Java - Date values used in Json + Jersey RESTful

Question

I have a java simple web-service which receives a String and a Date value. The thing is that if I make it receive the String only, it works, but with the Date field then it throws an exception saying "Error 500".

Here's the Entity and the Web-Serice in java:

@Entity
@XmlRootElement
public class entityABC implements Serializable {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
    @Id
    private String userId;
    @Temporal(javax.persistence.TemporalType.DATE)
    private Date startTime;
}

The service declaration:

@POST
@Override
@Consumes({"application/xml", "application/json"})
public void create(EntityABC entity) {
    super.create(entity);
}

Now, I send this Json (POST) from a C# app using JavaScriptSerializer() :

{\"userId\":\"mail@gmail.com\",\"startTime\":\"\\/Date(1380333600000)\\/\"}

What am I doing wrong here? This happens only with the Date fields; with the other basic field types it works OK.

UPDATE:

[2013-09-28T03:14:46.383-0430] [glassfish 4.0] [WARNING] [] [javax.enterprise.web] [tid: _ThreadID=97 _ThreadName=http-listener-1(4)] [timeMillis: 1380354286383] [levelValue: 900] [[
  StandardWrapperValve[outlook.crm.service.ApplicationConfig]: Servlet.service() for servlet outlook.crm.service.ApplicationConfig threw exception
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Object: null is not a known entity type.
    at org.eclipse.persistence.internal.jpa.EntityManagerImpl.persist(EntityManagerImpl.java:493)
    at com.sun.enterprise.container.common.impl.EntityManagerWrapper.persist(EntityManagerWrapper.java:287)
    at outlook.crm.service.AbstractFacade.create(AbstractFacade.java:22)
    at outlook.crm.service.AppointmentFacadeREST.create(AppointmentFacadeREST.java:37)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at org.glassfish.ejb.security.application.EJBSecurityManager.runMethod(EJBSecurityManager.java:1081)
    at org.glassfish.ejb.security.application.EJBSecurityManager.invoke(EJBSecurityManager.java:1153)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.invokeBeanMethod(BaseContainer.java:4695)
    at com.sun.ejb.EjbInvocation.invokeBeanMethod(EjbInvocation.java:630)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeChainImpl.invokeNext(InterceptorManager.java:822)
    at com.sun.ejb.EjbInvocation.proceed(EjbInvocation.java:582)
    at org.jboss.weld.ejb.AbstractEJBRequestScopeActivationInterceptor.aroundInvoke(AbstractEJBRequestScopeActivationInterceptor.java:46)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeInterceptor.intercept(InterceptorManager.java:883)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeChainImpl.invokeNext(InterceptorManager.java:822)
    at com.sun.ejb.EjbInvocation.proceed(EjbInvocation.java:582)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.SystemInterceptorProxy.doCall(SystemInterceptorProxy.java:163)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.SystemInterceptorProxy.aroundInvoke(SystemInterceptorProxy.java:140)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeInterceptor.intercept(InterceptorManager.java:883)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.AroundInvokeChainImpl.invokeNext(InterceptorManager.java:822)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.interceptors.InterceptorManager.intercept(InterceptorManager.java:369)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.__intercept(BaseContainer.java:4667)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.BaseContainer.intercept(BaseContainer.java:4655)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandler.invoke(EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandler.java:212)
    at com.sun.ejb.containers.EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandlerDelegate.invoke(EJBLocalObjectInvocationHandlerDelegate.java:88)
    at $Proxy321.create(Unknown Source)
    at outlook.crm.service.__EJB31_Generated__AppointmentFacadeREST__Intf____Bean__.create(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.internal.ResourceMethodInvocationHandlerFactory$1.invoke(ResourceMethodInvocationHandlerFactory.java:81)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.internal.AbstractJavaResourceMethodDispatcher.invoke(AbstractJavaResourceMethodDispatcher.java:125)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.internal.JavaResourceMethodDispatcherProvider$VoidOutInvoker.doDispatch(JavaResourceMethodDispatcherProvider.java:136)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.internal.AbstractJavaResourceMethodDispatcher.dispatch(AbstractJavaResourceMethodDispatcher.java:91)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.ResourceMethodInvoker.invoke(ResourceMethodInvoker.java:346)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.ResourceMethodInvoker.apply(ResourceMethodInvoker.java:341)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.server.model.ResourceMethodInvoker.apply(ResourceMethodInvoker.java:101)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.server.ServerRuntime$1.run(ServerRuntime.java:224)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.internal.Errors$1.call(Errors.java:271)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.internal.Errors$1.call(Errors.java:267)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.internal.Errors.process(Errors.java:315)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.internal.Errors.process(Errors.java:297)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.internal.Errors.process(Errors.java:267)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.process.internal.RequestScope.runInScope(RequestScope.java:317)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.server.ServerRuntime.process(ServerRuntime.java:198)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.server.ApplicationHandler.handle(ApplicationHandler.java:946)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.WebComponent.service(WebComponent.java:323)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer.service(ServletContainer.java:372)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer.service(ServletContainer.java:335)
    at org.glassfish.jersey.servlet.ServletContainer.service(ServletContainer.java:218)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.service(StandardWrapper.java:1682)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:318)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:160)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.doInvoke(StandardPipeline.java:734)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardPipeline.invoke(StandardPipeline.java:673)
    at com.sun.enterprise.web.WebPipeline.invoke(WebPipeline.java:99)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:174)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.doService(CoyoteAdapter.java:357)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:260)
    at com.sun.enterprise.v3.services.impl.ContainerMapper.service(ContainerMapper.java:188)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpHandler.runService(HttpHandler.java:191)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpHandler.doHandle(HttpHandler.java:168)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.http.server.HttpServerFilter.handleRead(HttpServerFilter.java:189)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.ExecutorResolver$9.execute(ExecutorResolver.java:119)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.executeFilter(DefaultFilterChain.java:288)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.executeChainPart(DefaultFilterChain.java:206)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.execute(DefaultFilterChain.java:136)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.filterchain.DefaultFilterChain.process(DefaultFilterChain.java:114)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.ProcessorExecutor.execute(ProcessorExecutor.java:77)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.nio.transport.TCPNIOTransport.fireIOEvent(TCPNIOTransport.java:838)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.AbstractIOStrategy.fireIOEvent(AbstractIOStrategy.java:113)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.WorkerThreadIOStrategy.run0(WorkerThreadIOStrategy.java:115)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.WorkerThreadIOStrategy.access$100(WorkerThreadIOStrategy.java:55)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.strategies.WorkerThreadIOStrategy$WorkerThreadRunnable.run(WorkerThreadIOStrategy.java:135)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.threadpool.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.doWork(AbstractThreadPool.java:564)
    at org.glassfish.grizzly.threadpool.AbstractThreadPool$Worker.run(AbstractThreadPool.java:544)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:722)
]]

Answer 1

You mentioned that you are using Jersey, but you don't say which binding provider you are using. Regardless of what binding provider you are using, you'll need a way of telling your binding provider how it should parse dates. I think it should be possible to configure a default date parser globally, but it's probably easier to add an extra annotation to your POJO that defines the date format.

If you are using Moxy, you could configure a custom date parser using @XmlJavaTypeAdapter as demonstrated here . Similar mechanisms exist for other JSON binding providers. Moxy has the advantage that it uses the same annotations to customize both the XML & JSON bindings.

If you are using a standard date representation (eg ISO-8601 ) , the binding provider might even support it out of the box so that you don't need to write a custom date parser (although it isn't difficult to do).

In the json snippet you provided the date is represented as "startTime":"\\/Date(1380333600000)\\/" with 1380333600000 being the number of milliseconds elapsed since midnight 01 January, 1970 UTC. In order to parse this you probably need to provide a custom date parser as this isn't a "standard" date representation.

I recommend using a more universal date representation (or at least a more human-readable one) as the contract of your web service should be as universal as possible and not tight to a representation used by a specific framework (in this case the C#'s JavaScriptSerializer )