ResponseEntity for full response control in Spring Boot - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is ResponseEntity in Spring Boot?

<p><code>ResponseEntity</code> is a class that represents the whole HTTP response. It lets you control the status code, headers, and body of the response.</p>

beginner

How do you set a custom HTTP status code using ResponseEntity?

You can set a custom status by using ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.YOUR_STATUS) and then build the response.

intermediate

How can you add HTTP headers using ResponseEntity?

Use the headers(HttpHeaders headers) method or header(String name, String value) when building the ResponseEntity.

beginner

What is the advantage of using ResponseEntity over returning just an object in a controller?

ResponseEntity gives you full control over the HTTP response, including status codes and headers, not just the body.

beginner

Show a simple example of returning a 404 Not Found status with ResponseEntity.

return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND).body("Resource not found");

What does ResponseEntity allow you to control in a Spring Boot response?

A Only the response body

B Status code, headers, and body

C Only the HTTP headers

D Only the URL path

ResponseEntity controls the full HTTP response: status code, headers, and body.

How do you create a ResponseEntity with a 201 Created status?

A ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.CREATED).build()

B ResponseEntity.ok()

C ResponseEntity.badRequest()

D ResponseEntity.notFound()

Use ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.CREATED) to set 201 Created status.

Which method adds a header to a ResponseEntity?

A status(int code)

B body(String content)

C header(String name, String value)

D build()

The header method adds HTTP headers to the response.

What is the default HTTP status if you return an object directly from a controller without ResponseEntity?

A 200 OK

B 404 Not Found

C 500 Internal Server Error

D 302 Redirect

Returning an object directly defaults to 200 OK status.

Which of these is a valid way to return a 404 response with a message using ResponseEntity?

A ResponseEntity.created().body("Not found")

B ResponseEntity.ok("Not found")

C ResponseEntity.badRequest().body("Not found")

D ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND).body("Not found")

Use status(HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND) with body to return 404 with message.

Explain how ResponseEntity helps you control the HTTP response in Spring Boot.

Think about what parts of the HTTP response you can customize.

Describe how to build a ResponseEntity that returns a 201 Created status with a custom header and a JSON body.

Remember the builder pattern methods on ResponseEntity.