Spring Data REST customize POST entity

Question

I'm using Spring Data Rest 3.3.1.

I have domain object (this is just an example):

@Data @Getter @Setter
@Entity
public class Figure {
  @Id private long id;
  private int volume;
}

And I have repository for this entity:

@RepositoryRestResource
public interface FigureRepository extends CrudRepository<Figure, Long> {}

So, spring automatically creates method for POSTing Figure entity. For example:

POST localhost:8080/figures
{
  "volume": 1000
}

But I want to pass customized object to POST method and convert it to needed entity, for example

POST localhost:8080/figures
{
  "length": 10,
  "width": 10,
  "height": 10
}

and example of converter:

class FigureDtoConverter implements Converter<FigureDto, Figure> {
  @Override
  Figure convert(FigureDto dto) {
    Figure f = new Figure();
    f.setVolume(dto.getLength() * dto.getWidth() * dto.getHeight());
    return f;
  }
}

How can I do this without creating custom controller? Because if I create controller I lost useful spring features like event handling, validating etc

Answer 1

No way. You must create your controller.

Use different request mapping path instead of /figures can keep Spring Data REST endpoints

POST localhost:8080/figures
{
  "volume": 1000
}

POST localhost:8080/create-figure-by-measurement
{
  "length": 10,
  "width": 10,
  "height": 10
}

Answer 2

Create a POJO containing the fields you want to pass.

public class Edges {
    Integer length;
    Integer width;
    Integer height; //getters and setters

}

You can make a post request with this

{
  "length": 10,
  "width": 10,
  "height": 10
}

And get the object of the Edges in your controller and convert it to Figure

@PostMapping("/figure")
public String getEdges(@RequestBody Edges edges){
    //...
}