[item resource : update ] :Possible bug or documentation not conform [DATAREST-728]

Sylvain LB opened DATAREST-728 and commented

Hello Oliver,

I am facing a small issue while I am trying to update a resource, which contains sub-resources.

Considering my following entity :

@Entity
@Table(name = "USER")
public class User implements Serializable {

	/**
	 * 
	 */
	private static final long serialVersionUID = 4038037527581624919L;

	@Id
	@GeneratedValue
	@Column(name = "ID")
	private long id;

	@NotNull
	@Column(name = "USERNAME", unique = true, nullable = false)
	@Size(min = 3, max = 25)
	private String username;

	@Column(name = "NOM", nullable = false)
	private String nom;

	@Column(name = "PRENOM", nullable = false)
	private String prenom;

	@ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.EAGER)
	@JoinColumn(name = "ID_ROLE", nullable = false, referencedColumnName = "ID")
	private Role role;

	public Role getRole() {
		return role;
	}

	public void setRole(Role role) {
		this.role = role;
	}

	public Country getCountry() {
		return country;
	}

	public void setCountry(Country country) {
		this.country = country;
	}

	@ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.EAGER)
	@JoinColumn(name = "ID_COUNTRY", nullable = false, referencedColumnName = "ID")
	private Country country;

1/ To update my entity users with sub-resources (role or country), I have to do this HTTP request:

PATCH http://localhost:8080/users/1 with content-type "application/patch+json"

with this payload

{
"nom":"test1",
"prenom": "test2",
"username":"test3",
"country": {
    "id" :"1"
},
"role": {
    "id" :"2"
}
}

In this case, everything works fine : HTTP STATUS 200 OK

2/ If I do the same thing, but with the PUT method with the content-type "application/json", I've got an error (409 CONFLICT - "NULL not allowed for column "ID_COUNTRY), which is right for me.

PUT http://localhost:8080/users/1 with content-type "application/json"

3/ But If I do this , everything works fines, whereas I think I should get an error.

PUT http://localhost:8080/users/1 with content-type "application/patch+json"

I don't know if it's really a bug or something incomplete in the documentation, because I don't know really what is the behavior expected in this case.

When I read the documentation, the only content-type supported for an update of an item resource with PUT method are :

• application/hal+json
• application/json

Either, you just miss to add this content-type "application/patch+json" for PUT method in the documentation. Or, "application/patch+json" should not be supported with PUT method, which makes sense for me (the content-type "application/patch+json" doesn't match the PUT method) and I shouldn't get a 200 status code.

What do you think ?

Thank you,
Sylvain

Affects: 2.4.1 (Gosling SR1)