Spring @RequestBody - Binding Method Parameters to Request Body

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In this article, we will learn how to use Spring @RequestBody annotation in a Spring boot application to bind method parameters to the request body. 

YouTube Video

We create a Spring Boot RESTful application to demonstrate the usage of the @RequestBody annotation.

Spring @RequestBody Overview

@RequestBody annotation binds the request body to method parameters. The process of serialization/deserialization is performed by HttpMessageConverter. In addition, automatic validation can be applied by annotating the argument with @Valid.

Here is a sample code snippet:

@ResponseStatus(value = HttpStatus.OK)
@PostMapping(value="/users")
public void method(@RequestBody MultiValueMap<String, String> values) {
    logger.info("Values:{}", values);
}

@ResponseStatus(value = HttpStatus.OK)
@PostMapping(value="/users", consumes = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
public void method1(@RequestBody User user) {
    logger.info("User: {}", user);
}

Spring Boot @RequestBody Annotation Example

The following example creates a Spring Boot web application that binds method parameters to the request body using @RequestBody annotation. 

Development Steps

1. Create a Spring Boot Application
2. Project Structure
3. Pom Dependencies
4. Java Bean - User.java
5. Create REST Controller - UserController.java
6. Run Application - Application.java
7. Testing from Postman Rest Client

1. Create a Spring Boot Application

There are many ways to create a Spring Boot application. You can refer below articles to create a Spring Boot application.

>> Create Spring Boot Project With Spring Initializer
>> Create Spring Boot Project in Spring Tool Suite [STS]

Refer project structure or packaging structure in the next step.

2. Project Structure

This is the project structure of the Spring Boot application that we are going to create - 

3. Maven Dependencies

Open the pom.xml file and add the below dependency:

        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
        </dependency>

4. Java Bean - User.java

Let's create a representation class that we use to bind to method parameters to request body:

package net.javaguides.springboot;

public class User {

    private Integer id;
    private String name;

    public User() {}

    public User(Integer id, String name) {
        this.id = id;
        this.name = name;
    }

    public Integer getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(Integer id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }
}

5. Create REST Controller - UserController.java

Let's create a simple UserController to handle the HTTP POST methods. In UserController, we have two POST mappings. We use @RequestBody to bind request parameters to MultiValueMap and User bean. The bound values are shown in logs.

package net.javaguides.springboot;

import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import org.springframework.http.HttpStatus;
import org.springframework.http.MediaType;
import org.springframework.util.MultiValueMap;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PostMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestBody;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ResponseStatus;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

@RestController
public class UserController {

    private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(UserController.class);

    @ResponseStatus(value = HttpStatus.OK)
    @PostMapping(value = "/users")
    public void method(@RequestBody MultiValueMap < String, String > values) {
        logger.info("Values:{}", values);
    }

    @ResponseStatus(value = HttpStatus.OK)
    @PostMapping(value = "/users", consumes = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
    public void method1(@RequestBody User user) {
        logger.info("User: {}", user);
    }
}

6. Run Application - Application.java

Application is the entry point that sets up the Spring Boot application. The @SpringBootApplication annotation enables auto-configuration and component scanning.

Let's run this Spring boot application from either Eclipse IDE by right click -> Run As -> Java Application.

Or you can use the below maven command to run:

mvn spring-boot:run

7. Testing from Postman Rest Client

Testing @RequestBody to bind request parameters to User:

Testing @RequestBody to bind request parameters to MultiValueMap:

Related Spring and Spring Boot Annotations

• Spring Boot @Bean Annotation Example
• Spring @Qualifier Annotation Example
• Spring @Autowired Annotation with Example
• Spring @Bean Annotation with Example
• Spring @Configuration Annotation with Example
• Spring @PropertySource Annotation with Example
• Spring @Import Annotation with Example
• Spring @ImportResource Annotation Example
• Spring - @Lazy Annotation Example
• Spring - @Primary Annotation Example
• Spring @PostConstruct and @PreDestroy Example
• Spring @Repository Annotation
• Spring @Service Annotation 
• The Spring @Controller and @RestController Annotations
• Spring Boot @Component, @Controller, @Repository and @Service
• Spring @Scope annotation with Prototype Scope Example
• Spring @Scope annotation with Singleton Scope Example
• Spring Boot @PathVariable
• Spring Boot @ResponseBody
• Spring @RequestBody - Binding Method Parameters to Request Body
• Spring Boot @ResponseStatus Annotation
• Spring Boot - Creating Asynchronous Methods using @Async Annotation
• @SpringBootTest Spring Boot Example
• @SpringBootTest vs @WebMvcTest
• @DataJpaTest Spring Boot Example
• Spring @PostConstruct and @PreDestroy Example
• Spring @GetMapping, @PostMapping, @PutMapping, @DeleteMapping and @PatchMapping
• Spring Boot @EnableAutoConfiguration Annotation with Example
• Spring Boot @SpringBootApplication Annotation with Example

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