Java – Netflix Feign: Response Body empty in ErrorDecoder on 404

I've implemented a custom ErrorDecoder:

public class WebShopErrorDecoder implements ErrorDecoder {
  @Override
  public Exception decode(String methodKey, Response response) {
    JacksonDecoder jacksonDecoder = new JacksonDecoder();
    try {
        ErrorResource error = (ErrorResource) jacksonDecoder.decode(response, ErrorResource.class);
        return new EShopRequestException(error, HttpStatus.valueOf(response.status()));
    } catch (IOException e) {
        return new EShopRequestException(new ErrorResource("error.internal", "Internal server error"),
                HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
What i want to achieve with this WebShopErrorDecoder ist to forward the error response.

My problem ist, that if the response status is 404 the ErrorResource error is null.
If i change the returned response status to a 400 for example the error resource contains the response.
When requesting the consumed service directly via the browser i can see the response body with a response status of 404.
Why is the response body of a feign request empty when the service returns 404?

Is there a way to get the response body?
I just started to work with feign, so if my question is unclear please let me know and i try to clarify what's missing.
Thanks in advance!
Okay i just found out why the response is empty. It's not feigns fault it's mine.
Since i use JacksonDecoder i alwas get an empty response if the response status is 404 due to the following code inside JacksonDecoder.
public Object decode(Response response, Type type) throws IOException {
    if(response.status() == 404) {
        return Util.emptyValueOf(type);
What I'm doing instead is using ResponseEntityDecoder.
public class WebShopErrorDecoder implements ErrorDecoder {
  private final ResponseEntityDecoder decoder;
  public WebShopErrorDecoder(ResponseEntityDecoder decoder) {
    this.decoder = decoder;
  @Override
  public Exception decode(String methodKey, Response response) {
    try {
        ErrorResource error = (ErrorResource) decoder.decode(response, ErrorResource.class);
        return new EShopRequestException(error, HttpStatus.valueOf(response.status()));
    } catch (IOException e) {
        return new EShopRequestException(new ErrorResource("error.internal", "Internal server error"),
                HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
Now everything works fine :)
Related Solutions
Java – JAX-RS / Jersey how to customize error handling

There are several approaches to customize the error handling behavior with JAX-RS.  Here are three of the easier ways.
The first approach is to create an Exception class that extends WebApplicationException.
Example:
public class NotAuthorizedException extends WebApplicationException {
     public NotAuthorizedException(String message) {
         super(Response.status(Response.Status.UNAUTHORIZED)
             .entity(message).type(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN).build());
And to throw this newly create Exception you simply:
@Path("accounts/{accountId}/")
    public Item getItem(@PathParam("accountId") String accountId) {
       // An unauthorized user tries to enter
       throw new NotAuthorizedException("You Don't Have Permission");
Notice, you don't need to declare the exception in a throws clause because WebApplicationException is a runtime Exception.  This will return a 401 response to the client.
The second and easier approach is to simply construct an instance of the  WebApplicationException directly in your code.  This approach works as long as you don't have to implement your own application Exceptions.  
Example:
@Path("accounts/{accountId}/")
public Item getItem(@PathParam("accountId") String accountId) {
   // An unauthorized user tries to enter
   throw new WebApplicationException(Response.Status.UNAUTHORIZED);
This code too returns a 401 to the client.
Of course, this is just a simple example.  You can make the Exception much more complex if necessary, and you can generate what ever http response code you need to.  
One other approach is to wrap an existing Exception, perhaps an ObjectNotFoundException with an small wrapper class that implements the ExceptionMapper interface annotated with a @Provider annotation.  This tells the JAX-RS runtime, that if the wrapped Exception is raised, return the response code defined in the ExceptionMapper.  
    
Java – How to check String in response body with mockMvc

You can call andReturn() and use the returned MvcResult object to get the content as a String.
See below:
MvcResult result = mockMvc.perform(post("/api/users").header("Authorization", base64ForTestUser).contentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
            .content("{\"userName\":\"testUserDetails\",\"firstName\":\"xxx\",\"lastName\":\"xxx\",\"password\":\"xxx\"}"))
            .andDo(MockMvcResultHandlers.print())
            .andExpect(status().isBadRequest())
            .andReturn();
String content = result.getResponse().getContentAsString();
// do what you will