Request mapping by method and path in Spring Boot - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Request Mapping by Method and Path in Spring Boot

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple web service for a bookstore. The service needs to respond differently based on the HTTP method and the URL path.

🎯 Goal: Create a Spring Boot controller that maps requests by HTTP method and path. You will define a controller class, configure a base path, add methods to handle GET and POST requests at specific paths, and complete the controller with proper annotations.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a controller class named BookController

Add a base request mapping path /books to the controller

Add a method to handle GET requests at path /list

Add a method to handle POST requests at path /add

Use correct Spring annotations for request mapping by method and path

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Web services often need to respond differently based on HTTP method and URL path. This project shows how to set up those mappings in Spring Boot.

💼 Career

Understanding request mapping is essential for backend developers working with Spring Boot to build REST APIs.

1

Create the controller class

Create a public class named BookController annotated with @RestController.

Spring Boot

@RestController
public class BookController {
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use @RestController above the class to make it a REST controller.

2

Add base request mapping path

Add a class-level @RequestMapping annotation with the path /books to the BookController class.

Spring Boot

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/books")
public class BookController {
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use @RequestMapping("/books") above the class to set the base path.

3

Add GET method for listing books

Inside BookController, add a public method named listBooks that returns a String. Annotate it with @GetMapping("/list").

Spring Boot

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/books")
public class BookController {
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use @GetMapping("/list") to map GET requests to /books/list.

4

Add POST method for adding a book

Inside BookController, add a public method named addBook that returns a String. Annotate it with @PostMapping("/add").

Spring Boot

@RestController
@RequestMapping("/books")
public class BookController {
    @GetMapping("/list")
    public String listBooks() {
        return "Listing all books";
    }
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use @PostMapping("/add") to map POST requests to /books/add.