Can't send Ajax POST json request to spring controller

Question

I'm currently trying to send data from my jsp webpage view to my spring controller by using a Ajax POST json request but for some receiving the controller never seems to receive it. The strange thing is that it works when i use a GET request but since it is valuable data which need to be stored in a database, i would prefer to use POST instead.

The javascript code in my JSP view:

function ajaxEdit(){
            var aData = oTable.fnGetData( iPos );//get data of the clicked row
            var id = aData[0];
            var data = {
                    id : id,
                    name : $('#editName').val(),  
                    email : $('#editEmail').val(), 
                    phoneNumber : $('#editPhoneNumber').val(), 
                    address : $('#editAddress').val(),
                    city : $('#editCity').val(),
                    postalCode : $('#editPostalCode').val(), 
                    funct : $('#editFunction').val(),
                    company : $('#editCompany').val(),
            };
            $.ajax({  
             type : "POST",   
             contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
             url : "ajaxEditPerson.htm",
             dataType: "json",
             data : JSON.stringify(data),
             success : function(response) {  
                 alert(response);
             },  
             error : function(e) {  
                 alert('Error: ' + e);   
                }  
               });  
        }

and my spring controller:

    @RequestMapping(value = "ajaxEditPerson", method=RequestMethod.POST)
public @ResponseBody
String ajaxEditPerson(@RequestBody Person person, HttpServletRequest request){
    System.out.println("received edit request: " + person.toString());
    //Save edited item in database
    personManager.addPerson(person);
    return "okay";
}

What i'm i doing wrong here? The request doesn't seem to reach this method at all since the first print line is never executed. Also the error code alert in the javascript code always gives me this "Error: Object object" error. I've also added the following 2 dependencies to maven:

           <!-- Jackson JSON Mapper -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
        <artifactId>jackson-mapper-asl</artifactId>
        <version>1.9.13</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
        <artifactId>jackson-core-asl</artifactId>
        <version>1.9.13</version>
    </dependency>
       </dependencies>

EDIT:

I have changed the controller method arguments to:

@RequestMapping(value = "ajaxEditPerson", method=RequestMethod.POST)
public @ResponseBody
String ajaxEditPerson(@ModelAttribute("person") Person person, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response){
    System.out.println("received edit request: " + person.toString());
    return "okay";
}

The print is now executed, so atleast the request has reached the method for sure. But the data that it included is all NULL and the ajax request also still receives an error reponse instead of a succesfull one....

EDIT2:

I can do both ajax GET and POST requests successfully now but without JSON. For some reason json doesn't seem to work. The corresponding method in the controller can receive the data but says its NULL. Is there anything else i should set up before using json? Something in the configuration files?

EDIT3:

Turned out that i needed to at the following line to my spring configuration :

<mvc:annotation-driven />

Everything is working fine now!

Answer 1

Making this an answer since it wouldn't fit in a comment...

Your @RequestMapping does not include a '.htm', but your URL in the $ajax() call does. I suspect you have a mismatch there. Also, assuming you are running this as a WAR being deployed to a web container, I also do not see the WAR context as part of the request URL on the JavaScript side. I would expect to see something like MyWar/someControllerLevelPath/ajaxEditPerson, where "someControllerLevelPath" is optional but set at the Controller level.

My suggestion would be to use some browser debugger (Chrome's Dev Tools, FireFox's FireBug, IE's Dev Tools) to see what is being sent and the EXACT response/HTTP error code you are getting back. You can use these tools to see what the HTTP request headers look like (this included the request URL in full as well as host and such) as well as the payload/headers being send back. I suspect you will be getting a 404 NOT FOUND based on what I am seeing in your sample code. If that is the case, then your URL mapping is wrong. If you are getting something else, then reply back to this and we can figure it out.

Another suggestion would be to add some System.out.println() statements in your Spring controller and see if your handler method is getting called and determine how far the call is going if it is. It's quite possible your handler is getting called, but failing somewhere. If this is the case, I believe your HTTP response code would be a 500. Another option would be to run your server in an IDE or with remote debug turned on in the JVM and attach to it with a debugger, like Eclipse or NetBeans, then pepper your handler method with break points.

Id's start simple and see what HTTP response code you are getting back first. That can usually tell you a lot by itself.