Implementing a JSON representation of a resource with Jackson and JAXB annotated objects

You can process JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) requests and responses with Java™ Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) annotated objects and Jackson. Jackson is the default JSON processor in WebSphere® Application Server. By default, it is included in the JAX-RS runtime environment so you do not need to configure Jackson.

1. Create a resource method.
   For the resource method to return JSON content, return an instance of a JAXB class directly or return a javax.ws.rs.core.Response object with a JAXB object as the response entity. You must also either add an @Produces("application/json") annotation, or set the Content-Type header in your Response object to be "application/json". The following example illustrates simple JSON return methods for the BookList JAXB class:

   @GET
   @Produces("application/json")
   public BookList getBookList() {
       BookList list = /* get a book list */
       return list;
   }

   or

   @GET
   @Produces("application/json")
   public javax.ws.rs.core.Response getBookList() {
       BookList list = /* get a book list */
       return Response.ok(list).type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_TYPE).build();
   }

2. If you want to return both XML and JSON objects, you can reuse the same method with minimal modification.
   You must specify "application/xml", "application/json", and "text/xml" in the @Produces annotation. The following example illustrates a simple JSON return method that returns a BookList object for the BookList JAXB class:

   @GET
   @Produces("application/json", "application/xml", "text/xml")
   public BookList getBookList() {
       BookList list = /* get a book list */
       return list;
   }

   The following example illustrates a simple JSON return method that returns a javax.ws.rs.core.Response object for the BookList JAXB class:

   @GET
   @Produces("application/json", "application/xml", "text/xml")
   public javax.ws.rs.core.Response getBookList() {
       BookList list = /* get a book list */
       return Response.ok(list).build();
   }

   Content negotiation through the client request's Accept HTTP header helps determine whether a JSON or XML representation is returned by the resource method. Read about content negotiation for more information. By reusing the JAXB annotated objects, you can shorten the development time to serve both JSON and XML from the same code. Reusing the same model code can be beneficial if specific JSON or XML formatted output is not required.

   If you require specific XML and JSON output and cannot reuse the same JAXB annotated classes, one way to solve the problem is to use two different resource methods. The JSON resource method must be annotated with an @Produces("application/json") annotation and the XML resource method must be annotated with an @Produces("application/xml", "text/xml") annotation.