[[web-uricomponents]]
= UriComponents
[.small]#Spring MVC and Spring WebFlux#

`UriComponentsBuilder` helps to build URI's from URI templates with variables, as the following example shows:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	UriComponents uriComponents = UriComponentsBuilder
			.fromUriString("http://example.com/hotels/{hotel}")  // <1>
			.queryParam("q", "{q}")  // <2>
			.encode() // <3>
			.build(); // <4>

	URI uri = uriComponents.expand("Westin", "123").toUri();  // <5>
----
<1> Static factory method with a URI template.
<2> Add or replace URI components.
<3> Request to have the URI template and URI variables encoded.
<4> Build a `UriComponents`.
<5> Expand variables and obtain the `URI`.
====

The preceding example can be consolidated into one chain and shortened with `buildAndExpand`,
as the following example shows:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	URI uri = UriComponentsBuilder
			.fromUriString("http://example.com/hotels/{hotel}")
			.queryParam("q", "{q}")
			.encode()
			.buildAndExpand("Westin", "123")
			.toUri();
----
====

You can shorten it further by going directly to a URI (which implies encoding),
as the following example shows:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	URI uri = UriComponentsBuilder
			.fromUriString("http://example.com/hotels/{hotel}")
			.queryParam("q", "{q}")
			.build("Westin", "123");
----
====

You shorter it further still with a full URI template, as the following example shows:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	URI uri = UriComponentsBuilder
			.fromUriString("http://example.com/hotels/{hotel}?q={q}")
			.build("Westin", "123");
----
====



[[web-uribuilder]]
= UriBuilder
[.small]#Spring MVC and Spring WebFlux#

<<web-uricomponents,`UriComponentsBuilder`>> implements `UriBuilder`. You can create a `UriBuilder`, in turn,
with a `UriBuilderFactory`. Together, `UriBuilderFactory` and `UriBuilder`
provide a pluggable mechanism to build URIs from URI templates, based on shared
configuration, such as a base URL, encoding preferences, and other details.

You can configure `RestTemplate` and `WebClient` with a `UriBuilderFactory`
to customize the preparation of URIs. `DefaultUriBuilderFactory` is a default
implementation of `UriBuilderFactory` that uses `UriComponentsBuilder` internally and
exposes shared configuration options.

The following example shows how to configure a `RestTemplate`:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	// import org.springframework.web.util.DefaultUriBuilderFactory.EncodingMode;

	String baseUrl = "http://example.org";
	DefaultUriBuilderFactory factory = new DefaultUriBuilderFactory(baseUrl);
	factory.setEncodingMode(EncodingMode.TEMPLATE_AND_VARIABLES);

	RestTemplate restTemplate = new RestTemplate();
	restTemplate.setUriTemplateHandler(factory);
----
====

The following example configures a `WebClient`:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	// import org.springframework.web.util.DefaultUriBuilderFactory.EncodingMode;

	String baseUrl = "http://example.org";
	DefaultUriBuilderFactory factory = new DefaultUriBuilderFactory(baseUrl);
	factory.setEncodingMode(EncodingMode.TEMPLATE_AND_VARIABLES);

	WebClient client = WebClient.builder().uriBuilderFactory(factory).build();
----
====

In addition, you can also use `DefaultUriBuilderFactory` directly. It is similar to using
`UriComponentsBuilder` but, instead of static factory methods, it is an actual instance
that holds configuration and preferences, as the following example shows:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	String baseUrl = "http://example.com";
	DefaultUriBuilderFactory uriBuilderFactory = new DefaultUriBuilderFactory(baseUrl);

	URI uri = uriBuilderFactory.uriString("/hotels/{hotel}")
			.queryParam("q", "{q}")
			.build("Westin", "123");
----
====



[[web-uri-encoding]]
= URI Encoding
[.small]#Spring MVC and Spring WebFlux#

`UriComponentsBuilder` exposes encoding options at two levels:

* {api-spring-framework}/web/util/UriComponentsBuilder.html#encode--[UriComponentsBuilder#encode()]:
Pre-encodes the URI template first and then strictly encodes URI variables when expanded.
* {api-spring-framework}/web/util/UriComponents.html#encode--[UriComponents#encode()]:
Encodes URI components _after_ URI variables are expanded.

Both options replace non-ASCII and illegal characters with escaped octets. However, the first option
also replaces characters with reserved meaning that appear in URI variables.

TIP: Consider ";", which is legal in a path but has reserved meaning. The first option replaces
";" with "%3B" in URI variables but not in the URI template. By contrast, the second option never
replaces ";", since it is a legal character in a path.

For most cases, the first option is likely to give the expected result, because it treats URI
variables as opaque data to be fully encoded, while option 2 is useful only if
URI variables intentionally contain reserved characters.

The following example uses the first option:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
URI uri = UriComponentsBuilder.fromPath("/hotel list/{city}")
			.queryParam("q", "{q}")
			.encode()
			.buildAndExpand("New York", "foo+bar")
			.toUri();

	// Result is "/hotel%20list/New%20York?q=foo%2Bbar"
----
====

You can shorten the preceding example by going directly to the URI (which implies encoding),
as the following example shows:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
URI uri = UriComponentsBuilder.fromPath("/hotel list/{city}")
			.queryParam("q", "{q}")
			.build("New York", "foo+bar")
----
====

You can shorten it further still with a full URI template, as the following example shows:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
URI uri = UriComponentsBuilder.fromPath("/hotel list/{city}?q={q}")
			.build("New York", "foo+bar")
----
====

The `WebClient` and the `RestTemplate` expand and encode URI templates internally through
the `UriBuilderFactory` strategy. Both can be configured with a custom strategy.
as the following example shows:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	String baseUrl = "http://example.com";
	DefaultUriBuilderFactory factory = new DefaultUriBuilderFactory(baseUrl)
	factory.setEncodingMode(EncodingMode.TEMPLATE_AND_VALUES);

	// Customize the RestTemplate..
	RestTemplate restTemplate = new RestTemplate();
	restTemplate.setUriTemplateHandler(factory);

	// Customize the WebClient..
	WebClient client = WebClient.builder().uriBuilderFactory(factory).build();
----
====

The `DefaultUriBuilderFactory` implementation uses `UriComponentsBuilder` internally to
expand and encode URI templates. As a factory, it provides a single place to configure
the approach to encoding, based on one of the below encoding modes:

* `TEMPLATE_AND_VALUES`: Uses `UriComponentsBuilder#encode()`, corresponding to
the first option in the earlier list, to pre-encode the URI template and strictly encode URI variables when
expanded.
* `VALUES_ONLY`: Does not encode the URI template and, instead, applies strict encoding
to URI variables through `UriUtils#encodeUriUriVariables` prior to expanding them into the
template.
* `URI_COMPONENTS`: Uses `UriComponents#encode()`, corresponding to the second option in the earlier list, to
encode URI component value _after_ URI variables are expanded.
* `NONE`: No encoding is applied.

The `RestTemplate` is set to `EncodingMode.URI_COMPONENTS` for historic
reasons and for backwards compatibility. The `WebClient` relies on the default value
in `DefaultUriBuilderFactory`, which was changed from `EncodingMode.URI_COMPONENTS` in
5.0.x to `EncodingMode.TEMPLATE_AND_VALUES` in 5.1.
