAS not working with a custom Controller

Question

I use MongoRepository in Spring boot data rest and it is working just fine without implementing my own controller. But I want to put "Register Date" in my newly created objects and default implementation is not supporting that. I need to implement my own custom controller to put extra fields in every new objects. The problem is that HATEOAS stop working when I implement my own controller.

Repository class:

@RepositoryRestResource(collectionResourceRel = "users", path = "users")
public interface UserRepository extends MongoRepository<User, String> {
}

Controller class:

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/users")
public class UserController {

    @Autowired
    UserRepository repository;

    @RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.GET)
    public ResponseEntity<List<User>> getAll() {
        List<User> list = repository.findAll();
        return new ResponseEntity<>(list, HttpStatus.OK);
    }

Payload with this custom controller looks like this:

[
    {
        "id": "571de80ebdabf25dd6cdfb73",
        "username": "mark",
        "password": "mark123",
        "email": "mark@gmail.com",
        "createdAt": "2016-04-25 11:49"
    },
    {
      ...

Payload without my custom controller looks like this:

{
    "_embedded": {
        "users": [
            {
                "username": "mark",
                "password": "mark123",
                "email": "mark@gmail.com",
                "createdAt": "2016-04-25 11:49",
                "_links": {
                    "self": {
                        "href": "http://localhost:8080/users/571de80ebdabf25dd6cdfb73"
                    },
                    "user": {
                        "href": "http://localhost:8080/users/571de80ebdabf25dd6cdfb73"
                    }
                }
            },
            {
             .....

I tried to use @RepositoryRestController instead of @RestController but it didn't help. I wonder if there is another way to put "register date" in newly created objects without implementing own custom controller? If not, what can I do HATEOAS to work again?

you give same path controller and repository rest source ad just add spesific path in your custom controller fore example replace your getAll() method request mapping with this @RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.GET , value = "/getall") and try after — kakashi hatake, Apr 25 '16 at 12:29
@kakashihatake thanks for suggestion but it's not working. The result is same as before. — oxyt, Apr 25 '16 at 12:52
What do you mean by _"HATEOAS stop working"_? You return a simple list, not a HATEOAS resource anyway. — a better oliver, Apr 25 '16 at 13:02
@oxyt take a look here: http://stackoverflow.com/q/33571920/5873923 — Marc Tarin, Apr 25 '16 at 13:18
@zeroflagL `spring-boot-starter-data-rest` gives me `HATEOAS` out of box for all my endpoints if I don't use a custom controller but if I do, than I get no more HATEOAS — oxyt, Apr 25 '16 at 13:50
@zeroflagL I updated my question. You can see the payload with both cases. — oxyt, Apr 25 '16 at 13:59
@MarcTarin I checked that post but that is a bit complex for my understanding. I couldn't make that work. :) — oxyt, Apr 25 '16 at 14:01
_"gives me HATEOAS out of box for all my endpoints if I don't use a custom controller"_ Custom controllers ARE all of your endpoints. `UserRepository` is not an endpoint for the web. It's a repository for which an endpoint will be created. Spring Data REST uses Spring HATEOAS and the endpoints it creates don't return simple collections or objects. They return instances of `ResourceSupport`. — a better oliver, Apr 26 '16 at 07:42
@zeroflagL thank you for the explanation. I will have a clooser look to `ResourceSupport` again. — oxyt, Apr 26 '16 at 09:13

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered May 01 '16 at 10:21

I solved my problem thanks to comments which gave me a perspective :)

1 - Extended User class with ResourceSupport. (Note: Do not use just id for userId because ResourceSupport needs getId() method.)

public class User extends ResourceSupport {

    @Id
    private String userId;

2 - Updated my controller class as followed

import static org.springframework.hateoas.mvc.ControllerLinkBuilder.linkTo;

@RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.GET)
    public ResponseEntity<List<User>> getAll() {
        List<User> list = repository.findAll();
        for(User user : list) {
            Link self = linkTo(UserController.class).slash(user.getUserId()).withSelfRel();
            Link users = linkTo(UserController.class).slash(user.getId()).withRel("users");
            user.add(self);
            user.add(users);
        }
        return new ResponseEntity<>(list, HttpStatus.OK);
    }

Now, my payloads look like this:

[
    {
        "userId": "571e44ecbdab7b1ffc668f02",
        "username": "newton",
        "password": "gravity",
        "email": "nevton@gmail.com",
        "createdAt": "2016-04-25 18:
        "links": [
            {
                "rel": "self",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/users/571e44ecbdab7b1ffc668f02"
            },
            {
                "rel": "users",
                "href": "http://localhost:8080/users"
            }
        ]
    },
    {
      ....

Still has significant differences with the HATEOAS response from the repo ... do you have additional information about this? — Rafael, Mar 30 '17 at 11:01

Spring Boot Data REST, HATEOAS not working with a custom Controller

1 Answers1