How to return a simple xml string from a form post in Spring MVC

Question

I've got a simple http POST action in Spring MVC and I don't need to return a full web page. Instead I just need to return an xml string (for example)

true

But when I exec the action below my client is getting a 404

@RequestMapping(value = "/updateStuffAjaxStyle.do", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public String updateStuffAjaxStyle(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) {
    //..do something w/ the inputs ...

    return "<valid>true</valid>";
}

Is it possible to return a simple xml string like this w/out having to define a ton of bean defs?

Costi Ciudatu · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-28 12:44:22Z

7

I believe you can do this by annotating your method return type with the @ResponseBody annotation like so:

@RequestMapping(value = "/updateStuffAjaxStyle.do", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public @ResponseBody String updateStuffAjaxStyle(HttpServletRequest request,
        HttpServletResponse response) {
    //..do something w/ the inputs ...
    return "<valid>true</valid>";
}

edited Jul 28, 2011 at 12:44

Costi Ciudatu

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answered Jul 28, 2011 at 12:39

Niall Thomson

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3 Comments

theblang Over a year ago

What if I am wanting to return SVG XML to display in an <img> tag?

Niall Thomson Over a year ago

I don't see why this should be any different to the above. Just swap out the string above with the SVG XML you want to use.

theblang Over a year ago

I had to create a HttpHeaders object and set the content type. See this question that I made.

Costi Ciudatu · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-28 12:37:35Z

3

Yes, it is. But not by returning the String from your method, but by writing it to the HttpServletResponse.getWriter() and changing the method signature to return void (this way, Spring will know that you'll handle the response yourself).

To grab the servlet response writer, simply add one extra argument of type java.io.Writer to your method, and Spring will provide you with the proper reference.

answered Jul 28, 2011 at 12:37

Costi Ciudatu

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