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Postman mock server for requests with dynamic request headers/body

I am using Postman mock server to create a mock endpoint where I need the response of the request to contain the request parameter as well as few other key values.
For example if my endpoint is /test?id=123 then i need the response as
{
"id":"123",
"name":"anyRandomName"
}
Similarly, when I hit /test?id=234 then the response should be
{
"id":"234",
"name":"anyRandomName2"
}
One way to achieve this is by making 2 endpoints with specific query parameters, in this example /test?id=123 and /test?id=234.
But i am looking for a way where i can read the request parameter just like {{$id}} or something like this. Postman do provide keywords like {{$randomAlphaNumeric}} which returns random strings but this will change in every hit.

You can pass the example name in headers while making a call to the mock API with key "x-mock-response-name". this will return the example set with that name.

Any simple way to test a #RequestBody method?

If I have a #Controller method whose parameter is a #RequestBody param, I usually have to write some jQuery script or something similar to perform an AJAX request with JSON object in order to call that method. If I tried calling that method via a web browser directly, it returns with a Error 415 Unsupported Media Type.
Is there any alternative to just quickly call such method using browser without having to write some jQuery code? Like perhaps a way to write the JSON object in the URL/address bar?
code:
#RequestMapping("testCall")
#ResponseBody
public List<TestObject> getTestCall (#RequestBody TestParams testParams) {
return stuff;
}
public class TestParams {
private Integer testNumber;
//getter/setter for testNumber
}
I thought maybe I could just do:
http://localhost/testCall?testNumber=1
maybe Spring would auto populate a new TestParams instance with that property set to 1 but that didnt work...
maybe I need to do something extra for that?

The whole point of a #RequestBody annotated parameters is for the Spring MVC stack to use the HTTP request body to produce an argument that will be bound to the parameter. As such, you need to provide a request body. Sending a request body is very atypical for a GET request. As such, browsers don't typically support it, at least not when simply entering an address in the address bar and submitting the request.
You'll need to use a different HTTP client, like jQuery. I typically have a small Java project in Eclipse that's setup with an Apache HTTP components client which can send HTTP requests to whatever server. It takes a few seconds/minutes to setup the correct request body and run.

I have spent the last year building a REST API, and by far the best way to exercise that API manually is using the Chrome Extension, Postman. I cannot recommend this tool enough.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/postman-rest-client/fdmmgilgnpjigdojojpjoooidkmcomcm?hl=en
To test your simple example you'll need to invoke a POST (I assume that as you have a request body, but your controller method doesn't define a HTTP Verb) using POSTMAN to your Url (like the following example):
POST /contextRoot/testCall
{
"testNumber": 1
}
If you want to test your API automatically (which I recommend), you can use the excellent Spring Mvc Test project. This allows your to call your API via a rest-like DSL and assert that the response is in the shape you want. More details can be found here:
http://docs.spring.io/spring/docs/3.2.x/spring-framework-reference/html/testing.html#spring-mvc-test-framework

you can add request params to the getTestCall method:
#RequestParam(value = "testNumber", required = false, defaultValue = "") String testNumber

There is a chrome app called Advanced REST client. You can pass the data in form of json to your controller using this chrome app. For eg. json data is
id:1,
name:"xyz"
whereas the controller can have #RequestBody Person form.
The Person class would be a POJO having id and name as instance variables. The Spring would automatically map the json data to the form.
I think this is the easiest and simplest way of checking your spring controller.
Check the extension Advanced REST client here

From what I know You can send JSON object to the webbrowser and it will be displayed without further need of AJAX.
useful tutorial:
http://www.mkyong.com/spring-mvc/spring-3-mvc-and-json-example/

Jersey web service proxy

I am trying to implement a web service that proxies another service that I want to hide from external users of the API. Basically I want to play the middle man to have ability to add functionality to the hidden api which is solr.
I have to following code:
#POST
#Path("/update/{collection}")
public Response update(#PathParam("collection") String collection,
#Context Request request) {
//extract URL params
//update URL to target internal web service
//put body from incoming request to outgoing request
//send request and relay response back to original requestor
}
I know that I need to rewrite the URL to point to the internally available service adding the parameters coming from either the URL or the body.
This is where I am confused how can I access the original request body and pass it to the internal web service without having to unmarshall the content? Request object does not seem to give me the methods to performs those actions.
I am looking for Objects I should be using with potential methods that would help me. I would also like to get some documentation if someone knows any I have not really found anything targeting similar or portable behaviour.

Per section 4.2.4 of the JSR-311 spec, all JAX-RS implementations must provide access to the request body as byte[], String, or InputStream.
You can use UriInfo to get information on the query parameters. It would look something like this:
#POST
#Path("/update/{collection}")
public Response update(#PathParam("collection") String collection, #Context UriInfo info, InputStream inputStream)
{
String fullPath = info.getAbsolutePath().toASCIIString();
System.out.println("full request path: " + fullPath);
// query params are also available from a map. query params can be repeated,
// so the Map values are actually Lists. getFirst is a convenience method
// to get the value of the first occurrence of a given query param
String foo = info.getQueryParameters().getFirst("bar");
// do the rewrite...
String newURL = SomeOtherClass.rewrite(fullPath);
// the InputStream will have the body of the request. use your favorite
// HTTP client to make the request to Solr.
String solrResponse = SomeHttpLibrary.post(newURL, inputStream);
// send the response back to the client
return Response.ok(solrResponse).build();
One other thought. It looks like you're simply rewriting the requests and passing through to Solr. There are a few others ways that you could do this.
If you happen to have a web server in front of your Java app server or Servlet container, you could potentially accomplish your task without writing any Java code. Unless the rewrite conditions were extremely complex, my personal preference would be to try doing this with Apache mod_proxy and mod_rewrite.
There are also libraries for Java available that will rewrite URLs after they hit the app server but before they reach your code. For instance, https://code.google.com/p/urlrewritefilter/. With something like that, you'd only need to write a very simple method that invoked Solr because the URL would be rewritten before it hits your REST resource. For the record, I haven't actually tried using that particular library with Jersey.

1/ for the question of the gateway taht will hide the database or index, I would rather use and endpoint that is configured with #Path({regex}) (instead of rebuilding a regexp analyser in your endpoint) .
Use this regex directly in the #path, this is a good practice.
Please take a look at another post that is close to this : #Path and regular expression (Jersey/REST)
for exemple you can have regexp like this one :
#Path("/user/{name : [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z_0-9]}")
2/ Second point in order to process all the request from one endpoint, you will need to have a dynamic parameter. I would use a MultivaluedMap that gives you the possibility to add params to the request without modifying your endpoint :
#POST
#Path("/search")
#Consumes(MediaType.APPLICATION_FORM_URLENCODED)
#Produces({"application/json"})
public Response search( MultivaluedMap<String, String> params ) {
// perform search operations
return search( params);
}
3/ My 3rd advice is Reuse : make economy and economy make fewer bugs.
it's such a pitty to rewrite a rest api in order to perform solr search. You can hide the params and the endpoint, but could be great to keep the solr uri Rest formatting of the params in order to reuse all the search logic of solr directly in your api. This will make you perform a great economy in code even if you hide your solr instance behind you REST GATEWAY SERVER.
in this case you can imagine :
1. receive a query in search gateway endpoint
2. Transform the query to add your params, controls...
3. execute the REST query on solr (behind your gateway).

How can i send object in HTTP request

I am creating a Web Service that will handle incoming request properly (I knew, it is a description) I found some sample code which present SOAP WS and looks like:
#SoapAction("some fine url")
#ResponsePayload
public CertResponse getCert(#RequestPayload Cert param)
{...}
It takes Cert object from request and manages it properly. I want to do it in the REST approach and I changed this class to look like:
#RequestMapping(value="getCert", method = RequestMethod.POST)
#ResponseBody
public CertResponse getCert(#RequestBody Cert param)
{...}
But I have no idea how or even if it is possible to write a client that can send object through HTTP Post.
Can anyone give me a hint how can i send object Cert? Or if i have to stay with #SoapAction what should I do to make it work? I guess removing #Controller is not enough.

In SOAP approach, there is a well defined way to convert each class object to SOAP formatted XML. Thus, there is no effort.
If you will use RESTful approach, you have to describe how your Cert or CertResponse objects will be written to/read from the response/request.
Basically you have three options:
Use JSON or XML or plain String. Convert your Web service descriptor so that the request and response are one of those (JSON, XML, String). Then your getCert method should convert the request to Cert object, prepare your response as CertResponse object and convert it to an appropriate response type.
Leave your getCert method as is. But you need to specify "how Cert objects are read from request" and "how CertResponse objects are written to response" You need to define classes that extend interfaces MessageBodyReader and MessageBodyWriter. In these classes a similar conversion logic should be implemented that converts your objects to/from JSON or XML or String.
In any of these two options you need to implement two things : A method that converts JSON/XML/String to Cert, a method that converts CertResponse object to JSON/XML/String.
You can do a text based implementation, which parses/constructs the request/response by text processing and uses String class only. Or you can use some library such as JSON library with JSONObject class, or Java SAX or DOM based XML libraries that come with the Java bundle.
Check out for application frameworks such as Spring. They might provide ways to automatically convert your objects to JSON or XML, reducing the programming effort necessary.

Spring allows you to pass JSON objects from the client as a request parameters, it will convert them into your objects automatically. This discussion have some examples.

SOAP services are not really compatible with REST semantics. And it's not clear what SOAP framework do you use. Typically most SOAP frameworks offer you one way or another to generate a SOAP client code for you WSDL. You can check cxf.apache.org.
For REST services use something like Jersey or Spring MVC

How to distinguish what format a client requests back to my REST webservice?

I have a Java WebService setup which consumes an xml file and want to be able to produce either xml or json based on what the client requests. I know that this is possible through reading up on Jersey REST methods but it does not show how to extract this information. I have also looked on google all over but can't seem to find any examples of this.
http://wikis.sun.com/display/Jersey/Overview+of+JAX-RS+1.0+Features is the site that I was initially referencing which shows that it is possible, I was just wondering if anyone would be able to help me find out how to actually distinguish the client's request. Is it in the html header? body? And if so what is the proper way to extract it?
This is what my method currently looks like, I do not have any issues with connection, just finding out what the client requests as a return type.
#POST
#Path("getStatisticData")
#Produces ({"application/xml","application/json"})
#Consumes ("application/xml")
public String getStatisticData(#FormParam("xmlCoords") String xmlFile) throws Exception{
Thanks in advance.

You can extract it using the #HeaderParam annotation:
...
public String getStatisticData(#HeaderParam("Accept") String accept,
#FormParam("xmlCoords") String xmlFile) throws Exception {
...
}

The Accept header in the request is used for the client to indicate to the server what methods it supports.

If the client can set HTTP headers, the proper way to do it is to use the Accept header:
http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec14.html
IF this is not possible, the type requested could be passed in as an argument.
Alternatively, expose two different web services: one that returns XML, one that returns JSON. Each web service would call the same code but with a parameter specifying which format to use.