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javarestjersey

Returning XML/JSON in Jersey

@GET @Path("/ids/{printerid}")
@Produces({"application/json", "application/xml"})
public Printer getPrinter(@PathParam("printerid") String printerId) { ... }

is a piece of a code example found here: https://jersey.java.net/documentation/latest/jaxrs-resources.html#d0e2089

What I understand is:

  • the method getPrinter is called when the HTTP method GET is called on the path /ids/{printerid}
  • the method Produces either a json or an xml result
  • the method returns an Object of type Printer, identified by the ID provided in the URI

What I don't understand is, how the returned Printer is represented as an xml/json document. We return a Printer in this method, so how do we get an xml/json file from that?

Solution

  • This is the whole idea of Jersy layer / spring controller, they encapsulate it and convert the class to JSON. You can have the same result with Gson

    Gson gson = new Gson();
String json = gson.toJson(printerObject);
System.out.println(json);

    Not sure if Jersy is using Gson, but the logic will be probably the same