Question

I’ve just learned how to send a single complex object to a Jersey-based REST web service by means of JAXB mapping: http://jersey.java.net/nonav/documentation/latest/xml.html#d4e820

However, I’d like to do a bit more.

1) Can I have a method that accepts multiple complex objects, all annotated with JAXB? I mean something like:

@POST
public void setPlanetAndGalaxy ( Planet planet, Galaxy galaxy ) { ... }

Does Jersey allow for such a method? How would a client counter-part look like, using Jersey/Client? So far I’ve got the impression that I should define a wrapper like class GalaxyPlanet { planet, galaxy }, I don’t like that very much.

2) Is it possible to have an array or a collection parameter for a POST method? Like in:

@POST
public void setPlanets ( Planet ... planets ) {...}

@POST
public void setPlanets ( Set<Planet> planets ) {...}

@POST
public void setPlanetsAndGalaxies ( Set<Planet> planets, Set<Galaxy> galaxies )

How would the client code look like in these three different cases?

Thanks in advance for any help.
Marco.

Answer 1

You should identify your resources and their relationships first. If you are going to deal with only galaxies and planets (for example) your REST API paths would be something like

/galaxies/ --> You can deal with list of galxies here
/galaxies/{oneGalaxyId}  --> One galaxy
/galaxies/{oneGalaxyId}/planets --> Planets of a galaxy
/galaxies/{oneGalaxyId}/planets/{planetId} --> One planet among the planets of a galaxy.

You would be able to deal with List as POST method parameter.

public void setPlanets ( List<Planet> planets ) {...}
Accepting multiple complex type parameters may not be possible.