spring-projects / spring-projects/spring-data-rest

PUT vs PATCH with JPA

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status: waiting-for-triage
Dominant language
Java
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Description

When using PUT method, removing any field appears to be interpreted as "no change".
This seems to be close to the expected behavior of PATCH method, not PUT.

Example:

Step 1 GET /objects/o1 { "f1":"v1", "f2":"v2"}
Step 2 PUT /objects/o1 { "f1":"v1"}
Step 3 GET /objects/o1 { "f1":"v1", "f2":"v2"}

(it seems that the result should be { "f1":"v1"})

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Research direction

Reproduce the three-step PUT sequence from the issue and compare it with PATCH behavior in Spring Data REST's request handling. Trace how omitted fields are treated with JPA, then verify that PUT removes the omitted field while PATCH retains it, as reflected by the final GET response.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java, spring
Domain
api, backend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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