Time for action – examining RedirectView

Though both redirection and forwarding are used to present a different web page than the one requested, there is a little difference between them. Let's try to understand these by examining them:

1. Open our HomeController class and add one more request mapping method as follows:

   @RequestMapping("/welcome/greeting")
   public String greeting() {
     return "welcome";
   }

2. Now, alter the return statement of the existing welcome request mapping method, and save it as follows:

   return "forward:/welcome/greeting";

3. Now, run our application and enter http://localhost:8080/webstore/. You will be able to see a welcome message on the web page.

4. Now, alter the return statement of the existing welcome request mapping method again and save it as follows:

   return "redirect:/welcome/greeting";
   

5. Now, run our application and enter http://localhost:8080/webstore/. You will see a blank page without any welcome message.

6. Finally, revert the return value of the welcome method of HomeController...