Does WebSphere 8.5 have built in JAX-RS handling?

Question

Multiple pages on IBM support seem to differ on whether JAX-RS is built in to WebSphere 8.5.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/1305_gunderson/1305_gunderson.html

The most recent versions of IBM WebSphere Application Server provide support for JAX-RS. WebSphere Application Server V8.5 has support for JAX-RS built in; no extra installation is required.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSAW57_8.5.5/com.ibm.websphere.nd.iseries.doc/ae/twbs_jaxrs_devenv.html?cp=SSAW57_8.5.5%2F2-13-2-38-1-1&lang=en

To develop JAX-RS applications, the JAX-RS libraries must be added to the class path definition. See the information for your assembly tools to understand how to include libraries on the class path for the JAX-RS application.

What needs to be done to run JAX-RS on WebSphere 8.5. Is the web.xml mapping required? Are additional library files required?

Answer 1

WebSphere 8.5.5 implements JAX-RS 1.1 provider, so you dont need any additional libraries. You may create mapping or not, depending on your needs. The best description of your options is here Configuring JAX-RS applications using JAX-RS 1.1 methods.

You can either:

• Configure the JAX-RS application with only one JAX-RS default application in the web.xml file, like this:

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>javax.ws.rs.core.Application</servlet-name>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>javax.ws.rs.core.Application</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/rest/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

• Configure the JAX-RS application using the javax.ws.rs.core.Application subclass and the web.xml file:

<servlet>         
    <servlet-name>com.example.MyApplication</servlet-name> 
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>com.example.MyApplication</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/rest/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

• Configure the JAX-RS application without a web.xml file. You only use annotations like @ApplicationPath, @Path, etc

@ApplicationPath("rest")
public class MyApplication extends javax.ws.rs.core.Application {
}

@Path("/helloworld")
public class HelloWorldResource {

    @GET
    public String sayHelloWorld() {
        return "Hello World!";
    }
}