Returning response using Jersey REStful web services?

Question

I am using JAX-RS web services (Jersey). I have a pojo User.java. This pojo is not generated from XSD. This pojo is handwritten. Can i return such a pojo using REStful web service method? Also, is it mandatory to write XSD while using Restful WEbservices?

@GET
@Produces ("application/xml")
public List<User> getUsersAll() {
    List<User> als=null;
    try {
        als= UserService.getInstance().getUserAll();
    } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    } catch (SQLException e) {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }

    return als;
}

Is above code possible without jaxb generated object User,java and only with handwritten User.java? Also, is it good practice to write XSD always? Thanks!

peter.petrov peter.petrov · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-23T10:20:02

Can I return such a pojo using RESTful web service method?

---> Yes, you can.

Also, is it mandatory to write XSD while using RESTful web services?

---> No, it's not mandatory have an XSD.

Normally it's good to generate or write an XSD
even if you wrote the Java class by hand.
That's because people/clients using your WS will
probably want some "model" from you which basically
means they want an XSD.

For Jersey you can do this:

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>test-rest-service</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>
        com.sun.jersey.spi.container.servlet.ServletContainer
    </servlet-class>
    <init-param>
        <param-name>com.sun.jersey.config.property.packages</param-name>
        <param-value>com.test.rest.resource</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

Tomcat will scan this package and look for resources
there which are mapped to URL paths via annotations. The
WADL will be auto-generated at runtime. But this WADL will
not have XSDs which the client can use to validate the
data it sends.

Returning response using Jersey REStful web services?

1 Answers