Returning an Integer from RESTful web services method in java

Question

Am new to RESTful web services. I wrote a web service method and am currently returning an XML by using @Produces(MediaType.TEXT_XML) . But the requirement is that my web service method must return an Integer instead of XML. How can I achieve this? kindly help me with this. Below is the method I wrote.

@Path("{type}/{token}")
@GET
@Produces(MediaType.TEXT_XML)
public String setToken(@Context HttpServletRequest request, @Context HttpServletResponse response, @PathParam("type") String type, @PathParam("token") String token) throws ServletException, IOException {
    String value=token;
    if(request==null){
        System.out.println("Request null");
    }

    System.out.println("Token: " + value);
    System.out.println("AnumLotnum: " + type);

    if(request!=null){
        request.setAttribute("param", value);
        request.getRequestDispatcher("/dummy").include(request, response);
    }

    String id=request.getAttribute("ID").toString();
    return "<token>"+ "<value>"+id+"</value>" + "</token>";
}

Answer 1

Use @Produces(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN) instead of @Produces(MediaType.TEXT_XML)

It will be text as you are using RESTful Webservices which is a pure HTTP implementation(Hyper TEXT Transfer Protocol).

To get an integer you can either cast at Client side manually.

Actually you have two options you may either return String or int , both will do. By returning int, a smart Client like Jersey Http client will automatically cast the String to int for you.

Example

  @Path("{type}/{token}")
    @GET
    @Produces(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN)
    public int setToken(@Context HttpServletRequest request, @Context HttpServletResponse response, @PathParam("type") String type, @PathParam("token") String token) throws ServletException, IOException {
return 1;     
}