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DataBinder

See equivalent in the Servlet stack

@Controller or @ControllerAdvice classes can have @InitBinder methods, to initialize instances of WebDataBinder. Those, in turn, are used to:

  • Bind request parameters (that is, form data or query) to a model object.

  • Convert String-based request values (such as request parameters, path variables, headers, cookies, and others) to the target type of controller method arguments.

  • Format model object values as String values when rendering HTML forms.

@InitBinder methods can register controller-specific java.beans.PropertyEditor or Spring Converter and Formatter components. In addition, you can use the WebFlux Java configuration to register Converter and Formatter types in a globally shared FormattingConversionService.

@InitBinder methods support many of the same arguments that @RequestMapping methods do, except for @ModelAttribute (command object) arguments. Typically, they are declared with a WebDataBinder argument, for registrations, and a void return value. The following example uses the @InitBinder annotation:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Controller
public class FormController {

	@InitBinder (1)
	public void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
		SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd");
		dateFormat.setLenient(false);
		binder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, new CustomDateEditor(dateFormat, false));
	}

	// ...
}
1 Using the @InitBinder annotation. 
@Controller
class FormController {

	@InitBinder (1)
	fun initBinder(binder: WebDataBinder) {
		val dateFormat = SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd")
		dateFormat.isLenient = false
		binder.registerCustomEditor(Date::class.java, CustomDateEditor(dateFormat, false))
	}

	// ...
}
1 Using the @InitBinder annotation.

Alternatively, when using a Formatter-based setup through a shared FormattingConversionService, you could re-use the same approach and register controller-specific Formatter instances, as the following example shows:

  • Java

  • Kotlin

@Controller
public class FormController {

	@InitBinder
	protected void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
		binder.addCustomFormatter(new DateFormatter("yyyy-MM-dd")); (1)
	}

	// ...
}
1 Adding a custom formatter (a DateFormatter, in this case). 
@Controller
class FormController {

	@InitBinder
	fun initBinder(binder: WebDataBinder) {
		binder.addCustomFormatter(DateFormatter("yyyy-MM-dd")) (1)
	}

	// ...
}
1 Adding a custom formatter (a DateFormatter, in this case).

Model Design

See equivalent in the Servlet stack