LastModified (Spring Framework 3.2.1.RELEASE API)
Date: 2013-01-24

org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc

## Interface LastModified

- All Known Implementing Classes:
    MultiActionController

      public interface LastModified

  Supports last-modified HTTP requests to facilitate content caching. Same contract as for the Servlet API's `getLastModified` method.

  Delegated to by a `HandlerAdapter.getLastModified(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest, java.lang.Object)` implementation. By default, any Controller or HttpRequestHandler within Spring's default framework can implement this interface to enable last-modified checking.

  Note: Alternative handler implementation approaches have different last-modified handling styles. For example, Spring 2.5's annotated controller approach (using `@RequestMapping`) provides last-modified support through the `WebRequest.checkNotModified(long)` method, allowing for last-modified checking within the main handler method.

  Author:
    Rod Johnson, Juergen Hoeller
  See Also:
    `HttpServlet.getLastModified(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest)`, `Controller`, `SimpleControllerHandlerAdapter`, `HttpRequestHandler`, `HttpRequestHandlerAdapter`

- - ### Method Summary

    Methods
    Modifier and Type | Method and Description
    --- | ---
    `long` | `getLastModified(HttpServletRequest request)` Same contract as for HttpServlet's `getLastModified` method.

- - ### Method Detail

    - #### getLastModified

          long getLastModified(HttpServletRequest request)

      Same contract as for HttpServlet's `getLastModified` method. Invoked before request processing.

      The return value will be sent to the HTTP client as Last-Modified header, and compared with If-Modified-Since headers that the client sends back. The content will only get regenerated if there has been a modification.

      Parameters:
        `request` - current HTTP request
      Returns:
        the time the underlying resource was last modified, or -1 meaning that the content must always be regenerated
      See Also:
        `HandlerAdapter.getLastModified(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest, java.lang.Object)`, `HttpServlet.getLastModified(javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest)`