How to pass superclass object to restful service (jersey) - web-services

Question

I have two POJOs
#XmlRootElement
public class PojoBase {
}
#XmlRootElement
public class PojoRequest extends PojoBase {
private String strTemplate;
public void setTemplate(String strTemplate) {
this.strTemplate = strTemplate;
}
public String getTemplate() {
return strTemplate;
}
}
#XmlRootElement
public class PojoResponse extends PojoBase {
private String strName;
public void setName(String strName) {
this.strName = strName;
}
public String getName() {
return strName;
}
}
I have service which accepts the base class and returns the base class as response.
#POST
#Path("/start")
#Produces({MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON})
#Consumes(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)
public PojoBase registerNumber(JAXBElement<PojoBase> theRequest) {
//does some work with theRequest.
//here the theRequest object doesn't has pojoRequest data.
PojoResponse pojoResponse = new PojoResponse();
pojoResponse.setName("Sample");
return pojoResponse;
}
From client I am sending pojo base object but not sure why Restful doesn't get actual theRequest object.
Here is the client code:
public class HttpClient {
static String _strServiceURL = "http://127.0.0.1:8080/middleware/rest/service/start";
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
PojoRequest pojoRequest = new PojoRequest();
pojoRequest.setTemplate("Somedata");
PojoBase response = getResponse(pojoRequest);
PojoResponse pojoresponse = (PojoResponse) response;
System.out.println(response);
}
private static PojoBase getResponse(PojoBase request) {
try {
Client client = Client.create();
WebResource webResource = client.resource(_strServiceURL);
ClientResponse response = webResource.type(javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).post(ClientResponse.class, request);
System.out.println(response.getStatus());
if(response.getStatus() == 200){
PojoBase response = response.getEntity(PojoBase.class);
return response;
}
} catch(Exception e) {
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
}
return null;
}
}
Can you please tell me how to get the PojoRequest at Service end?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

Answer 1

I don't think you can pass a superclass to jersey like this. I believe, though I may be wrong, that as registerNumber() has a parameter JAXBElement<PojoBase> it will do something like:
instantiate a PojoBase
do reflection on PojoBase (which has no properties), therefore nothing to set.
call registerNumber() with the practically empty PojoBase object
So why not try changing the signature to:
public PojoBase registerNumber(JAXBElement< PojoRequest > theRequest)
or even (with com.sun.jersey.api.json.POJOMappingFeature = true):
public PojoBase registerNumber(PojoRequest theRequest)