title: Spring controller gets invoked but returns 404
body: <p>I am writing a Spring Boot application. I have written a simple controller that gets invoked whenever the endpoint is hit, but it still returns status 404 and not the specified return value.</p>
  
  <p><strong>HelloController</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>@Controller
  public class MessageRequestController {
  
      @RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.GET, value = "/hello", produces = "application/json")
      public String hello() {
          System.out.println("Hit me!");
          return "Hello, you!";
      }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Now whenever I call <code>localhost:8080/hello</code>, I see the console log <code>"Hit me!"</code>, but <code>"Hello, you!"</code> is never returned. Postman outputs:</p>
  
  <pre><code>{
      "timestamp": 1516953147719,
      "status": 404,
      "error": "Not Found",
      "message": "No message available",
      "path": "/hello"
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>Application.java</strong></p>
  
  <pre><code>@SpringBootApplication
  @ComponentScan({"com.sergialmar.wschat"}) // this is the root package of everything
  @EntityScan("com.sergialmar.wschat")
  public class Application {
  
      public static void main(String[] args) {
          SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
      }
  }
  </code></pre>