Difference between spring @Controller and @RestController annotation

Question

Difference between spring @Controller and @RestController annotation.

Can @Controller annotation be used for both Web MVC and REST applications?
If yes, how can we differentiate if it is Web MVC or REST application.

Answer 1

• @Controller is used to mark classes as Spring MVC Controller.
• @RestController is a convenience annotation that does nothing more than adding the @Controller and @ResponseBody annotations (see: Javadoc)

So the following two controller definitions should do the same

@Controller @ResponseBody public class MyController { }  @RestController public class MyRestController { } 

Answer 2

In the code below I'll show you the difference between @controller

@Controller public class RestClassName{    @RequestMapping(value={"/uri"})   @ResponseBody   public ObjectResponse functionRestName(){       //...       return instance    } } 

and @RestController

@RestController public class RestClassName{    @RequestMapping(value={"/uri"})   public ObjectResponse functionRestName(){       //...       return instance    } } 

the @ResponseBody is activated by default. You don't need to add it above the function signature.