Error on Spring REST webservice call - web-services

Question

I have following webservice call
#RequestMapping(value = "modifyUser/{userDn}", method = RequestMethod.POST, headers="Accept=application/json")
public #ResponseBody
JSONObject modifyUser(#PathVariable String userDn, #RequestBody DirectoryUser directoryUser) {
// Modify User
boolean modifiedUser = this.authenticationService.modifyUser(userDn, directoryUser.getPassword(), directoryUser);
// Build JSONObject
JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject();
jsonObject.put("modifyUser", modifiedUser);
return jsonObject;
}
I am using following client method to access above REST webservice.
String url = "http://www.local.com:8080/CommonAuth-1.0-SNAPSHOT/api/authentication/modifyUser/";
DefaultHttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
HttpPost httpPost = new HttpPost(url + "user6.external")
JSONObject ob = new JSONObject();
ob.put("description", "updated");
System.out.println(ob.toString());
StringEntity entity = new StringEntity(ob.toString());
entity.setContentType("application/json");
httpPost.setEntity(entity);
HttpResponse httpResponse = httpClient.execute(httpPost);
HttpEntity httpEntity = httpResponse.getEntity();
I always get "The server refused this request because the request entity is in a format not supported by the requested resource for the requested method" error. What is wrong in my code. I am able to access other webservice calls without using #RequestBody and using simple path variables. The issue is with #RequestBody and how i am using HttpPost.
public class DirectoryUser {
private String displayName;
private String fullName;
private String userName;
private String firstName;
private String lastName;
private String description;
private String country;
private String company;
private String phone;
private String emailAddress;
private String password;
private boolean expirePassword = true;
public String getDisplayName() {
return displayName;
}
public void setDisplayName(String displayName) {
this.displayName = displayName;
}
public String getFullName() {
return fullName;
}
public void setFullName(String fullName) {
this.fullName = fullName;
}
public String getUserName() {
return userName;
}
public void setUserName(String userName) {
this.userName = userName;
}
public String getFirstName() {
return firstName;
}
public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
this.firstName = firstName;
}
public String getLastName() {
return lastName;
}
public void setLastName(String lastName) {
this.lastName = lastName;
}
public String getDescription() {
return description;
}
public void setDescription(String description) {
this.description = description;
}
public String getCountry() {
return country;
}
public void setCountry(String country) {
this.country = country;
}
public String getCompany() {
return company;
}
public void setCompany(String company) {
this.company = company;
}
public String getPhone() {
return phone;
}
public void setPhone(String phone) {
this.phone = phone;
}
public String getEmailAddress() {
return emailAddress;
}
public void setEmailAddress(String emailAddress) {
this.emailAddress = emailAddress;
}
public String getPassword() {
return password;
}
public void setPassword(String password) {
this.password = password;
}
public boolean isExpirePassword() {
return expirePassword;
}
public void setExpirePassword(boolean expirePassword) {
this.expirePassword = expirePassword;
}
}
JSON string i am posting is {"description":"updated"}

Answer 1

try {
/* your code */
if (httpResponse != null) {
InputStream in = httpResponse.getEntity().getContent();
StringBuffer out = new StringBuffer();
int n = 1;
while (n > 0) {
byte[] b = new byte[4096];
n = in.read(b);
if (n > 0)
out.append(new String(b, 0, n));
}
System.out.println(out.toString());
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
Can you check what the status code says? Also, please check if it is HTTPS.

Answer 2

By default Spring try to use Jackson for json marshall/unmarshall:
private static final boolean jackson2Present =
ClassUtils.isPresent("com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper", WebMvcConfigurationSupport.class.getClassLoader()) &&
ClassUtils.isPresent("com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerator", WebMvcConfigurationSupport.class.getClassLoader());
you need to add Jackson libs to your project.