How to disable some request calling @ModelAttribute method in the same controller?

Question

I am using Spring3 MVC. In my controller, I have many methods such as create, edit, and search.

In my form in the view, I need a list which contains some values from db. So I add a following method

```

@ModelAttribute("types") 
public Collection<BooleanValue> populateTypes() {
    return typeRepository.findAll();
}

```

Then, every request will call this method first and put the 'types' object in to my model object. But for some request, such like searh or listAll. I don't want to this method be called. How can I filter some request for the method which has @ModelAttribute("types") on it?

```

@RequestMapping(value = "/search", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public String search(Model model) {
    List<User> result = userService.findAll();
    model.add("result");
    return "index";
}

```

I don't want search request call populateTypes first since I don't need populateTypes in my search view.

Answer 1

If the populateTypes reference data is not required for all views you may be best to remove the annotated populateTypes() method and just add the data when it is required - by adding it to the ModelAndViews of the specific @RequestMapping methods that need it.

So if you have a @RequestMapping method called foo() that has a view that does need the data, then you could do something like:

@RequestMapping(value = "/foo", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public ModelAndView foo() {
    ModelAndView modelAndView = new ModelAndView("fooView");
    modelAndView.addObject("types", typeRepository.findAll());
    return modelAndView;
}

Answer 2

You should use @ResponseBody if you are not returning a view