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How to change JSON representation for single value java object?

I had a class like:
public class EmailAddress {
public String value;
public String tld() {...}
public String host() {...}
public String mailbox() {...}
}
Now I use this class in an Object / Entity:
#Entity
public class Customer {
public String name;
public EmailAddress mail;
}
Now, when I do a rest service for Customer, I get this format:
{
"id": 1,
"name": "Test",
"email": {
"value": "test#test.de"
}
}
But I only want "email": "test#test.de"
{
"id": 1,
"name": "Test",
"email": "test#test.de"
}
What I must do? I use Spring Boot and Hibernate Entities.
Thank you for any support

You should use DTO class in request handling and make mappings from DTO to Entity and backwards, e.g.:
public class CustomerDTO {
private Integer id;
private String name;
private String email;
}

You should use DataTransferObjects for your (REST) APIs.
The DTOs only contain the fields the interface should provide (or receive).
When receiving objects from the client and before returning the object from your Controller you can convert the DTOs to your domain model (Which could be your JPA entites classes).
Example for a controller method. We assume you get an object from an user-editor which contains all data you want to update in your database-objects and return the updated company DTO:
#PutMapping
public CustomerDto updateCustomer(CustomerEditorDto updatedCustomerDto) {
Customer updatedCustomer = CustomerConverter.convert(updatedCustomerDto);
updatedCustomer = customerService.updateCustomer(updatedCustomer);
return CustomerConverter.convert(updatedCustomer);
}
and your Converter class:
#NoArgsConstructor(access = AccessLevel.PRIVATE)
public class CustomerConverter {
public static CustomerDto convert(Customer customer) {
CustomerDto result = null;
if (customer != null) {
// TODO: set fields in result-dto
}
return result;
}
public static Customer convert(CustomerEditorDto customer) {
Customer result = null;
if (customer != null) {
// TODO set fields in result;
}
return result;
}
}
and here are the DTOs
#Getter
#Setter
public class CustomerDto {
private Integer id;
private String name;
private String email;
}
#Getter
#Setter
public class CustomerEditorDto {
private Integer id;
private String firstName;
private String lastName;
private String email;
private String otherPropertyOrStuff;
}
This way you can separate the API modell from your JPA entites. You can use the same models for input/output. And you can even use a different model to work with inside your services and the finally convert them into your JPA entites, before persisting the data (or after reading the data).
There are tools which can take care of the conversion, like mapstruct.
* The above annotations #Getter, #Setter, ... are from project lombok and very are handy to generate boiler-plate code automatically.

I found an other easier solution, use a JsonSerializer on the entity Property:
#JsonSerialize(using = EmailAddressSerializer.class)
private EmailAddress email;
The serializer class:
public class EmailAddressSerializer extends StdSerializer<EmailAddress> {
public EmailAddressSerializer() {
super(EmailAddress.class);
}
protected EmailAddressSerializer(Class<EmailAddress> t) {
super(t);
}
#Override
public void serialize(EmailAddress email,
JsonGenerator jsonGenerator,
SerializerProvider serializerProvider) throws IOException {
jsonGenerator.writeString(email.value);
}
}

repoistory.save() getting invoked with invalid entry when unit testing

I'm using java validation API to validate fields in my Note class:
#Entity
#Data
#NoArgsConstructor
#AllArgsConstructor
#Table(name = "note")
public class Note {
#Id
#Column(name = "id", nullable = false)
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
private Long id;
#Column(name = "date", columnDefinition = "DATE")
private LocalDate date;
#NotBlank(message = "Enter a topic")
#Column(name = "topic")
private String topic;
#NotBlank(message = "Content can't be empty")
#Column(name = "content")
private String content;
#Column(name = "type")
private NoteType noteType;
#NotNull
#ManyToOne(fetch = FetchType.LAZY, cascade = {CascadeType.DETACH, CascadeType.MERGE, CascadeType.PERSIST, CascadeType.REFRESH})
#JoinColumn(name = "user_id")
#JsonIgnore
private User user;
}
NoteService:
#Service
#AllArgsConstructor
public class NoteService {
#Autowired
private NoteRepository noteRepository;
#Autowired
private UserRepository userRepository;
public void addNote(#Valid Note note) {
note.setUser(getLoggedInUser());
if (validateNote(note)) {
noteRepository.save(note);
}
}
public List<Note> getNotes() {
return getLoggedInUser().getNotes();
}
public Note editNote(Note newNote, Long id) {
noteRepository.editNoteById(newNote, id);
return newNote;
}
public List<Note> getNotesByTopic(String topic) {
List<Note> notes = noteRepository.getNotesByTopicAndUser(topic, getLoggedInUser());
return notes;
}
public boolean validateNote(Note note) {
return validateNoteType(note.getNoteType())
&& note.getDate() != null;
}
public boolean validateNoteType(NoteType type) {
return type.equals(NoteType.NOTE)
|| type.equals(NoteType.SKILL);
}
public User getLoggedInUser() {
return userRepository.findByEmail(SecurityContextHolder.getContext().getAuthentication().getName());
}
}
Test:
#ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class)
#ExtendWith(SpringExtension.class)
class NoteServiceTest {
#Mock
private NoteRepository noteRepositoryMock;
#Mock
private UserRepository userRepositoryMock;
#Mock
SecurityContext mockSecurityContext;
#Mock
Authentication authentication;
private NoteService noteService;
#BeforeEach
void setUp() {
noteService = new NoteService(noteRepositoryMock, userRepositoryMock);
Mockito.when(mockSecurityContext.getAuthentication()).thenReturn(authentication);
SecurityContextHolder.setContext(mockSecurityContext);
}
#Test
void shouldAddNote() {
LocalDate date = LocalDate.now();
Note note = new Note(0L, date, "test", "", NoteType.NOTE, null);
noteService.addNote(note);
Mockito.verify(noteRepositoryMock).save(note);
}
}
The field user in the Note class is annotated with #NotNull and I'm passing a null user to this note but the note is still getting saved. Same thing when I pass an empty string. Any idea why that is happening? I'm new to unit testing

I'm new to unit testing - your perfectly valid question has nothing to do with unit testing.
#NotNull does nothing on it own. Its actually a contract stating the following:
A data member (or anything else annotated with #NotNull like local variables, and parameters) can't be should not be null.
For example, instead of this:
/**
* #param obj should not be null
*/
public void MyShinyMethod(Object obj)
{
// Some code goes here.
}
You can write this:
public void MyShinyMethod(#NotNull Object obj)
{
// Some code goes here.
}
P.S.
It is usually appropriate to use some kind of annotation processor at compile time, or something that processes it at runtime. But I don't really know much about annotation processing. But I am sure Google knows :-)

You need to activate validation on you service class with the #Validated annotation so the validation of parameters kicks in.
#Service
#AllArgsConstructor
#Validated
public class NoteService {
...
See Spring #Validated in service layer and Spring Boot: How to test a service in JUnit with #Validated annotation? for more details.
If for some reason you need to manually perform the validation you can always do something like this:
#Component
public class MyValidationImpl {
private final LocalValidatorFactoryBean validator;
public MyValidationImpl (LocalValidatorFactoryBean validator) {
this.validator = validator;
}
public void validate(Object o) {
Set<ConstraintViolation<Object>> set = validator.validate(o);
if (!set.isEmpty()) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException(
set.stream().map(x -> String.join(" ", x.getPropertyPath().toString(), x.getMessage())).collect(
Collectors.joining("\n\t")));
}
}
}

So your noteRepository is Mocked, so you it's not actually calling save on your repository.
Mockito.verify(noteRepositoryMock).save(note);
All you are verifying here is that a call to save is made, not that it was successful.

Trigger #OneToMany lazy fetch

I have an ExampleRequest entity that can optionally have one or more ExampleRequestYear. It's currently configured this way (unrelated fields and gettters/setters omitted for brevity, please let me know if you need anything else):
#Entity
#Table(name = "EXAMPLE_REQUEST")
#SequenceGenerator(name = "EXAMPLE_REQUEST_ID_SEQ", sequenceName = "EXAMPLE_REQUEST_ID_SEQ", allocationSize = 1)
#Cacheable(false)
public class ExampleRequest implements Serializable {
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.SEQUENCE, generator = "EXAMPLE_REQUEST_ID_SEQ")
#Column(name="EXAMPLE_REQUEST_ID", nullable = false)
private Long exampleRequestId;
#OneToMany(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, fetch = FetchType.LAZY, mappedBy = "exampleRequest")
private List<ExampleRequestYear> exampleRequestYearList;
public ExampleRequest() {
}
public List<ExampleRequestYear> getExampleRequestYearList() {
if(this.exampleRequestYearList == null){
this.exampleRequestYearList = new ArrayList<ExampleRequestYear>();
}
return this.exampleRequestYearList;
}
public void setExampleRequestYearList(List<ExampleRequestYear> exampleRequestYearList) {
this.exampleRequestYearList = exampleRequestYearList;
}
public ExampleRequestYear addExampleRequestYear(ExampleRequestYear exampleRequestYear) {
getExampleRequestYearList().add(exampleRequestYear);
exampleRequestYear.setExampleRequest(this);
return exampleRequestYear;
}
public ExampleRequestYear removeExampleRequestYear(ExampleRequestYear exampleRequestYear) {
getExampleRequestYearList().remove(exampleRequestYear);
exampleRequestYear.setExampleRequest(null);
return exampleRequestYear;
}
}
#Entity
#Table(name = "EXAMPLE_REQUEST_YEAR")
#IdClass(ExampleRequestYearPK.class)
public class ExampleRequestYear implements Serializable {
#Id
#Column(nullable = false)
private Integer year;
#Id
#ManyToOne
#JoinColumn(name = "EXAMPLE_REQUEST_ID", referencedColumnName = "EXAMPLE_REQUEST_ID")
private ExampleRequest exampleRequest;
public ExampleRequestYear() {
}
public void setExampleRequest(ExampleRequest exampleRequest) {
this.exampleRequest = exampleRequest;
}
public ExampleRequest getExampleRequest() {
return exampleRequest;
}
}
Part of the code was auto-generated by the IDE and I'm still wrapping my head around JPA so there're probably design mistakes all around.
My app works (apparently) when I create a new ExampleRequest:
ExampleRequest exampleRequest = new ExampleRequest();
ExampleRequestYear exampleRequestYear = new ExampleRequestYear(2020);
request.addExampleRequestYear(exampleRequestYear);
However, I can't figure out how to edit an existing ExampleRequest because I'm unsure on how I'm meant to retrieve the linked entities. According to articles I've read, lazy fetching should be automatic, yet when I try this:
ExampleRequest exampleRequest = employeeRequestsController.getExampleRequestById(123);
System.out.println(exampleRequest.getExampleRequestYearList().size());
... I get a null pointer exception upon .size() because the getter runs but neither initialises an empty list, nor retrieves items from DB:
public List<ExampleRequestYear> getExampleRequestYearList() {
if(this.exampleRequestYearList == null){
// Field is null and conditional is entered
this.exampleRequestYearList = new ArrayList<ExampleRequestYear>();
// After initialisation, field is still null!
}
return this.exampleRequestYearList;
}
Also, switch to FetchType.EAGER solves this particular problem entirely. What am I missing?
Further details regarding app design. The Resource classes that handle HTTP requests interact with a set of Controller classes like this:
#Stateless(name = "ISomeActionController", mappedName = "ISomeActionController")
public class SomeActionController implements ISomeActionController {
#EJB
private IFooDAO fooDao;
#EJB
private IBarDAO barDao;
#Override
public ExampleRequest getExampleRequestById(Long exampleRequestId) {
return fooDao.getEntityById(exampleRequestId);
}
}
It's in the DAO classes where EntityManager is injected an used:
#Local
public interface IGenericDAO<T> {
public T persistEntity(T o);
public T persistEntityCommit(T o);
public void removeEntity(T o);
public void removeEntity(long id);
public T mergeEntity(T o);
public List<T> getEntitiesFindAll();
public List<T> getEntitiesFindAllActive();
public T getEntityById(Object id);
}
public interface IFooDAO extends IGenericDAO<ExampleRequest> {
public void flushDAO();
public ExampleRequest getExampleRequestById(Long exampleRequestId);
}
#Stateless(name = "IFooDAO", mappedName = "IFooDAO")
public class FooDAO extends GenericDAO<ExampleRequest> implements IFooDAO {
public FooDAO() {
super(ExampleRequest.class);
}
#Override
public void flushDAO(){
em.flush();
}
#Override
public ExampleRequest getExampleRequestById(Long exampleRequestId){
String sql = "...";
Query query = em.createNativeQuery(sql, ExampleRequest.class);
//...
}
}

How to send only the ID the of main nested objects in the body request in spring boot

I'm creating eCommerce for merchants using spring boot with JPA.
I have an issue while creating the order service.
I want to only pass the ID of the nested objects in the request body instead of sending the full nest objects because the size will be extremely big.
Here is my code.
Merchant can do many orders
Order
#Entity
#Table(name = "Orders")
#XmlRootElement
#JsonIgnoreProperties({"hibernateLazyInitializer", "handler"})
public class Order extends BasicModelWithIDInt {
#Basic(optional = false)
#Column(name = "Quantity")
private Integer quantity;
#Basic(optional = false)
#Size(min = 1, max = 150)
#Column(name = "Notes")
private String notes;
#JoinColumn(name = "ProductID", referencedColumnName = "ID")
#ManyToOne(optional = false, fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
#JsonIgnoreProperties
private Product productID;
#JoinColumn(name = "MerchantID", referencedColumnName = "ID")
#ManyToOne(optional = false, fetch = FetchType.LAZY)
private Merchent merchent;
#JoinColumn(name = "OrderSatusID", referencedColumnName = "ID")
#ManyToOne(optional = false, fetch = FetchType.EAGER)
private OrderStatus orderStatus;
// Getters and Setters
}
Order Holder
public class OrderHolder {
#NotNull
private Order order;
public Order getOrder() {
return order;
}
public void setOrder(Order order) {
this.order = order;
}
}
OrderRepo
public interface OrderRepo extends JpaRepository<Order, Integer> {
}
Order Controller
#RestController
#RequestMapping(value = "order", produces = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
public class OrderRestController extends BasicController<OrderHolder>{
#Autowired
private OrderRepo orderRepo;
#PostMapping("create")
public ResponseEntity<?> create(#RequestBody #Valid OrderHolder orderHolder, Principal principal) throws GeneralException {
log.debug( "create order {} requested", orderHolder.toString());
Order order = new Order();
order = orderHolder.getOrder();
System.out.println("###############"+order);
try {
order = orderRepo.save(order);
log.info( "Order {} has been created", order );
} catch (Exception e) {
log.error( "Error creating Order: ", e );
e.printStackTrace();
throw new GeneralException( Errors.ORDER_CREATION_FAILURE, e.toString() );
}
return ResponseEntity.ok( order );
}
}
I need request body to look like the below instead of including the full Merchant and Product objects inside the request.

You can make use of JsonView to return only id of product and merchant
public class OrderView {}
...
public class Product{
#Id
#JsonView(OrderView.class)
private Integer id
private String otherFieldWithoutJsonView
...
}
and then in your controller
#PostMapping("create")
#JsonView(OrderView.class) // this will return the product object with one field (id)
public ResponseEntity<?> create(#RequestBody #Valid OrderHolder orderHolder, Principal principal) throws GeneralException {
...
}
hope this can help you

Just have a separate contract class.
public class OrderContract {
private int merchantID;
private String notes;
....
//getter, setters
}
public class OrderHolder {
#NotNull
private OrderContract orderContract;
public OrderContract getOrderContract() {
return orderContract;
}
public void setOrder(OrderContract orderContract) {
this.orderContract = orderContract;
}
}
And before making a call to the Repository , translate from OrderContract to Order.

I would like to share something regarding this.
I have searched a lot on internet and tried lot of things, but the solution given here suited well for this scenario.
https://www.baeldung.com/jackson-deserialization
You need to create a Custom-deserializer for your model by extending StdDeserializer from com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.StdDeserializer, where you just want to pass id's and not the whole object in the request.
I have given below example for User Model with Address object.
User(long userId, String name, Address addressId)
Address(long addressId, String wholeAddress)
Writing Deserializer for User class
public class UserDeserializer extends StdDeserializer<User> {
public User() {
this(null);
}
public User Deserializer(Class<?> vc) {
super(vc);
}
#Override
public User deserialize(JsonParser p, DeserializationContext ctxt) throws IOException, JacksonException {
JsonNode node = p.getCodec().readTree(p);
long id = 0;
long addressId = (Long) ((IntNode) node.get("addressId")).numberValue().longValue();
return new User(id, name, new Address(addressId, null)
}
Now you have to use
#JsonDeserialize(using = UserDeserializer.class)
public Class User {
...
}
POST request
Before custom deserialization
{
"name" : "Ravi",
"addressId" : { "id" : 1}
}
After custom Deserialization
{
"name" : "Ravi",
"addressId" : 1
}
Also while GET /user/:id call you will get the whole obj like
{
"name" : "Ravi",
"addressId" : { "id" : 1, "wholeAddress" : "Some address"}
}

Spring HATEOAS with nested resources and JsonView filtering

I am trying to add HATEOAS links with Resource<>, while also filtering with #JsonView. However, I don't know how to add the links to nested objects.
In the project on on Github, I've expanded on this project (adding in the open pull request to make it work without nested resources), adding the "Character" entity which has a nested User.
When accessing the ~/characters/resource-filtered route, it is expected that the nested User "player" appear with the firstNm and bioDetails fields, and with Spring generated links to itself, but without the userId and lastNm fields.
I have the filtering working correctly, but I cannot find an example of nested resources which fits with the ResourceAssembler paradigm. It appears to be necessary to use a ResourceAssembler to make #JsonView work.
Any help reconciling these two concepts would be appreciated. If you can crack it entirely, consider sending me a pull request.
User.java
//package and imports
...
public class User implements Serializable {
#JsonView(UserView.Detail.class)
private Long userId;
#JsonView({ UserView.Summary.class, CharacterView.Summary.class })
private String bioDetails;
#JsonView({ UserView.Summary.class, CharacterView.Summary.class })
private String firstNm;
#JsonView({ UserView.Detail.class, CharacterView.Detail.class })
private String lastNm;
public User(Long userId, String firstNm, String lastNm) {
this.userId = userId;
this.firstNm = firstNm;
this.lastNm = lastNm;
}
public User(Long userId) {
this.userId = userId;
}
...
// getters and setters
...
}
CharacterModel.java
//package and imports
...
#Entity
public class CharacterModel implements Serializable {
#Id
#GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
#JsonView(CharacterView.Summary.class)
private Long characterId;
#JsonView(CharacterView.Detail.class)
private String biography;
#JsonView(CharacterView.Summary.class)
private String name;
#JsonView(CharacterView.Summary.class)
private User player;
public CharacterModel(Long characterId, String name, String biography, User player) {
this.characterId = characterId;
this.name = name;
this.biography = biography;
this.player = player;
}
public CharacterModel(Long characterId) {
this.characterId = characterId;
}
...
// getters and setters
...
}
CharacterController.java
//package and imports
...
#RestController
#RequestMapping("/characters")
public class CharacterController {
#Autowired
private CharacterResourceAssembler characterResourceAssembler;
...
#JsonView(CharacterView.Summary.class)
#RequestMapping(value = "/resource-filtered", method = RequestMethod.GET, produces = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
#ResponseStatus(HttpStatus.OK)
public Resource<CharacterModel> getFilteredCharacterWithResource() {
CharacterModel model = new CharacterModel(1L, "TEST NAME", "TEST BIOGRAPHY", new User(1L, "Fred", "Flintstone"));
return characterResourceAssembler.toResource(model);
}
...
}
CharacterResourceAssembler.java
//package and imports
...
#Component
public class CharacterResourceAssembler implements ResourceAssembler<CharacterModel, Resource<CharacterModel>>{
#Override
public Resource<CharacterModel> toResource(CharacterModel user) {
Resource<CharacterModel> resource = new Resource<CharacterModel>(user);
resource.add(linkTo(CharacterController.class).withSelfRel());
return resource;
}
}