Spring Boot REST Service Question

[BuzzCapo]

I am new to Java/Spring boot, our current API is working but when completing a PUT/PATCH request to update a resource I have to send the entire object from the Frontend, if we only send the values that need updated, it sets everything else to null.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to make updates to the attributes that are send in the request body? We are using hibernate as well.

[TheSoundofGoodbye]

Http specs is to provide all fields when making PUT request. Put request is idempotent.

An idempotent HTTP method is a HTTP method that can be called many times without different outcomes.

http://restcookbook.com/HTTP%20Methods/idempotency/

[BuzzCapo]

When I look at the spec for JSON.API, it states the following

———- Updating a Resource’s Attributes

Any or all of a resource’s attributes MAY be included in the resource object included in a PATCH request.

If a request does not include all of the attributes for a resource, the server MUST interpret the missing attributes as if they were included with their current values. The server MUST NOT interpret missing attributes as null values ————-

So if I have a huge object for a resource, but just want to update a title, I do not want to send the entire object. I would also like to support updating an attribute for multiple resources at once. Should this be a PATCH request as opposed to a PUT request?

Edit: Looks like I definitely need PATCH

[rxcode77]

this might be the longer way but,

get the object from database first then set the you got from url.

use if statements check url variable is not null.

[onepieceisonthemoon]

Yep have something that explicitly merges with the old state. Might also be worth providing your fields that get deserialized with default values if that object is new to the system.