Issue With Spring: There was an unexpected error (type=Not Found, status=404)

Question

I am going through this book on restful web services with spring. I decided to move away from what they were doing and use java configuration files. For some reason, after switching over to the Java configuration, the service would run (in the console window) correctly but when I actually go to the endpoint on localhost i get this:

White label Error Page

This application has no explicit mapping for /error, so you are seeing this as a fallback.

Sat Apr 23 20:48:25 PDT 2016 There was an unexpected error (type=Not Found, status=404). No message available

And this is the response from the GET request:

{     "timestamp": 1461470029110,     "status": 404,     "error": "Not Found",     "message": "No message available",     "path": "/greeting" } 

The next chapter of this story begins with me going to the getting started page on the Spring website http://spring.io/guides/gs/rest-service/ I decided to start a small project recreating their basic tutorial. I will post the code I wrote below for you to see. The problem is, I am having the exact same issue. The service runs but I can't hit the endpoints. I am not sure what is going on and I have seen others with similar issues, but the answers have not applied/helped with mine. I am sure it is something obvious that I am doing wrong and any help would be greatly appreciated. One last piece of information, if at all relevant, I am using IntelliJ IDEA 15 CE as my IDE.

The endpoint being hit:

http://localhost:8080/greeting

My controller

@RestController public class GreetingController {     private static final String template = "Hello, %s!";     private final AtomicLong counter = new AtomicLong();      @RequestMapping("/greeting")     public Greeting greeting(@RequestParam(value = "name", defaultValue = "World")String name) {         return new Greeting(counter.incrementAndGet(), String.format(template, name));     } } 

My Resource Representation class

public class Greeting {     private final long id;     private final String content;      public Greeting(long id, String content) {         this.id = id;         this.content = content;     }      public long getId() {         return id;     }      public String getContent() {         return content;     } } 

My Main

@SpringBootApplication public class Application {     public static void main(String[] args)     {         SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);     } } 

My POM file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"      xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd"> <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>  <groupId>com.organization_name.webservices</groupId> <artifactId>helloworld</artifactId> <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>  <parent>     <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>     <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>     <version>1.3.3.RELEASE</version> </parent>  <dependencies>     <dependency>         <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>         <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>     </dependency> </dependencies>  <properties>     <java.version>1.8</java.version> </properties>   <build>     <plugins>         <plugin>             <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>             <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>         </plugin>     </plugins> </build>  <repositories>     <repository>         <id>spring-releases</id>         <url>https://repo.spring.io/libs-release</url>     </repository> </repositories> <pluginRepositories>     <pluginRepository>         <id>spring-releases</id>         <url>https://repo.spring.io/libs-release</url>     </pluginRepository> </pluginRepositories> 

Command line to run

mvn spring-boot:run    

My complete log from the console

 .   ____          _            __ _ _  /\\ / ___'_ __ _ _(_)_ __  __ _ \ \ \ \ ( ( )\___ | '_ | '_| | '_ \/ _` | \ \ \ \  \\/  ___)| |_)| | | | | || (_| |  ) ) ) )   '  |____| .__|_| |_|_| |_\__, | / / / /  =========|_|==============|___/=/_/_/_/  :: Spring Boot ::        (v1.3.3.RELEASE)  2016-04-23 20:47:53.153  INFO 7898 --- [           main] c.t.webservices.application.Application  : Starting Application on Macintosh.local with PID 7898 (/Users/<my_user>/Downloads/B04788_Code/HelloWorld/target/classes started by <my_user> in /Users/<my_user>/Downloads/B04788_Code/HelloWorld) 2016-04-23 20:47:53.156  INFO 7898 --- [           main] c.t.webservices.application.Application  : No active profile set, falling back to default profiles: default 2016-04-23 20:47:53.242  INFO 7898 --- [           main] ationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext : Refreshing org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.AnnotationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext@68ceda24: startup date [Sat Apr 23 20:47:53 PDT 2016]; root of context hierarchy 2016-04-23 20:47:54.084  INFO 7898 --- [           main] o.s.b.f.s.DefaultListableBeanFactory     : Overriding bean definition for bean 'beanNameViewResolver' with a different definition: replacing [Root bean: class [null]; scope=; abstract=false; lazyInit=false; autowireMode=3; dependencyCheck=0; autowireCandidate=true; primary=false; factoryBeanName=org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.web.ErrorMvcAutoConfiguration$WhitelabelErrorViewConfiguration; factoryMethodName=beanNameViewResolver; initMethodName=null; destroyMethodName=(inferred); defined in class path resource [org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/ErrorMvcAutoConfiguration$WhitelabelErrorViewConfiguration.class]] with [Root bean: class [null]; scope=; abstract=false; lazyInit=false; autowireMode=3; dependencyCheck=0; autowireCandidate=true; primary=false; factoryBeanName=org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.web.WebMvcAutoConfiguration$WebMvcAutoConfigurationAdapter; factoryMethodName=beanNameViewResolver; initMethodName=null; destroyMethodName=(inferred); defined in class path resource [org/springframework/boot/autoconfigure/web/WebMvcAutoConfiguration$WebMvcAutoConfigurationAdapter.class]] 2016-04-23 20:47:54.811  INFO 7898 --- [           main] s.b.c.e.t.TomcatEmbeddedServletContainer : Tomcat initialized with port(s): 8080 (http) 2016-04-23 20:47:54.840  INFO 7898 --- [           main] o.apache.catalina.core.StandardService   : Starting service Tomcat 2016-04-23 20:47:54.841  INFO 7898 --- [           main] org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine  : Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/8.0.32 2016-04-23 20:47:54.960  INFO 7898 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.a.c.c.C.[Tomcat].[localhost].[/]       : Initializing Spring embedded WebApplicationContext 2016-04-23 20:47:54.960  INFO 7898 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.web.context.ContextLoader            : Root WebApplicationContext: initialization completed in 1736 ms 2016-04-23 20:47:55.214  INFO 7898 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.c.e.ServletRegistrationBean        : Mapping servlet: 'dispatcherServlet' to [/] 2016-04-23 20:47:55.218  INFO 7898 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.c.embedded.FilterRegistrationBean  : Mapping filter: 'characterEncodingFilter' to: [/*] 2016-04-23 20:47:55.219  INFO 7898 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.c.embedded.FilterRegistrationBean  : Mapping filter: 'hiddenHttpMethodFilter' to: [/*] 2016-04-23 20:47:55.219  INFO 7898 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.c.embedded.FilterRegistrationBean  : Mapping filter: 'httpPutFormContentFilter' to: [/*] 2016-04-23 20:47:55.219  INFO 7898 --- [ost-startStop-1] o.s.b.c.embedded.FilterRegistrationBean  : Mapping filter: 'requestContextFilter' to: [/*] 2016-04-23 20:47:55.545  INFO 7898 --- [           main] s.w.s.m.m.a.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter : Looking for @ControllerAdvice: org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.AnnotationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext@68ceda24: startup date [Sat Apr 23 20:47:53 PDT 2016]; root of context hierarchy 2016-04-23 20:47:55.605  INFO 7898 --- [           main] s.w.s.m.m.a.RequestMappingHandlerMapping : Mapped "{[/error]}" onto public org.springframework.http.ResponseEntity<java.util.Map<java.lang.String, java.lang.Object>> org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.web.BasicErrorController.error(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest) 2016-04-23 20:47:55.606  INFO 7898 --- [           main] s.w.s.m.m.a.RequestMappingHandlerMapping : Mapped "{[/error],produces=[text/html]}" onto public org.springframework.web.servlet.ModelAndView org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.web.BasicErrorController.errorHtml(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest,javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse) 2016-04-23 20:47:55.628  INFO 7898 --- [           main] o.s.w.s.handler.SimpleUrlHandlerMapping  : Mapped URL path [/webjars/**] onto handler of type [class org.springframework.web.servlet.resource.ResourceHttpRequestHandler] 2016-04-23 20:47:55.628  INFO 7898 --- [           main] o.s.w.s.handler.SimpleUrlHandlerMapping  : Mapped URL path [/**] onto handler of type [class org.springframework.web.servlet.resource.ResourceHttpRequestHandler] 2016-04-23 20:47:55.657  INFO 7898 --- [           main] o.s.w.s.handler.SimpleUrlHandlerMapping  : Mapped URL path [/**/favicon.ico] onto handler of type [class org.springframework.web.servlet.resource.ResourceHttpRequestHandler] 2016-04-23 20:47:55.776  INFO 7898 --- [           main] o.s.j.e.a.AnnotationMBeanExporter        : Registering beans for JMX exposure on startup 2016-04-23 20:47:55.848  INFO 7898 --- [           main] s.b.c.e.t.TomcatEmbeddedServletContainer : Tomcat started on port(s): 8080 (http) 2016-04-23 20:47:55.853  INFO 7898 --- [           main] c.t.webservices.application.Application  : Started Application in 3.531 seconds (JVM running for 4.702) 2016-04-23 20:48:19.521  INFO 7898 --- [nio-8080-exec-1] o.a.c.c.C.[Tomcat].[localhost].[/]       : Initializing Spring FrameworkServlet 'dispatcherServlet' 2016-04-23 20:48:19.521  INFO 7898 --- [nio-8080-exec-1] o.s.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet        : FrameworkServlet 'dispatcherServlet': initialization started 2016-04-23 20:48:19.533  INFO 7898 --- [nio-8080-exec-1] o.s.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet        : FrameworkServlet 'dispatcherServlet': initialization completed in 12 ms 

Console update after GET request

2016-04-23 20:48:19.521  INFO 7898 --- [nio-8080-exec-1] o.s.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet        : FrameworkServlet 'dispatcherServlet': initialization started 2016-04-23 20:48:19.533  INFO 7898 --- [nio-8080-exec-1] o.s.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet        : FrameworkServlet 'dispatcherServlet': initialization completed in 12 ms 

Console after stopping

2016-04-23 20:53:24.494  INFO 7898 --- [       Thread-2] ationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext : Closing org.springframework.boot.context.embedded.AnnotationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext@68ceda24: startup date [Sat Apr 23 20:47:53 PDT 2016]; root of context hierarchy 2016-04-23 20:53:24.495  INFO 7898 --- [       Thread-2] o.s.j.e.a.AnnotationMBeanExporter        : Unregistering JMX-exposed beans on shutdown  Process finished with exit code 130 

Thanks again for any help you can offer. I will keep everyone posted with updates!

Answer 1

I believe your issue is related to packages. Your application is defined in com.organization_name.webservices.application. I am guessing your other classes are in a different package that is not a child of com.organization_name.webservices.application. Spring will automatically load controllers that are in the same package or sub-packages, for example:

com.organization_name.webservices.application com.organization_name.webservices.application.controllers 

But not packages like this:

com.organization_name.webservices.controllers 

You can fix this by either moving your controller (or application), or adding ComponentScan to your Application:

@SpringBootApplication @ComponentScan(basePackageClasses=GreetingController.class) public class Application { 

You should be seeing this in your log:

 Mapped "{[/greeting]}" onto public com.organization_name.webservices.xxx.Greeting com.organization_name.webservices.xxx.GreetingController.greeting(java.lang.String)