When to use setConditional method in ServerResource

Question

I am going through restlet documentation and came across the method ServerResource.setConditional(boolean ) .

The document explains it as :

Indicates if conditional handling is enabled. The default value is true.

Can someone please explain with a simple example when it is useful and what is the purpose of it? I have some knowledge on Jersey API but never came across such option there.

Answer 1

Conditional handling in Restlet corresponds to the support of the following headers:

• If-Match ( request.conditions.match )
• If-Modified-Since ( request.conditions.modifiedSince )
• If-None-Match (request.conditions.noneMatch`)
• If-Range ( request.conditions.rangeTag and rangeDate )
• If-Unmodified-Since ( request.conditions.unmodifiedSince )

Here is a sample of use with the If-None-Match header:

• Restlet client resource "not modified" condition