Spring @RequestParam vs @PathVariable

• @PathVariable is to obtain some placeholder from the uri (Spring call it an URI Template) — see Spring Reference Chapter 16.3.2.2 URI Template Patterns
• @RequestParam is to obtain an parameter — see Spring Reference Chapter 16.3.3.3 Binding request parameters to method parameters with @RequestParam

Assume this Url for the below code : http://localhost:8080/MyApp/user/1234/invoices?date=12-05-2013 (to get the invoices for userId 1234 for today)

@RequestMapping(value="/user/{userId}/invoices", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public List<Invoice> listUsersInvoices(
            @PathVariable("userId") int userId,
            @RequestParam(value = "date", required = false) Date dateValue) {

//userId value is 1234

//dateValue value is 12-05-2013

  ...
}