Question

I have a REST API that optionally supports two querystring parameters: starttime and endtime, both self-explanatory.

Currently I pass the WebRequest parameter to my controller API and search for the timestamp (encoded as Long), then convert it to Calendar.

I wonder if there is a way to have the Calendar parameters automatically passed to API without going with processing queryString. Something like

public Object[] myApi([...], Calendar startTime, Calendar endTime)

Most importantly, the parameters must both be optional (any can be specified or be null)

How can I do that in Spring MVC?

Example of current code:

@RequestMapping(value = "/rest/{datatype}", method = RequestMethod.GET, produces = { "application/json" })
public @ResponseBody
Object[] getData(@PathVariable("datatype") String dataType,
        WebRequest request) throws HttpException {
    if (dataType == null || "".equals(dataType))
        throw new ClientException("Datatype cannot be empty");

    Calendar timestampInit = null;
    if (request.getParameter(PARAMETER_STARTTIME) != null) {
        try {
            timestampInit = Calendar.getInstance();
            timestampInit.setTimeInMillis(Long.valueOf(request
                    .getParameter(PARAMETER_STARTTIME)));
        } catch (NumberFormatException ex) {
            throw new ClientException("Invalid start time", ex);
        }
    }

    Calendar timestampEnd = null;
    if (request.getParameter(PARAMETER_ENDTIME) != null) {
        try {
            timestampEnd = Calendar.getInstance();
            timestampEnd.setTimeInMillis(Long.valueOf(request
                    .getParameter(PARAMETER_ENDTIME)));
        } catch (NumberFormatException ex) {
            throw new ClientException("Invalid end time", ex);
        }
    }
            [...]
        }

Answer 1

Take a look at StringParamUnmarshaller
http://docs.jboss.org/resteasy/2.0.0.GA/userguide/html/StringConverter.html
usually most of REST frameworks are +- same so i believe there should be something same in your configuration