how to send a request that contains dom Element in JSON format using jersey REST client

Question

I have jersey REST client in my java application, I want to send a request in JSON format, and the request object contains Element .

When I send request with XML format everything works fine, but when try to send request with JSON format server failed to send a request.

If I create Element without appending to a Document it generate following error:

com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: Direct self-reference leading to cycle

If I create Element and append it to a Document it generate following error( doc.appendChild(root); ):

com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: Infinite recursion (StackOverflowError)

this is the way I create my request Object:

public OTAAirLowFareSearchRS AirLowFareSearch(OTAAirLowFareSearchRQ request) throws Exception {
        OTAAirLowFareSearchRS response = new OTAAirLowFareSearchRS();
        DocumentBuilderFactory dbf = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
        DocumentBuilder builder = dbf.newDocumentBuilder();
        Document doc = builder.newDocument();
        Element root = doc.createElement("TPA_Extension");
        doc.appendChild(root); // This the line I mention above that create different errors
        Element e = doc.createElement("CUSTOM_VAR");
        root.appendChild(e);
        e.insertBefore(doc.createTextNode("CUSTOM_VALUE"), e.getLastChild());
        TPAExtensionsType tpa = new TPAExtensionsType();
        tpa.getAny().add(root);
        request.getPOS().getSource().get(0).setTPAExtensions(tpa);
        JacksonJsonProvider jacksonJsonProvider = new JacksonJaxbJsonProvider().configure(SerializationFeature.FAIL_ON_EMPTY_BEANS, false);
        Client client = ClientBuilder.newClient(new ClientConfig(jacksonJsonProvider));
        WebTarget target = client.target(GlobalVariable.bus_url).path("AirLowFareSearch");
        response = target
                .request(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_TYPE)
                .post(Entity.entity(request, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_TYPE),
                OTAAirLowFareSearchRS.class);
        return response;
}

When I send my request with XML format like below everything works:

        //JacksonJsonProvider jacksonJsonProvider = new JacksonJaxbJsonProvider().configure(SerializationFeature.FAIL_ON_EMPTY_BEANS, false);
        //Client client = ClientBuilder.newClient(new ClientConfig(jacksonJsonProvider));
        Client client = ClientBuilder.newClient();
        WebTarget target = client.target(GlobalVariable.bus_url).path("AirLowFareSearch");
        response = target
                .request(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_TYPE)
                .post(Entity.entity(request, MediaType.APPLICATION_XML_TYPE),
                OTAAirLowFareSearchRS.class);

When I send my request without adding Element I can send JSON request too (so there is no error in configuring JSON ).

Also this is Open Travel object and I can't change the request too.

Please help me.

Answer 1

the problem comes from DOM Elements. the best way to solve it is to use map instead of DOM elements so you can deal with Maps easily.