Jersey RS: Include object/JSON in void GET method?

Question

I have a Jersey REST service and would like to have a GET method that returns void on success but returns an ErrorResponse object if there's an issue. Here's what my method looks like:

@GET
@Path(ResourceConstants.PATH_START_BATCH)
@Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
public void startBatch(@QueryParam(ResourceConstants.PARAM_BATCH_ID) String batchId)
{
    try
    {
        batchService.startBatch(batchId);
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        ErrorResponse errorResponse = new ErrorResponse();
        Map<String, String> responseDetails = errorResponse.getResponseDetails();
        responseDetails.put("Failure", "Failed to start with exception " + ex.getMessage());

        throw WebServiceException.generate(ex, errorResponse);
    }
}

and the WebServiceException class looks like this:

public class WebServiceException extends WebApplicationException
{
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    public WebServiceException(ErrorResponse errorResponse)
    {
        super(Response.serverError()
                .status(Status.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)
                .entity(errorResponse)
                .type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
                .build());
    }

    public WebServiceException(Throwable throwable, Response response)
    {
        super(throwable, response);
    }

    public static WebServiceException generate(Throwable throwable, ErrorResponse errorResponse)
    {
        Throwable rootCause = WebServiceException.getRootCause(throwable);

        Response response = Response.serverError()
                .status(Status.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)
                .entity(errorResponse)
                .type(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
                .build();

        return new WebServiceException(rootCause, response);
    }

    private static Throwable getRootCause(Throwable current)
    {
        Throwable root = current.getCause();

        if (root != null)
        {
            return WebServiceException.getRootCause(root);
        }
        else
        {
            return current;
        }
    }
}

When I test with an invalid batch ID, my response back is empty a set of empty braces {}.

Can I return a JSON object in the error if the method returns void?

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 23 '14 at 07:49

Do like that:

@GET
@Path(ResourceConstants.PATH_START_BATCH)
@Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
public Response startBatch(@QueryParam(ResourceConstants.PARAM_BATCH_ID) String batchId) {
    try {
        //you code
        return Response.status(Status.NO_CONTENT).build(); //or Response.ok();
    } catch (RuntimeException ex) {

        ErrorResponse errorResponse = new ErrorResponse();
        Map<String, String> responseDetails = errorResponse.getResponseDetails();
        responseDetails.put("Failure", "Failed to start with exception " + ex.getMessage());

        return Response.status(Status.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR).entity(errorResponse).build();
    }
}

In general, I would not suggest to return empty response on GET request, better to use POST.

I had changed it to return an object and this worked. I'm now having issues getting JSON returned (XML is fine). See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24334373/cannot-read-json-from-jersey-client-response — sdoca, Jun 23 '14 at 14:59

Jersey RS: Include object/JSON in void GET method?

1 Answers1