该注解用于将Controller的方法返回的对象，通过适当的HttpMessageConverter转换为指定格式后，写入到Response对象的body数据区。
返回的数据不是html标签的页面，而是其他某种格式的数据时（如json、xml等）使用；
HttpMessageConverter
public interface HttpMessageConverter<T> { /** * Indicates whether the given class can be read by this converter. * @param clazz the class to test for readability * @param mediaType the media type to read, can be {@code null} if not specified. * Typically the value of a {@code Content-Type} header. * @return {@code true} if readable; {@code false} otherwise */ boolean canRead(Class<?> clazz, MediaType mediaType); /** * Indicates whether the given class can be written by this converter. * @param clazz the class to test for writability * @param mediaType the media type to write, can be {@code null} if not specified. * Typically the value of an {@code Accept} header. * @return {@code true} if writable; {@code false} otherwise */ boolean canWrite(Class<?> clazz, MediaType mediaType); /** * Return the list of {@link MediaType} objects supported by this converter. * @return the list of supported media types */ List<MediaType> getSupportedMediaTypes(); /** * Read an object of the given type form the given input message, and returns it. * @param clazz the type of object to return. This type must have previously been passed to the * {@link #canRead canRead} method of this interface, which must have returned {@code true}. * @param inputMessage the HTTP input message to read from * @return the converted object * @throws IOException in case of I/O errors * @throws HttpMessageNotReadableException in case of conversion errors */ T read(Class<? extends T> clazz, HttpInputMessage inputMessage) throws IOException, HttpMessageNotReadableException; /** * Write an given object to the given output message. * @param t the object to write to the output message. The type of this object must have previously been * passed to the {@link #canWrite canWrite} method of this interface, which must have returned {@code true}. * @param contentType the content type to use when writing. May be {@code null} to indicate that the * default content type of the converter must be used. If not {@code null}, this media type must have * previously been passed to the {@link #canWrite canWrite} method of this interface, which must have * returned {@code true}. * @param outputMessage the message to write to * @throws IOException in case of I/O errors * @throws HttpMessageNotWritableException in case of conversion errors */ void write(T t, MediaType contentType, HttpOutputMessage outputMessage) throws IOException, HttpMessageNotWritableException; }
该接口定义了四个方法，分别是读取数据时的 canRead(), read() 和 写入数据时的canWrite(), write()方法。
在使用 <mvc:annotation-driven />标签配置时，默认配置了RequestMappingHandlerAdapter（注意是RequestMappingHandlerAdapter不是AnnotationMethodHandlerAdapter），并为他配置了一下默认的HttpMessageConverter：
ByteArrayHttpMessageConverter converts byte arrays. StringHttpMessageConverter converts strings. ResourceHttpMessageConverter converts to/from org.springframework.core.io.Resource for all media types. SourceHttpMessageConverter converts to/from a javax.xml.transform.Source. FormHttpMessageConverter converts form data to/from a MultiValueMap<String, String>. Jaxb2RootElementHttpMessageConverter converts Java objects to/from XML — added if JAXB2 is present on the classpath. MappingJacksonHttpMessageConverter converts to/from JSON — added if Jackson is present on the classpath. AtomFeedHttpMessageConverter converts Atom feeds — added if Rome is present on the classpath. RssChannelHttpMessageConverter converts RSS feeds — added if Rome is present on the classpath.
ByteArrayHttpMessageConverter: 负责读取二进制格式的数据和写出二进制格式的数据；
StringHttpMessageConverter： 负责读取字符串格式的数据和写出二进制格式的数据；
ResourceHttpMessageConverter：负责读取资源文件和写出资源文件数据；
FormHttpMessageConverter： 负责读取form提交的数据（能读取的数据格式为 application/x-www-form-urlencoded，不能读取multipart/form-data格式数据）；负责写入application/x-www-from-urlencoded和multipart/form-data格式的数据；
MappingJacksonHttpMessageConverter: 负责读取和写入json格式的数据；
SouceHttpMessageConverter： 负责读取和写入 xml 中javax.xml.transform.Source定义的数据；
Jaxb2RootElementHttpMessageConverter: 负责读取和写入xml 标签格式的数据；
AtomFeedHttpMessageConverter: 负责读取和写入Atom格式的数据；
RssChannelHttpMessageConverter: 负责读取和写入RSS格式的数据；
当使用@RequestBody和@ResponseBody注解时，RequestMappingHandlerAdapter就使用它们来进行读取或者写入相应格式的数据。
HttpMessageConverter匹配过程：
@RequestBody注解时： 根据Request对象header部分的Content-Type类型，逐一匹配合适的HttpMessageConverter来读取数据；
spring 3.1源代码如下：
private Object readWithMessageConverters(MethodParameter methodParam, HttpInputMessage inputMessage, Class paramType) throws Exception { MediaType contentType = inputMessage.getHeaders().getContentType(); if (contentType == null) { StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(ClassUtils.getShortName(methodParam.getParameterType())); String paramName = methodParam.getParameterName(); if (paramName != null) { builder.append(' '); builder.append(paramName); } throw new HttpMediaTypeNotSupportedException( "Cannot extract parameter (" + builder.toString() + "): no Content-Type found"); } List<MediaType> allSupportedMediaTypes = new ArrayList<MediaType>(); if (this.messageConverters != null) { for (HttpMessageConverter<?> messageConverter : this.messageConverters) { allSupportedMediaTypes.addAll(messageConverter.getSupportedMediaTypes()); if (messageConverter.canRead(paramType, contentType)) { if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) { logger.debug("Reading [" + paramType.getName() + "] as "" + contentType +"" using [" + messageConverter + "]"); } return messageConverter.read(paramType, inputMessage); } } } throw new HttpMediaTypeNotSupportedException(contentType, allSupportedMediaTypes); }
@ResponseBody注解时： 根据Request对象header部分的Accept属性（逗号分隔），逐一按accept中的类型，去遍历找到能处理的HttpMessageConverter；
源代码如下：
private void writeWithMessageConverters(Object returnValue, HttpInputMessage inputMessage, HttpOutputMessage outputMessage) throws IOException, HttpMediaTypeNotAcceptableException { List<MediaType> acceptedMediaTypes = inputMessage.getHeaders().getAccept(); if (acceptedMediaTypes.isEmpty()) { acceptedMediaTypes = Collections.singletonList(MediaType.ALL); } MediaType.sortByQualityValue(acceptedMediaTypes); Class<?> returnValueType = returnValue.getClass(); List<MediaType> allSupportedMediaTypes = new ArrayList<MediaType>(); if (getMessageConverters() != null) { for (MediaType acceptedMediaType : acceptedMediaTypes) { for (HttpMessageConverter messageConverter : getMessageConverters()) { if (messageConverter.canWrite(returnValueType, acceptedMediaType)) { messageConverter.write(returnValue, acceptedMediaType, outputMessage); if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) { MediaType contentType = outputMessage.getHeaders().getContentType(); if (contentType == null) { contentType = acceptedMediaType; } logger.debug("Written [" + returnValue + "] as "" + contentType + "" using [" + messageConverter + "]"); } this.responseArgumentUsed = true; return; } } } for (HttpMessageConverter messageConverter : messageConverters) { allSupportedMediaTypes.addAll(messageConverter.getSupportedMediaTypes()); } } throw new HttpMediaTypeNotAcceptableException(allSupportedMediaTypes); }
MappingJacksonHttpMessageConverter 调用了 objectMapper.writeValue(OutputStream stream, Object)方法，使用@ResponseBody注解返回的对象就传入Object参数内。若返回的对象为已经格式化好的json串时，不使用@RequestBody注解，而应该这样处理：
1、response.setContentType("application/json; charset=UTF-8");
2、response.getWriter().print(jsonStr);
直接输出到body区，然后的视图为void。