Processing PUT and DELETE methods

When you try to submit a PUT or DELETE HTTP request via form submission, and you want to invoke the methods annotated with @PUT or @DELETE in the Controller to handle the request.

Unfortunately it does not work.

There is a simple solution which can help us to overcome this issue.

If you have used Spring MVC before and I think you could know there is a HiddenMethodFilter in the Spring MVC to fix this issue. Java EE 8 MVC does not ship the similar Filter, we can create one.

Solution

1. Create a Filter to convert the request method to the target HTTP method.

    @WebFilter(filterName = "HiddenHttpMethodFilter", urlPatterns = {"/*"}, dispatcherTypes = {DispatcherType.REQUEST})
    public class HiddenHttpMethodFilter implements Filter {
   
        @Inject
        Logger log;
   
        /**
        * Default method parameter: {@code _method}
        */
        public static final String DEFAULT_METHOD_PARAM = "_method";
   
        private String methodParam = DEFAULT_METHOD_PARAM;
   
        /**
        * Set the parameter name to look for HTTP methods.
        *
        * @see #DEFAULT_METHOD_PARAM
        */
        public void setMethodParam(String methodParam) {
            this.methodParam = methodParam;
        }
   
        @Override
        public void doFilter(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse res, FilterChain filterChain)
                throws ServletException, IOException {
            log.log(Level.INFO, "entering HttpHiddenFilter...");
            HttpServletRequest request = (HttpServletRequest) req;
            HttpServletResponse response = (HttpServletResponse) res;
   
            String paramValue = request.getParameter(this.methodParam);
            log.log(Level.INFO, "paramValue @" + paramValue);
            log.log(Level.INFO, "request method @" + request.getMethod());
   
            if ("POST".equals(request.getMethod()) && paramValue != null && paramValue.trim().length() > 0) {
                String method = paramValue.toUpperCase(Locale.ENGLISH);
                HttpServletRequest wrapper = new HttpMethodRequestWrapper(request, method);
                filterChain.doFilter(wrapper, response);
            } else {
                filterChain.doFilter(request, response);
            }
        }
   
        @Override
        public void init(FilterConfig filterConfig) throws ServletException {
   
        }
   
        @Override
        public void destroy() {
   
        }
   
        /**
        * Simple {@link HttpServletRequest} wrapper that returns the supplied
        * method for {@link HttpServletRequest#getMethod()}.
        */
        private static class HttpMethodRequestWrapper extends HttpServletRequestWrapper {
   
            private final String method;
   
            public HttpMethodRequestWrapper(HttpServletRequest request, String method) {
                super(request);
                this.method = method;
            }
   
            @Override
            public String getMethod() {
                return this.method;
            }
        }
   
    }

2. Add a hidden field named _method in the form, which value is the target HTTP method.

    <form action="${markDoingUrl}" method="post">
        <input type="hidden" name="_method" value="PUT"><jsp:text /></input>
        <input type="hidden" name="status" value="DOING"><jsp:text /></input>
        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-sm btn-primary">
            <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-play" aria-hidden="true"><jsp:text /></span>
            START
        </button>
    </form>

3. The @PUT method in the TaskController.

    @PUT
    @Path("{id}/status")
    public Response updateStatus(@PathParam(value = "id") Long id, @NotNull @FormParam(value = "status") String status) {
        log.log(Level.INFO, "updating status of the existed task@id:{0}, status:{1}", new Object[]{id, status});
   
        Task task = taskRepository.findById(id);
   
        task.setStatus(Task.Status.valueOf(status));
   
        taskRepository.update(task);
   
        flashMessage.notify(Type.info, "Task status was updated successfully!");
   
        return Response.ok("redirect:tasks").build();
    }

Source codes

1. Clone the codes from my GitHub account.

   https://github.com/hantsy/ee8-sandbox/

2. Open the mvc project in NetBeans IDE.

3. Run it on Glassfish.

4. After it is deployed and running on Glassfish application server, navigate http://localhost:8080/ee8-mvc/mvc/tasks in browser.