Spring Add optional path parameter to @Controller

I type @RequestMapping and @Controller before almost all my Controllers.

@RequestMapping("/clients")
@Controller
class ClientsController {
}

If you introduce a path attribute in @Controller, this can be reduced to:

@Controller(path="/clients")
class ClientsController {
}

Comment From: sbrannen

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Comment From: sbrannen

Hi @hansdesmet,

Thanks for creating your first Spring Framework issue!

Regarding your proposal, we would not want to introduce a path attribute in @Controller since controller classes are not required to declare a class-level @RequestMapping.

However, you can make use of a custom composed annotation that will help you achieve your goal.

@Target(ElementType.TYPE)
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Documented
@Controller
@RequestMapping
public @interface MappedController {

    @AliasFor(annotation = Controller.class)
    String value() default "";

    @AliasFor(annotation = RequestMapping.class)
    String path();
}

You can then use that composed annotation as follows.

@MappedController(path = "/clients")
class ClientsController {
    // ...
}

In light of that, I am closing this issue.

Comment From: rstoyanchev

Note also @Controller isn't defined as a Web controller and doesn't have to be. It is also supported for STOMP or RSocket messaging in which case a path attribute wouldn't fit well.