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Array of Objects comes like String to Spring controller from Ajax

I pass array of items from JS to spring controller. I have this model in JS:
function Row() {
this.id = 0;
this.rulingValue = '';
this.rulingType = '';
this.dateStart = '';
this.dateEnd = '';
}
I have array of Rows - var jsonData = [];
Then I fill this array. And set to
var oMyForm = new FormData();
oMyForm.append("items", jsonData);
In Spring controller I expect this array like List<Item>
#Data
public class Item {
private String id;
private String rulingValue;
private String rulingType;
private String dateStart;
private String dateEnd;
}
#RequestParam("items") List<Item> items
But my items parameter arrive as String. How can I get this array like List<Item>?

Springs preferred way to send JSON to a Controller is as body payload rather than as form parameter. To do so, you just have to do three things:
Make sure you have a JSON library in the classpath, e.g. fasterxml.jackson.
Ensure your JSON payload is sent via POST request with HTTP Content-Type "application/json"
Annotate the receiving parameter in your Controller handler method with #RequestBody, e.g.
getItems(#RequestBody List items)
A complete example can be found here: http://www.beabetterdeveloper.com/2013/07/spring-mvc-requestbody-and-responsebody.html
If you stay with sending your data as form parameter, you will have to write a custom property editor along the lines indicated here: JSON parameter in spring MVC controller. It is much harder and requires extra code.

sending javascript object arrays as parameters to controller

Question is pretty self explanatory. I want to send 2 different arrays of objects through a POST form without ajax to my controller.
I changed my question to using ajax and using a get request due to the size of the params. Currently getting a 400 (Bad Request). I have no idea why. Please take a look...
I have objects:
var phone = {phoneId:"", phoneNumber:"", phoneType:""};
var schedule = {scheduleId:"", time:"", day:""};
Which I place into a javascript arrays:
var phones = [phone1, phone2, phone3];
var schedules = [schedule1, schedule2];
and I use ajax to send:
var data = {
index: id,
schedules: schedules,
phones: phones
}
var url = "/myController/myUrl"
$.getJSON(url, data, function(result){
if(result.ok){
$('#messageAlertSuccess').show();
} else {
$('#messageAlertError').show();
}
});
I created wrapping classes to map them like so:
public class PhoneWrapper(){
private String phoneId;
private String phoneNumber;
private String phoneType;
}
And of course the scheduleWrapper follows the same convention.
Here's the method in my controller:
#ResponseBody
#RequestMapping(value="/myUrl", method=RequestMethod.GET)
public Result doSomething(#RequestParam("index") int index,
#RequestParam("phones") Set<PhoneWrapper> phoneWrappers,
#RequestParam("schedules") Set<ScheduleWrapper> scheduleWrappers,
Model model,
HttpSession session){
//do stuff here.
}
I am currently getting a 400. So what's wrong?
Update: here's the url that the .getJSON jquery method is building:
http://localhost:8080/myApp/myController/myUrl?index=9&schedules%5B0%5D%5BscheduleId%5D=1&schedules%5B0%5D%5BfromDay%5D=Monday&schedules%5B0%5D%5BtoDay%5D=Friday&schedules%5B0%5D%5BfromTime%5D=08%3A30%3A00&schedules%5B0%5D%5BtoTime%5D=16%3A00%3A00&schedules%5B1%5D%5BscheduleId%5D=5&schedules%5B1%5D%5BfromDay%5D=Saturday&schedules%5B1%5D%5BtoDay%5D=Monday&schedules%5B1%5D%5BfromTime%5D=09%3A00%3A00&schedules%5B1%5D%5BtoTime%5D=13%3A00%3A00&phones%5B0%5D%5BphoneId%5D=6&phones%5B0%5D%5BphoneNumber%5D=787-788-1111&phones%5B0%5D%5BphoneType%5D=PHONE&phones%5B1%5D%5BphoneId%5D=106&phones%5B1%5D%5BphoneNumber%5D=787-795-4095&phones%5B1%5D%5BphoneType%5D=FAX

I see a few things that don't look right
unless you have getters and setters in your wrappers (DTO is a better name), i don't use them for my DTOs for xhr calls, you need to change
public class PhoneWrapper(){
private String phoneId;
private String phoneNumber;
private String phoneType;
}
to have public fields vs private
public class PhoneWrapper(){
public String phoneId;
public String phoneNumber;
public String phoneType;
}
Your js arrays are not arrays but objects;
var phones = {phone1, phone2, phone3};
var schedules = {schedule1, schedule2};
Here they are as arrays
var phones = [phone1, phone2, phone3];
var schedules = [schedule1, schedule2];
Make sure you naming is the same of both the js and java sides. I find it very helpful to turn on the debugging when troubleshooting these problems. log4j -
<logger name="org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc" >
<level value="debug" />
</logger>
EDIT
So after the question was updated with more info I notice that it was the same problem as Binding a list in #RequestParam

I would say that you are almost there! The first thing the you need is a wrapper to hold the two Set<> parameters since spring is not able to map a collection directly to parameters (yet?).
Also, there are two ways to handle this kind of requests:
use a json request and #Requestbody with a single javascript object in the request body an map this into a java class (automatically by spring). This means you need to change a little how the data is send down and this approach has one side effect: you cannot merge data simply by defining the parameter as a model attribute.
a second possibility is to stay with the post form submit. Also here you need to create the wrapper and use this one as a requestparam. Either one per Set<> parameter like #Sotirios mentioned in his answer or one parameter which holds both sets. Then you need to modify your submit data to send the phone and schedule information like input fields. I haven't used sets in this case but
lists and the parameter names would look like phoneWrapper[0].phoneId.
The advantage of the second approach is that you can merge the request data with existing values so you do not need to send down a complete phone information all the time.

var phones = {phone1, phone2, phone3};
var schedules = {schedule1, schedule2};
These two are not arrays (square brackets), but objects (curly brackets).
Compare with
var phones = ["phone1", "phone2", "phone3"];
var schedules = ["schedule1", "schedule2"];
and if you are to pass actual object references (phone1, phone2, phone3, schedule1 and schedule2 are object variables) then you need to use
var phones = [phone1, phone2, phone3];
var schedules = [schedule1, schedule2];

For spring the map request parameters to Class instance fields, they have to match the name of the parameter.
So with
<input type="hidden" name="someParameter" value="123"/>
and
public class SomeClass {
private String someParameter;
// getters and setters
}
a Spring controller will be able to be injected with a SomeClass instance whose field someParameter has the value 123 that comes from the html hidden input request parameter. This is also known as a command object.
A javascript array has no meaning to either html or http.
As for the solution, I would keep your class PhoneWrapper, use javascript to populate 3 <input> elements, and change the method definition to
#RequestMapping(value=MY_URL, method=RequestMethod.POST)
public String doSomething(#RequestParam("index") int index,
PhoneWrappers phoneWrappers,
ScheduleWrappers scheduleWrappers,
Model model,
HttpSession session){
Notice there are no more array [] brackets. (You would do the same for ScheduleWrappers).

Can I submit a field value as an array with extjs?

On my form I have a textarea which calls for a list of words. e.g. word1,word2,word3 etc. The user can put as many words as they wish. My application gets this entry back as a single string, "word1,word2,word3" and to convert it to an array I have to do myString.split(",").
I was wondering if it is possible to set up the form so that extjs knows it should convert this to an array when it submits the data? Something like:
var myField = {
xtype : 'textarea',
fieldLabel : 'Words',
name : 'words',
type: 'array'
}
edit: I'd also be happy with having some kind of onSubmit function that sets the value of the field to an array client side before it is sent

Assuming you use extjs 4 and higher I would suggest the following:
Override Ext.form.field.TextArea field and implement it's getModelData( ) function to be something like this:
getModelData: function() {
var me = this,
data = null;
if (!me.disabled && !me.isFileUpload()) {
data = {};
data[me.getName()] = me.getValue().split(",");
}
return data;
}
This will allow Ext to properly interpret your field's model value as a string array. Then the model of your form will contain proper array for your field.
You may call getFieldValues() for your basic form to return corresponding json to send it to server, or you may use Ext MVC functions to work with form's model.

Return multiple values using JSON, jQuery and AJAX and Java

I am trying multiple values ​​to return from my server to AJAX in Java. For now, I use this approach, but it's not a good solution:
Javascript:
success: function(list) {
var firstValue = list[0];
var secondValue = list[1];
var thirdValue = list[2];
}
Java:
ArrayList<ArrayList<String>> list = new ArrayList<ArrayList<String>>();
list.add(infoFirstValue());
list.add(infoThirdValue());
list.add(infoThirdValue());
String glist = gson.toJson(list);
response.getWriter().write(glist);
Is it possible to return several values ​​or an object or an other solution?

If it helps, here's some code snippets based on yours above, showing how to switch to an object-style response instead of an array. Gson includes the class JsonObject which might be the simplest thing for you to use: http://google-gson.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/gson/docs/javadocs/com/google/gson/JsonObject.html
However, Gson's way more powerful than that -- you can actually just serialize a plain old Java object directly, which is probably more elegant than the intermediate step of converting existing data to a JsonObject (see this existing answer: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1668862/good-json-java-library/1668951#1668951). At the very least, the info*Value() methods would probably be better served as methods of an object you were serializing. And instead of storing the returned object properties as functionally-scoped variables in JavaScript, I presume you could just pass the object around and access its properties.
JAVA
JSONObject rv = new JSONObject();
rv.add("firstValue", infoFirstValue());
rv.add("secondValue", infoSecondValue());
rv.add("thirdValue", infoThirdValue());
String gobject = gson.toJson(rv);
response.getWriter().write(gobject);
JAVASCRIPT
success: function(obj){
var firstValue = obj.firstValue;
var secondValue = obj.secondValue;
var thirdValue = obj.thirdValue;
}

Issue with String array in Spring 3

I am trying to post a String[] from client to Spring 3. In Controller side i have defined the method like this.
#RequestMapping(value = "somemethod", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public ModelAndView exportSomething(#RequestParam("sentences") String[] sentences) {
//.. logic
}
The data that im sending looks like this
sentences: ["a","b,c","d"]
The problem is in server side the size of the sentences array is 4. It is splitting b and c as two different words.
Is this a issue with Spring or do i need change something the way i pass on the data?

Its a know issues I guess with Spring framework. See https://jira.springsource.org/browse/SPR-7963

Try sending data in this format.
sentences:"a;b,c;d"
Note in this case your delimiter is ; not , So you have sent a string which contains a list of
#RequestMapping(value = "somemethod", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public ModelAndView exportSomething(#RequestParam("sentences") String sentences) {
String[] sentenceArray = sentences.split(";");
for(String tempString:sentenceArray){
// perform what operation you want to perform
}
}
you will get an array of size three not four in this case.
The reason why your approach is not working is probably because you have used comma which is the default delimiter for an Array.