Spring MVC Missing URI template variable

I have a `Controller` class with a function that saves a record to the Database. I am passing several parameters to the `Controller` function however i think i may be writing the `@RequestMapping` incorrectly. Under is the code

**Controller**

@RequestMapping(value="createRoadBlock.htm", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public @ResponseBody Integer createRoadBlock(@RequestParam String purpose, @RequestParam String userName,
@RequestParam int status, @RequestParam double latAdd,
@RequestParam double longAdd, HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response) {

int roadBlockId = 0;
try{

roadBlockId = roadBlockManager.saveRoadBlock(purpose, userName, status,latAdd,longAdd);
logger.info("Create Road Block Successful roadBlockId "+ roadBlockId);

return roadBlockId;

}catch(Exception e){
logger.error("Exception Occured In Road Block Controller "+e.getMessage());
return roadBlockId;

}

}

**Ajax Request**

$.ajax({
type:'POST',
url:'createRoadBlock.htm',
contentType:"application/json",
async:false,
cache:false,
data:{purpose:f_purpose, userName:f_userName,status: f_status,latAdd: f_latAdd, longAdd:f_lngAdd},
dataType:'json'

}).success(function(recordId){
console.log('Road Block created with id ' + recordId);
});



**Error Log**

Controller [com.crimetrack.web.RoadBlockController]
Method [public java.lang.Integer com.crimetrack.web.RoadBlockController.createRoadBlock(java.lang.String,java.lang.String,int,double,double,javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest,javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse)]

org.springframework.web.bind.MissingServletRequestParameterException: Required String parameter 'purpose' is not present
at org.springframework.web.method.annotation.RequestParamMethodArgumentResolver.handleMissingValue(RequestParamMethodArgumentResolver.java:201)
at org.springframework.web.method.annotation.AbstractNamedValueMethodArgumentResolver.resolveArgument(AbstractNamedValueMethodArgumentResolver.java:90)
at org.springframework.web.method.support.HandlerMethodArgumentResolverComposite.resolveArgument(HandlerMethodArgumentResolverComposite.java:75)
at org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.getMethodArgumentValues(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:156)
at org.springframework.web.method.support.InvocableHandlerMethod.invokeForRequest(InvocableHandlerMethod.java:117)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.invokeAndHandle(ServletInvocableHandlerMethod.java:96)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.invokeHandlerMethod(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:617)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.annotation.RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.handleInternal(RequestMappingHandlerAdapter.java:578)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.method.AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.handle(AbstractHandlerMethodAdapter.java:80)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doDispatch(DispatcherServlet.java:923)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet.doService(DispatcherServlet.java:852)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.processRequest(FrameworkServlet.java:882)
at org.springframework.web.servlet.FrameworkServlet.doPost(FrameworkServlet.java:789)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:647)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:728)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:305)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:210)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:222)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:123)
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:472)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:171)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:99)

`@PathVariable` is used to tell Spring that part of the URI path is a value you want passed to your method. Is this what you want, or are the variables supposed to be form data posted to the URI?

If you want form data, use `@RequestParam` instead of `@PathVariable`.

If you want `@PathVariable`, you need to specify placeholders in the `@RequestMapping` entry to tell Spring where the path variables fit in the URI. For example, if you want to extract a path variable called `contentId`, you would use:

`@RequestMapping(value = "/whatever/{contentId}", method = RequestMethod.POST)`

**Edit**: Additionally, if your path variable could contain a '.' and you want that part of the data, then you will need to tell Spring to grab everything, not just the stuff before the '.':

`@RequestMapping(value = "/whatever/{contentId:.*}", method = RequestMethod.POST)`

This is because the default behaviour of Spring is to treat that part of the URL as if it is a file extension, and excludes it from variable extraction.

I got this error for a stupid mistake, the variable name in the @PathVariable wasn't matching the one in the @RequestMapping

For example

@RequestMapping(value = "/whatever/{**contentId**}", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public … method(@PathVariable Integer **contentID**){
}

It may help others

This error may happen when mapping variables you defined in REST definition do not match with @PathVariable names.

Example:
Suppose you defined in the REST definition

@GetMapping(value = "/{appId}", produces = "application/json", consumes = "application/json")

Then during the definition of the function, it should be

public ResponseEntity<List> getData(@PathVariable String appId)

This error may occur when you use any other variable other than defined in the REST controller definition with @PathVariable.
Like, the below code will raise the error as ID is different than appId variable name:

public ResponseEntity<List> getData(@PathVariable String ID)

My problem was that the name of the **parameter** from the method was **different** from the one passed **in @GetMapping**.
Those should be **identical**, otherwise there will be this kind of silent error.

```java
@GetMapping("/{formId}") // Must be the same as the PathVariable
public ResponseEntity<Form> getFormById(@PathVariable Long formId){
return new ResponseEntity<Form>(this.formsService.getById(formId), HttpStatus.OK);
}
```