Spring3 @ExceptionHandler for ServletRequestBindin

Question

I am using a Default AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter which I believe should enable support for @ExceptionHandler. Unluckily, a ServletRequestBindingException is thrown if a call to a handler method like this below is coming in - and not Exception handler is invoked.

@RequestMapping(value = "/v1/products/{code}", method = RequestMethod.GET, headers = "Accept=application/xml,application/json")
@ResponseBody
public ProductDemoDTO getProductByCode(@PathVariable final String code,
        @RequestParam(required = false, defaultValue = "BASIC") final String options)
{
    //omitted
}

Here teh ExceptionHandler, never called:

@ExceptionHandler(Throwable.class)
@ResponseBody
@ResponseStatus(value = HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST)
//TODO not being called?
public void handleException(final Exception e, final HttpServletRequest request, final Writer writer) throws IOException
{
    writer.write(String.format("{\"error\":{\"java.class\":\"%s\", \"message\":\"%s\"}}", e.getClass(), e.getMessage()));
}

Does anyone know why the ExceptionHandler is not called?

Answer 1

This issue is fixed in Spring 3.2. You can create a global exception handler class with the @ControllerAdvice annotation. Then in that class add an @ExceptionHandler method to handle the ServletRequestBindingException and return a custom response body. Example:

@ControllerAdvice
public class GlobalExceptionHandler {
  @ExceptionHandler(ServletRequestBindingException.class)
  public ResponseEntity<String> handleServletRequestBindingException(ServletRequestBindingException ex)   {
      return new ResponseEntity<String>("MISSING REQUIRED HEADER",HttpStatus.PRECONDITION_REQUIRED);
  }
}

For more information check the spring mvc docs: 17.11 Handling exceptions

Answer 2

Unfortunately, @ExceptionHandler methods are only invoked for exceptions that are thrown from within the handler method. ServletRequestBindingException is an infrastructure exception that is thrown whilst trying to invoke a handler method, and if the handler method itself cannot be invoked for whatever reason, then the @ExceptionHandler is not used.

There doesn't really seem to be a nicer way to handle this. Without knowing what's causing your ServletRequestBindingException, though, it's hard to advise.

Answer 3

you cannot handle it with spring custom implementation.

it may not an elegant solution but you still can catch it with web.xml <error-page> tag. you can catch exception type or error code from here.

Answer 4

Aaand thanks to Juergen Hoeller this has been solved today and should appear in Spring 4.3.

Please refer to the issue: https://jira.spring.io/browse/SPR-11106