How do you receive a url parameter with a spring controller mapping

You should be using @RequestParam instead of @ModelAttribute, e.g.

@RequestMapping("/{someID}")
public @ResponseBody int getAttr(@PathVariable(value="someID") String id, 
                                 @RequestParam String someAttr) {
}

You can even omit @RequestParam altogether if you choose, and Spring will assume that's what it is:

@RequestMapping("/{someID}")
public @ResponseBody int getAttr(@PathVariable(value="someID") String id, 
                                 String someAttr) {
}

You have a lot of variants for using @RequestParam with additional optional elements, e.g.

@RequestParam(required = false, defaultValue = "someValue", value="someAttr") String someAttr

If you don't put required = false - param will be required by default.

defaultValue = "someValue" - the default value to use as a fallback when the request parameter is not provided or has an empty value.

If request and method param are the same - you don't need value = "someAttr"