Improve RestControllerAdvice documentation

Closes gh-34866

Author: rstoyanchev

framework-docs/modules/ROOT/pages/web/webmvc/mvc-controller/ann-advice.adoc

@@ -10,18 +10,20 @@ to any controller. Moreover, as of 5.3, `@ExceptionHandler` methods in `@Control
 can be used to handle exceptions from any `@Controller` or any other handler.
 
 `@ControllerAdvice` is meta-annotated with `@Component` and therefore can be registered as
-a Spring bean through xref:core/beans/java/instantiating-container.adoc#beans-java-instantiating-container-scan[component scanning]
-. `@RestControllerAdvice` is meta-annotated with `@ControllerAdvice`
-and `@ResponseBody`, and that means `@ExceptionHandler` methods will have their return
-value rendered via response body message conversion, rather than via HTML views.
+a Spring bean through xref:core/beans/java/instantiating-container.adoc#beans-java-instantiating-container-scan[component scanning].
+
+`@RestControllerAdvice` is a shortcut annotation that combines `@ControllerAdvice`
+with `@ResponseBody`, in effect simply an `@ControllerAdvice` whose exception handler
+methods render to the response body.
 
 On startup, `RequestMappingHandlerMapping` and `ExceptionHandlerExceptionResolver` detect
 controller advice beans and apply them at runtime. Global `@ExceptionHandler` methods,
 from an `@ControllerAdvice`, are applied _after_ local ones, from the `@Controller`.
 By contrast, global `@ModelAttribute` and `@InitBinder` methods are applied _before_ local ones.
 
-The `@ControllerAdvice` annotation has attributes that let you narrow the set of controllers
-and handlers that they apply to. For example:
+By default, both `@ControllerAdvice` and `@RestControllerAdvice` apply to any controller,
+including `@Controller` and `@RestController`. Use attributes of the annotation to narrow
+the set of controllers and handlers that they apply to. For example:
 
 [tabs]
 ======

spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/bind/annotation/RestControllerAdvice.java

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2023 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2025 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -26,18 +26,16 @@
 import org.springframework.core.annotation.AliasFor;
 
 /**
- * A convenience annotation that is itself annotated with
- * {@link ControllerAdvice @ControllerAdvice}
- * and {@link ResponseBody @ResponseBody}.
+ * A shortcut annotation that combines {@link ControllerAdvice @ControllerAdvice}
+ * with {@link ResponseBody @ResponseBody}, in effect simply an
+ * {@code @ControllerAdvice} whose exception handler methods render to the
+ * response body.
  *
- * <p>Types that carry this annotation are treated as controller advice where
- * {@link ExceptionHandler @ExceptionHandler} methods assume
- * {@link ResponseBody @ResponseBody} semantics by default.
+ * <p>By default, {@code @RestControllerAdvice} applies to any controller,
+ * including {@code @Controller} and {@code @RestController}. Use attributes of
+ * the annotation to apply more specific filtering criteria.
  *
- * <p><b>NOTE:</b> {@code @RestControllerAdvice} is processed if an appropriate
- * {@code HandlerMapping}-{@code HandlerAdapter} pair is configured such as the
- * {@code RequestMappingHandlerMapping}-{@code RequestMappingHandlerAdapter} pair
- * which are the default in the MVC Java config and the MVC namespace.
+ * <p>See {@link ControllerAdvice} for more details.
  *
  * @author Rossen Stoyanchev
  * @author Sam Brannen