[java] Spring: Returning empty HTTP Responses with ResponseEntity<Void> doesn't work

We are implementing a REST API with Spring (4.1.1.). For certain HTTP requests, we would like to return a head with no body as a response. However, using ResponseEntity<Void> doesn't seem to work. When called with a MockMvc test, a 406 (Not acceptable) is returned. Using ResponseEntity<String> without a parameter value (new ResponseEntity<String>( HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND )) works fine.

Method:

@RequestMapping( method = RequestMethod.HEAD, value = Constants.KEY )
public ResponseEntity<Void> taxonomyPackageExists( @PathVariable final String key ) {

    LOG.debug( "taxonomyPackageExists queried with key: {0}", key ); //$NON-NLS-1$

    final TaxonomyKey taxonomyKey = TaxonomyKey.fromString( key );

    LOG.debug( "Taxonomy key created: {0}", taxonomyKey ); //$NON-NLS-1$

    if ( this.xbrlInstanceValidator.taxonomyPackageExists( taxonomyKey ) ) {

        LOG.debug( "Taxonomy package with key: {0} exists.", taxonomyKey ); //$NON-NLS-1$

        return new ResponseEntity<Void>( HttpStatus.OK );

    } else {

        LOG.debug( "Taxonomy package with key: {0} does NOT exist.", taxonomyKey ); //$NON-NLS-1$

        return new ResponseEntity<Void>( HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND );
    }

}

Test case (TestNG):

public class TaxonomyQueryControllerTest {

private XbrlInstanceValidator   xbrlInstanceValidatorMock;
private TaxonomyQueryController underTest;
private MockMvc                 mockMvc;

@BeforeMethod
public void setUp() {
    this.xbrlInstanceValidatorMock = createMock( XbrlInstanceValidator.class );
    this.underTest = new TaxonomyQueryController( this.xbrlInstanceValidatorMock );
    this.mockMvc = MockMvcBuilders.standaloneSetup( this.underTest ).build();
}

@Test
public void taxonomyPackageDoesNotExist() throws Exception {
    // record
    expect( this.xbrlInstanceValidatorMock.taxonomyPackageExists( anyObject( TaxonomyKey.class ) ) ).andStubReturn(
            false );

    // replay
    replay( this.xbrlInstanceValidatorMock );

    // do the test
    final String taxonomyKey = RestDataFixture.taxonomyKeyString;

    this.mockMvc.perform( head( "/taxonomypackages/{key}", taxonomyKey ).accept( //$NON-NLS-1$
            MediaType.APPLICATION_XML ) ).andExpect( status().isNotFound() );

}

}

Fails with this stack trace:

FAILED: taxonomyPackageDoesNotExist
java.lang.AssertionError: Status expected:<404> but was:<406>
at org.springframework.test.util.AssertionErrors.fail(AssertionErrors.java:60)
at org.springframework.test.util.AssertionErrors.assertEquals(AssertionErrors.java:89)
at org.springframework.test.web.servlet.result.StatusResultMatchers$10.match(StatusResultMatchers.java:652)
at org.springframework.test.web.servlet.MockMvc$1.andExpect(MockMvc.java:153)
at de.zeb.control.application.xbrlstandalonevalidator.restservice.TaxonomyQueryControllerTest.taxonomyPackageDoesNotExist(TaxonomyQueryControllerTest.java:54)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:606)
at org.testng.internal.MethodInvocationHelper.invokeMethod(MethodInvocationHelper.java:84)
at org.testng.internal.Invoker.invokeMethod(Invoker.java:714)
at org.testng.internal.Invoker.invokeTestMethod(Invoker.java:901)
at org.testng.internal.Invoker.invokeTestMethods(Invoker.java:1231)
at org.testng.internal.TestMethodWorker.invokeTestMethods(TestMethodWorker.java:127)
at org.testng.internal.TestMethodWorker.run(TestMethodWorker.java:111)
at org.testng.TestRunner.privateRun(TestRunner.java:767)
at org.testng.TestRunner.run(TestRunner.java:617)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.runTest(SuiteRunner.java:334)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.runSequentially(SuiteRunner.java:329)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.privateRun(SuiteRunner.java:291)
at org.testng.SuiteRunner.run(SuiteRunner.java:240)
at org.testng.SuiteRunnerWorker.runSuite(SuiteRunnerWorker.java:52)
at org.testng.SuiteRunnerWorker.run(SuiteRunnerWorker.java:86)
at org.testng.TestNG.runSuitesSequentially(TestNG.java:1224)
at org.testng.TestNG.runSuitesLocally(TestNG.java:1149)
at org.testng.TestNG.run(TestNG.java:1057)
at org.testng.remote.RemoteTestNG.run(RemoteTestNG.java:111)
at org.testng.remote.RemoteTestNG.initAndRun(RemoteTestNG.java:204)
at org.testng.remote.RemoteTestNG.main(RemoteTestNG.java:175)

You can also not specify the type parameter which seems a bit cleaner and what Spring intended when looking at the docs:

@RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.HEAD, value = Constants.KEY )
public ResponseEntity taxonomyPackageExists( @PathVariable final String key ){
    // ...
    return new ResponseEntity(HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT);
}

Your method implementation is ambiguous, try the following , edited your code a little bit and used HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT i.e 204 No Content as in place of HttpStatus.OK

The server has fulfilled the request but does not need to return an entity-body, and might want to return updated metainformation. The response MAY include new or updated metainformation in the form of entity-headers, which if present SHOULD be associated with the requested variant.

Any value of T will be ignored for 204, but not for 404

  public ResponseEntity<?> taxonomyPackageExists( @PathVariable final String key ) {
            LOG.debug( "taxonomyPackageExists queried with key: {0}", key ); //$NON-NLS-1$
            final TaxonomyKey taxonomyKey = TaxonomyKey.fromString( key );
            LOG.debug( "Taxonomy key created: {0}", taxonomyKey ); //$NON-NLS-1$

            if ( this.xbrlInstanceValidator.taxonomyPackageExists( taxonomyKey ) ) {
                LOG.debug( "Taxonomy package with key: {0} exists.", taxonomyKey ); //$NON-NLS-1$
                 return new ResponseEntity<T>(HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT);
            } else {
               LOG.debug( "Taxonomy package with key: {0} does NOT exist.", taxonomyKey ); //$NON-NLS-1$
                return new ResponseEntity<T>( HttpStatus.NOT_FOUND );
            }

    }

For Spring 5.2+ this works for me:

@PostMapping("/foo")
ResponseEntity<Void> foo(@PathVariable UUID fooId) {
    return fooService.findExam(fooId)
            .map(uri -> ResponseEntity.noContent().<Void>build())
            .orElse(ResponseEntity.notFound().build());
}

According Spring 4 MVC ResponseEntity.BodyBuilder and ResponseEntity Enhancements Example it could be written as:

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

UPDATE:

If returned value is Optional there are convinient method, returned ok() or notFound():

return ResponseEntity.of(optional)

Personally, to deal with empty responses, I use in my Integration Tests the MockMvcResponse object like this :

MockMvcResponse response = RestAssuredMockMvc.given()
                .webAppContextSetup(webApplicationContext)
                .when()
                .get("/v1/ticket");

    assertThat(response.mockHttpServletResponse().getStatus()).isEqualTo(HttpStatus.NO_CONTENT.value());

and in my controller I return empty response in a specific case like this :

return ResponseEntity.noContent().build();