ResponseEntity for full response control in Spring Boot - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ component_behavior

intermediate

What is the HTTP status code returned by this Spring Boot controller method?

Consider this Spring Boot controller method using ResponseEntity:

public ResponseEntity greet() {
    return ResponseEntity.status(201).body("Created greeting");
}

What HTTP status code will the client receive?

Spring Boot

public ResponseEntity<String> greet() {
    return ResponseEntity.status(201).body("Created greeting");
}

A 200 OK

B 201 Created

C 404 Not Found

D 500 Internal Server Error

💡 Hint

Look at the status method used in ResponseEntity.

The method explicitly sets the status to 201, which means 'Created'. So the client receives HTTP 201.

❓ state_output

intermediate

What is the response body content returned here?

Given this Spring Boot controller method:

public ResponseEntity getMessage() {
    return ResponseEntity.ok("Hello World");
}

What will be the exact content in the HTTP response body?

Spring Boot

public ResponseEntity<String> getMessage() {
    return ResponseEntity.ok("Hello World");
}

A Hello World

B "Hello World"

C null

D An empty string

💡 Hint

ResponseEntity.ok() sets the body to the string passed.

The body is the string "Hello World" without quotes in the actual HTTP response body.

📝 Syntax

advanced

Which option correctly creates a ResponseEntity with a custom header and status 202?

You want to return a ResponseEntity with status 202 Accepted and a custom header "X-Custom" with value "Value". Which code snippet is correct?

A return ResponseEntity.status(202).header("X-Custom", "Value").body("Accepted");

B return ResponseEntity.header("X-Custom", "Value").status(202).body("Accepted");

C return ResponseEntity.body("Accepted").status(202).header("X-Custom", "Value");

D return ResponseEntity.body("Accepted").header("X-Custom", "Value").status(202);

💡 Hint

Check the order of method calls on ResponseEntity builder.

ResponseEntity.status(int) returns a builder where you can add headers before calling body(). The order matters: status() then header() then body().

🔧 Debug

advanced

What is the result of this ResponseEntity usage?

Analyze this Spring Boot method:

public ResponseEntity errorExample() {
    return ResponseEntity.body("Missing status");
}

What happens when this code runs?

Spring Boot

public ResponseEntity<String> errorExample() {
    return ResponseEntity.body("Missing status");
}

A Compilation error: body() is not a static method

B Compilation error: missing import for ResponseEntity

C Runtime NullPointerException

D Returns HTTP 200 with body "Missing status"

💡 Hint

ResponseEntity.body(T) is a static factory method that returns 200 OK.

ResponseEntity.body(T body) is a static factory method that creates a ResponseEntity with HTTP 200 OK and the given body. No error occurs.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

Which ResponseEntity usage correctly returns a 204 No Content with no body?

You want to return a response with HTTP status 204 No Content and no response body. Which code snippet correctly does this?

A return ResponseEntity.status(204).body(null);

B return ResponseEntity.status(204).body("");

C return ResponseEntity.noContent().build();

D return ResponseEntity.ok().body(null);

💡 Hint

204 status means no body is allowed in the response.

ResponseEntity.noContent().build() returns a ResponseEntity with status 204 and no body, which is the correct way to send a No Content response.