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ObjectMapper in spring boot can read string, but doesn't work when parsing headers

I am trying to give an enum value as a header parameter to my rest endpoint in a spring boot #RestController. To that end I put the jackson libraries in my build.gradle file since the autogenerated enum used jackson annotations. I cannot change the enum code (it is autogenerated from a openapi specification). It looks like this:
public enum DocumentTypes {
APPLICATION_PDF("application/pdf"),
APPLICATION_RTF("application/rtf"),
APPLICATION_VND_OASIS_OPENDOCUMENT_TEXT("application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text"),
APPLICATION_VND_OPENXMLFORMATS_OFFICEDOCUMENT_WORDPROCESSINGML_DOCUMENT("application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document"),
APPLICATION_VND_MS_WORD("application/vnd.ms-word"),
TEXT_HTML("text/html"),
TEXT_PLAIN("text/plain");
private String value;
DocumentTypes(String value) {
this.value = value;
}
#Override
#JsonValue
public String toString() {
return String.valueOf(value);
}
#JsonCreator
public static DocumentTypes fromValue(String text) {
for (DocumentTypes b : DocumentTypes.values()) {
if (String.valueOf(b.value).equals(text)) {
return b;
}
}
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unexpected value '" + text + "'");
}
}
The restcontroller I am using to test looks like this:
#RestController
#RequestMapping("/test")
public class TestController {
#Autowired
private ObjectMapper objectMapper;
#RequestMapping(path = "", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public void test(#RequestHeader(value = "Accept", required = false) DocumentTypes targetFormat) throws IOException {
DocumentTypes value = objectMapper.readValue("\"application/pdf\"", DocumentTypes.class);
}
}
If I don't supply the Accept header and just let break inside the code I can see that the first line of the code works fine, the application/pdf String is transformed into value so the ObjectMapper did its job using the #JsonCreator method.
However if I pass Accept=application/pdf header along with the request I get an error:
Failed to convert value of type 'java.lang.String' to required type 'de.some.namespace.model.DocumentTypes';
nested exception is org.springframework.core.convert.ConversionFailedException: Failed to convert from type [java.lang.String] to type [#org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestHeader de.some.namespace.model.DocumentTypes] for value 'application/pdf';
nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: No enum constant de.some.namespace.model.DocumentTypes.application/pdf"
This looks to me as if spring is not using the Jackson provided ObjectMapper, thus ignoring the #JsonCreator method and just trying to resolve the enum by default by looking if there is a key with that provided name.
This to me does not make sense, becuase I also only #Autowire the ObjectMapper,... isn't that the one that spring should also use, how can I force spring to use the correct one for parsing the arguments? I tried putting it into a #Configuration and making it a #Bean and #Primary with the same results.
I have a workaround by implementing a converter:
#Component
public class StringToDocumentTypesConverter implements Converter<String, DocumentTypes> {
#Autowired
private ObjectMapper mapper;
#Override
public DocumentTypes convert(String s) {
try {
return mapper.readValue(String.format("\"%s\"", s), DocumentTypes.class);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
return null;
}
}
}
But I don't understand why this would be necessary, normally spring automatically puts arguments through the ObjectMapper.

I think this is working as designed. Spring only uses the Jackson ObjectMapper for conversion of message bodies (using a registered HttpMessageConverter, specifically the MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter).
This is documented at https://docs.spring.io/spring/docs/current/spring-framework-reference/web.html#mvc-ann-typeconversion:
Some annotated controller method arguments that represent String-based request input (such as #RequestParam, #RequestHeader, #PathVariable, #MatrixVariable, and #CookieValue) can require type conversion if the argument is declared as something other than String.
For such cases, type conversion is automatically applied based on the configured converters
And https://docs.spring.io/spring/docs/current/spring-framework-reference/web.html#mvc-ann-requestbody:
You can use the #RequestBody annotation to have the request body read and deserialized into an Object through an HttpMessageConverter

Spring Boot using Json as request parameters instead of an entity/model

Our company is planning to switch our microservice technology to Spring Boot. As an initiative I did some advanced reading and noting down its potential impact and syntax equivalents. I also started porting the smallest service we had as a side project.
One issue that blocked my progress was trying to convert our Json request/response exchange to Spring Boot.
Here's an example of the code: (This is Nutz framework for those who don't recognize this)
#POST
#At // These two lines are equivalent to #PostMapping("/create")
#AdaptBy(type=JsonAdapter.class)
public Object create(#Param("param_1") String param1, #Param("param_2) int param2) {
MyModel1 myModel1 = new MyModel1(param1);
MyModel2 myModel2 = new MyModel2(param2);
myRepository1.create(myMode12);
myRepository2.create(myModel2);
return new MyJsonResponse();
}
On PostMan or any other REST client I simply pass POST:
{
"param_1" : "test",
"param_2" : 1
}
I got as far as doing this in Spring Boot:
#PostMapping("/create")
public Object create(#RequestParam("param_1") String param1, #RequestParam("param_2) int param2) {
MyModel1 myModel1 = new MyModel1(param1);
MyModel2 myModel2 = new MyModel2(param2);
myRepository1.create(myMode12);
myRepository2.create(myModel2);
return new MyJsonResponse();
}
I am not sure how to do something similar as JsonAdapter here. Spring doesn't recognize the data I passed.
I tried this but based on the examples it expects the Json paramters to be of an Entity's form.
#RequestMapping(path="/wallet", consumes="application/json", produces="application/json")
But I only got it to work if I do something like this:
public Object (#RequestBody MyModel1 model1) {}
My issue with this is that MyModel1 may not necessarily contain the fields/parameters that my json data has.
The very useful thing about Nutz is that if I removed JsonAdapter it behaves like a regular form request endpoint in spring.
I couldn't find an answer here in Stack or if possible I'm calling it differently than what existing spring devs call it.
Our bosses expect us (unrealistically) to implement these changes without forcing front-end developers to adjust to these changes. (Autonomy and all that jazz). If this is unavoidable what would be the sensible explanation for this?

In that case you can use Map class to read input json, like
#PostMapping("/create")
public Object create(#RequestBody Map<String, ?> input) {
sout(input.get("param1")) // cast to String, int, ..
}

I actually figured out a more straightforward solution.
Apparently this works:
#PostMapping("/endpoint")
public Object endpoint(#RequestBody MyWebRequestObject request) {
String value1 = request.getValue_1();
String value2 = request.getValue_2();
}
The json payload is this:
{
"value_1" : "hello",
"value_2" : "world"
}
This works if MyRequestObject is mapped like the json request object like so. Example:
public class MyWebRequestObject {
String value_1;
String value_2
}
Unmapped values are ignored. Spring is smart like that.
I know this is right back where I started but since we introduced a service layer for the rest control to interact with, it made sense to create our own request model object (DTOs) that is separate from the persistence model.

You can use #RequestBody Map as a parameter for #PostMapping, #PutMapping and #PatchMapping. For #GetMapping and #DeleteMapping, you can write a class which implements Converter to convert from json-formed request parameters to Map. And you would register that class as a bean with #Component annotation. Then you can bind your parameters to #RequestParameter Map.
Here is an example of Converter below.
#Component
public class StringToMapConverter implements Converter<String, Map<String, Object>> {
private final ObjectMapper objectMapper;
#Autowired
public StringToMapConverter(ObjectMapper objectMapper) {
this.objectMapper = objectMapper;
}
#Override
public Map<String, Object> convert(String source) {
try {
return objectMapper.readValue(source, new TypeReference<Map<String, Object>>(){});
} catch (IOException e) {
return new HashMap<>();
}
}
}
If you want to exclude specific field of your MyModel1 class, use #JsonIgnore annotation onto the field like below.
class MyModel1 {
private field1;
#JsonIgnore field2;
}
Then, I guess you can just use what you have done.(I'm not sure.)
public Object (#RequestBody MyModel1 model1) {}

i think that you can use a strategy that involve dto
https://auth0.com/blog/automatically-mapping-dto-to-entity-on-spring-boot-apis/
you send a json to your rest api that is map like a dto object, after you can map like an entity or use it for your needs

try this:
Add new annotation JsonParam and implement HandlerMethodArgumentResolver of this, Parse json to map and get data in HandlerMethodArgumentResolver
{
"aaabbcc": "aaa"
}
#Target(ElementType.PARAMETER)
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public #interface JsonParam {
String value();
}
#Component
public class JsonParamMethodResolver implements HandlerMethodArgumentResolver {
#Override
public boolean supportsParameter(MethodParameter parameter) {
return parameter.hasParameterAnnotation(JsonParam.class);
}
#Override
public Object resolveArgument(MethodParameter parameter, ModelAndViewContainer mavContainer, NativeWebRequest webRequest, WebDataBinderFactory binderFactory) throws Exception {
RepeatedlyRequestWrapper nativeRequest = webRequest.getNativeRequest(RepeatedlyRequestWrapper.class);
if (nativeRequest == null) {
return null;
}
Gson gson = new Gson();
Map<String, Object> response = gson.fromJson(nativeRequest.getReader(), new TypeToken<Map<String, Object>>() {
}.getType());
if (response == null) {
return null;
}
JsonParam parameterAnnotation = parameter.getParameterAnnotation(JsonParam.class);
String value = parameterAnnotation.value();
Class<?> parameterType = parameter.getParameterType();
return response.get(value);
}
}
#Configuration
public class JsonParamConfig extends WebMvcConfigurerAdapter {
#Autowired
JsonParamMethodResolver jsonParamMethodResolver;
#Override
public void addArgumentResolvers(List<HandlerMethodArgumentResolver> argumentResolvers) {
argumentResolvers.add(jsonParamMethodResolver);
}
}
#PostMapping("/methodName")
public void methodName(#JsonParam("aaabbcc") String ddeeff) {
System.out.println(username);
}

Can you configure Spring controller specific Jackson deserialization?

I need to add a custom Jackson deserializer for java.lang.String to my Spring 4.1.x MVC application. However all answers (such as this) refer to configuring the ObjectMapper for the complete web application and the changes will apply to all Strings across all #RequestBody in all controllers.
I only want to apply the custom deserialization to #RequestBody arguments used within particular controllers. Note that I don't have the option of using #JsonDeserialize annotations for the specific String fields.
Can you configure custom deserialization for specific controllers only?

To have different deserialization configurations you must have different ObjectMapper instances but out of the box Spring uses MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter which is designed to use only one instance.
I see at least two options here:
Move away from MessageConverter to an ArgumentResolver
Create a #CustomRequestBody annotation, and an argument resolver:
public class CustomRequestBodyArgumentResolver implements HandlerMethodArgumentResolver {
private final ObjectMapperResolver objectMapperResolver;
public CustomRequestBodyArgumentResolver(ObjectMapperResolver objectMapperResolver) {
this.objectMapperResolver = objectMapperResolver;
}
#Override
public boolean supportsParameter(MethodParameter methodParameter) {
return methodParameter.getParameterAnnotation(CustomRequestBody.class) != null;
}
#Override
public Object resolveArgument(MethodParameter methodParameter, ModelAndViewContainer mavContainer, NativeWebRequest webRequest, WebDataBinderFactory binderFactory) throws Exception {
if (this.supportsParameter(methodParameter)) {
ObjectMapper objectMapper = objectMapperResolver.getObjectMapper();
HttpServletRequest request = (HttpServletRequest) webRequest.getNativeRequest();
return objectMapper.readValue(request.getInputStream(), methodParameter.getParameterType());
} else {
return WebArgumentResolver.UNRESOLVED;
}
}
}
#CustomRequestBody annotation:
#Target(ElementType.PARAMETER)
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
#Documented
public #interface CustomRequestBody {
boolean required() default true;
}
ObjectMapperResolver is an interface we will be using to resolve actual ObjectMapper instance to use, I will discuss it below. Of course if you have only one use case where you need custom mapping you can simply initialize your mapper here.
You can add custom argument resolver with this configuration:
#Configuration
public class WebConfiguration extends WebMvcConfigurerAdapter {
#Bean
public CustomRequestBodyArgumentResolver customBodyArgumentResolver(ObjectMapperResolver objectMapperResolver) {
return new CustomRequestBodyArgumentResolver(objectMapperResolver)
}
#Override
public void addArgumentResolvers(List<HandlerMethodArgumentResolver> argumentResolvers) {
argumentResolvers.add(customBodyArgumentResolver(objectMapperResolver()));
}
}
Note: Do not combine #CustomRequestBody with #RequestBody, it will be ignored.
Wrap ObjectMapper in a proxy that hides multiple instances
MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter is designed to work with only one instance of ObjectMapper. We can make that instance a proxy delegate. This will make working with multiple mappers transparent.
First of all we need an interceptor that will translate all method invocations to an underlying object.
public abstract class ObjectMapperInterceptor implements MethodInterceptor {
#Override
public Object invoke(MethodInvocation invocation) throws Throwable {
return ReflectionUtils.invokeMethod(invocation.getMethod(), getObject(), invocation.getArguments());
}
protected abstract ObjectMapper getObject();
}
Now our ObjectMapper proxy bean will look like this:
#Bean
public ObjectMapper objectMapper(ObjectMapperResolver objectMapperResolver) {
ProxyFactory factory = new ProxyFactory();
factory.setTargetClass(ObjectMapper.class);
factory.addAdvice(new ObjectMapperInterceptor() {
#Override
protected ObjectMapper getObject() {
return objectMapperResolver.getObjectMapper();
}
});
return (ObjectMapper) factory.getProxy();
}
Note: I had class loading issues with this proxy on Wildfly, due to its modular class loading, so I had to extend ObjectMapper (without changing anything) just so I can use class from my module.
It all tied up together using this configuration:
#Configuration
public class WebConfiguration extends WebMvcConfigurerAdapter {
#Bean
public MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter jackson2HttpMessageConverter() {
return new MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter(objectMapper(objectMapperResolver()));
}
#Override
public void configureMessageConverters(List<HttpMessageConverter<?>> converters) {
converters.add(jackson2HttpMessageConverter());
}
}
ObjectMapperResolver implementations
Final piece is the logic that determines which mapper should be used, it will be contained in ObjectMapperResolver interface. It contains only one look up method:
public interface ObjectMapperResolver {
ObjectMapper getObjectMapper();
}
If you do not have a lot of use cases with custom mappers you can simply make a map of preconfigured instances with ReqeustMatchers as keys. Something like this:
public class RequestMatcherObjectMapperResolver implements ObjectMapperResolver {
private final ObjectMapper defaultMapper;
private final Map<RequestMatcher, ObjectMapper> mapping = new HashMap<>();
public RequestMatcherObjectMapperResolver(ObjectMapper defaultMapper, Map<RequestMatcher, ObjectMapper> mapping) {
this.defaultMapper = defaultMapper;
this.mapping.putAll(mapping);
}
public RequestMatcherObjectMapperResolver(ObjectMapper defaultMapper) {
this.defaultMapper = defaultMapper;
}
#Override
public ObjectMapper getObjectMapper() {
ServletRequestAttributes sra = (ServletRequestAttributes) RequestContextHolder.getRequestAttributes();
HttpServletRequest request = sra.getRequest();
for (Map.Entry<RequestMatcher, ObjectMapper> entry : mapping.entrySet()) {
if (entry.getKey().matches(request)) {
return entry.getValue();
}
}
return defaultMapper;
}
}
You can also use a request scoped ObjectMapper and then configure it on a per-request basis. Use this configuration:
#Bean
public ObjectMapperResolver objectMapperResolver() {
return new ObjectMapperResolver() {
#Override
public ObjectMapper getObjectMapper() {
return requestScopedObjectMapper();
}
};
}
#Bean
#Scope(value = WebApplicationContext.SCOPE_REQUEST, proxyMode = ScopedProxyMode.TARGET_CLASS)
public ObjectMapper requestScopedObjectMapper() {
return new ObjectMapper();
}
This is best suited for custom response serialization, since you can configure it right in the controller method. For custom deserialization you must also use Filter/HandlerInterceptor/ControllerAdvice to configure active mapper for current request before the controller method is triggered.
You can create interface, similar to ObjectMapperResolver:
public interface ObjectMapperConfigurer {
void configureObjectMapper(ObjectMapper objectMapper);
}
Then make a map of this instances with RequstMatchers as keys and put it in a Filter/HandlerInterceptor/ControllerAdvice similar to RequestMatcherObjectMapperResolver.
P.S. If you want to explore dynamic ObjectMapper configuration a bit further I can suggest my old answer here. It describes how you can make dynamic #JsonFilters at run time. It also contains my older approach with extended MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter that I suggested in comments.

Probably this would help, but it ain't pretty. It would require AOP. Also I did not validate it.
Create a #CustomAnnotation.
Update your controller:
void someEndpoint(#RequestBody #CustomAnnotation SomeEntity someEntity);
Then implemment the AOP part:
#Around("execution(* *(#CustomAnnotation (*)))")
public void advice(ProceedingJoinPoint proceedingJoinPoint) {
// Here you would add custom ObjectMapper, I don't know another way around it
HttpServletRequest request = ((ServletRequestAttributes) RequestContextHolder.currentRequestAttributes()).getRequest();
String body = request .getReader().lines().collect(Collectors.joining(System.lineSeparator()));
SomeEntity someEntity = /* deserialize */;
// This could be cleaner, cause the method can accept multiple parameters
proceedingJoinPoint.proceed(new Object[] {someEntity});
}

You can create custom deserializer for your String data.
Custom Deserializer
public class CustomStringDeserializer extends JsonDeserializer<String> {
#Override
public String deserialize(JsonParser p, DeserializationContext ctxt) throws IOException {
String str = p.getText();
//return processed String
}
}
Now suppose the String is present inside a POJO use #JsonDeserialize annotation above the variable:
public class SamplePOJO{
#JsonDeserialize(using=CustomStringDeserializer.class)
private String str;
//getter and setter
}
Now when you return it as a response it will be Deserialized in the way you have done it in CustomDeserializer.
Hope it helps.

You could try Message Converters.
They have a context about http input request (for example, docs see here, JSON). How to customize you could see here.
Idea that you could check HttpInputMessage with special URIs, which used in your controllers and convert string as you want.
You could create special annotation for this, scan packages and do it automatically.
Note
Likely, you don't need implementation of ObjectMappers. You can use simple default ObjectMapper to parse String and then convert string as you wish.
In that case you would create RequestBody once.

You can define a POJO for each different type of request parameter that you would like to deserialize. Then, the following code will pull in the values from the JSON into the object that you define, assuming that the names of the fields in your POJO match with the names of the field in the JSON request.
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
YourPojo requestParams = null;
try {
requestParams = mapper.readValue(JsonBody, YourPOJO.class);
} catch (IOException e) {
throw new IOException(e);
}

Spring MVC #RequestBody map Optional<Enum>

I have a rest controller with this method:
#RequestMapping(value = "", method = { RequestMethod.POST }, produces = { MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE })
public ResponseEntity<?> add(#Valid #RequestBody MyModel myModel, Errors errors) {
...
return new ResponseEntity<SomeObject>(someObject, HttpStatus.OK);
}
In MyModel has a field isMeetingOrSale that is enum (MeetingSaleFlag):
public enum MeetingSaleFlag {
MEETING("MEETING"),
SALE("SALE");
private final String name;
private MeetingSaleFlag(String s) { name = s; }
public boolean equalsName(String otherName) {
return (otherName == null) ? false : name.equals(otherName);
}
public String toString() { return this.name; }
}
and it can map a json that has a field "isMeetingOrSale" : "MEETING"
but the value in the json can be "isMeetingOrSale" : "" or completely missing, so in that case I want the field to be mapped to null. If I change the filed to be Optional<MeetingSaleFlag>
I got
Could not read JSON: Can not instantiate value of type [simple type,
class java.util.Optional<MeetingSaleFlag>] from String value
('MEETING'); no single-String constructor/factory method\\n at
[Source: java.io.PushbackInputStream#32b21158; line: 17, column: 18]
(through reference chain: MyModel[\"isMeetingOrSale\"]);
So the question is how can I map Optional enum from json?

Thanks to Sotirios Delimanolis's comment I was able to resolve the issue.
1) Add
<dependency>
<groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.datatype</groupId>
<artifactId>jackson-datatype-jdk8</artifactId>
</dependency>
as a dependency.
2) Reconfigure the Jackson mapper. Register:
#Bean
#Primary
public ObjectMapper jacksonObjectMapper() {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
mapper.registerModule(new Jdk8Module());
return mapper;
}
OR do this to register the jdk8 module
/**
* #return Jackson jdk8 module to be registered with every bean of type
* {#link ObjectMapper}
*/
#Bean
public Module jdk8JacksonModule() {
return new Jdk8Module();
}
Another way to customize Jackson is to add beans of type com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.Module to your context. They will be registered with every bean of type ObjectMapper, providing a global mechanism for contributing custom modules when you add new features to your application.
Doing this will only register the additional module and keep the built-in Jackson configuration provided by Spring Boot.
3) result
Now when the property is missing from the sent json, it's mapped to null
(This is not that great. I was expecting that it will give me an Optional and I will be able to use .isPresent()).
When it's an empty string ("isMeetingOrSale" : ""), Jackson returns an error:
Could not read JSON: Can not construct instance of
MyModel from String value '': value not
one of declared Enum instance names: [VAL1, VAL2]
which looks OK to me.
Useful links : Jackson jdk8 module, Spring MVC configure Jackson

This is an example from our codebase:
#NotNull // You probably don't want this
#JsonSerialize(using=CountrySerializer.class)
#JsonDeserialize(using=CountryDeserializer.class)
private CountryCode country;
where CountryCode is a complex enum (see nv-i18n) and these are the classes to (de)serialized from/to JSON:
public class CountrySerializer extends JsonSerializer<CountryCode> {
#Override
public void serialize(CountryCode value, JsonGenerator jgen, SerializerProvider provider) throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
jgen.writeString(value.getAlpha3()); // Takes the Alpha3 code
}
public Class<CountryCode> handledType() { return CountryCode.class; }
}
and
public class CountryDeserializer extends JsonDeserializer<CountryCode> {
#Override
public CountryCode deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext ctxt) throws IOException {
// You can add here the check whether the field is empty/null
return CountryCode.getByCode(jp.getText());
}
}
You can easily replicate the same scenario using MeetingSaleFlag instead of CountryCode.

JSON parameter in spring MVC controller

I have
#RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.GET)
#ResponseBody
SessionInfo register(UserProfile profileJson){
...
}
I pass profileJson this way:
http://server/url?profileJson={"email": "mymail#gmail.com"}
but my profileJson object has all null fields. What should I do to make spring parse my json?

The solution to this is so easy and simple it will practically make you laugh, but before I even get to it, let me first emphasize that no self-respecting Java developer would ever, and I mean EVER work with JSON without utilizing the Jackson high-performance JSON library.
Jackson is not only a work horse and a defacto JSON library for Java developers, but it also provides a whole suite of API calls that makes JSON integration with Java a piece of cake (you can download Jackson at http://jackson.codehaus.org/).
Now for the answer. Assuming that you have a UserProfile pojo that looks something like this:
public class UserProfile {
private String email;
// etc...
public String getEmail() {
return email;
}
public void setEmail(String email) {
this.email = email;
}
// more getters and setters...
}
...then your Spring MVC method to convert a GET parameter name "profileJson" with JSON value of {"email": "mymail#gmail.com"} would look like this in your controller:
import org.codehaus.jackson.JsonParseException;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.JsonMappingException;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.ObjectMapper; // this is your lifesaver right here
//.. your controller class, blah blah blah
#RequestMapping(value="/register", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public SessionInfo register(#RequestParam("profileJson") String profileJson)
throws JsonMappingException, JsonParseException, IOException {
// now simply convert your JSON string into your UserProfile POJO
// using Jackson's ObjectMapper.readValue() method, whose first
// parameter your JSON parameter as String, and the second
// parameter is the POJO class.
UserProfile profile =
new ObjectMapper().readValue(profileJson, UserProfile.class);
System.out.println(profile.getEmail());
// rest of your code goes here.
}
Bam! You're done. I would encourage you to look through the bulk of Jackson API because, as I said, it is a lifesaver. For example, are you returning JSON from your controller at all? If so, all you need to do is include JSON in your lib, and return your POJO and Jackson will AUTOMATICALLY convert it into JSON. You can't get much easier than that. Cheers! :-)

This could be done with a custom editor, that converts the JSON into a UserProfile object:
public class UserProfileEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport {
#Override
public void setAsText(String text) throws IllegalArgumentException {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
UserProfile value = null;
try {
value = new UserProfile();
JsonNode root = mapper.readTree(text);
value.setEmail(root.path("email").asText());
} catch (IOException e) {
// handle error
}
setValue(value);
}
}
This is for registering the editor in the controller class:
#InitBinder
public void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
binder.registerCustomEditor(UserProfile.class, new UserProfileEditor());
}
And this is how to use the editor, to unmarshall the JSONP parameter:
#RequestMapping(value = "/jsonp", method = RequestMethod.GET, produces = {MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE})
#ResponseBody
SessionInfo register(#RequestParam("profileJson") UserProfile profileJson){
...
}

You can create your own Converter and let Spring use it automatically where appropriate:
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import org.springframework.core.convert.converter.Converter;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
#Component
class JsonToUserProfileConverter implements Converter<String, UserProfile> {
private final ObjectMapper jsonMapper = new ObjectMapper();
public UserProfile convert(String source) {
return jsonMapper.readValue(source, UserProfile.class);
}
}
As you can see in the following controller method nothing special is needed:
#GetMapping
#ResponseBody
public SessionInfo register(#RequestParam UserProfile userProfile) {
...
}
Spring picks up the converter automatically if you're using component scanning and annotate the converter class with #Component.
Learn more about Spring Converter and type conversions in Spring MVC.

This does solve my immediate issue, but I'm still curious as to how you might pass in multiple JSON objects via an AJAX call.
The best way to do this is to have a wrapper object that contains the two (or multiple) objects you want to pass. You then construct your JSON object as an array of the two objects i.e.
[
{
"name" : "object1",
"prop1" : "foo",
"prop2" : "bar"
},
{
"name" : "object2",
"prop1" : "hello",
"prop2" : "world"
}
]
Then in your controller method you recieve the request body as a single object and extract the two contained objects. i.e:
#RequestMapping(value="/handlePost", method = RequestMethod.POST, consumes = { "application/json" })
public void doPost(#RequestBody WrapperObject wrapperObj) {
Object obj1 = wrapperObj.getObj1;
Object obj2 = wrapperObj.getObj2;
//Do what you want with the objects...
}
The wrapper object would look something like...
public class WrapperObject {
private Object obj1;
private Object obj2;
public Object getObj1() {
return obj1;
}
public void setObj1(Object obj1) {
this.obj1 = obj1;
}
public Object getObj2() {
return obj2;
}
public void setObj2(Object obj2) {
this.obj2 = obj2;
}
}

Just add #RequestBody annotation before this param