Return only some values in json instead full entity object

Question

I Have a problem with creating response from my RESTful application in JPA. It's like a simulation of the Filmaffinty or imbd websites.

I only want to return only specifics values from a Movie (id, year, name). Also I want to return the value of the item search (if is a movie, MOVIE, is a tv_show, SERIE). That value isn't an attribut from the entity.

import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
@Path("/search")
@RequestScoped
public class SearchRESTService extends RESTService {

@EJB
MovieService ms;

@EJB
ListMovieService lms;

@EJB
SeriaService ss;

@GET
@Path("/")
@Produces(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON)

public Response search(@Context HttpServletRequest req) {
    if (!checkLoggedIn(req)) {
        throw new WebApplicationException("User not logged.");
    }
    String name = req.getParameter("n_name");
    String typeFilter = req.getParameter("movie");
    SearchResult sr = new SearchResult();
    sr.movies = ms.getAllMovies();
    switch (typeFilter){
        case "movie":
            sr.movies = ms.getMovieByName(name);
            break;
        /*case "tv_show":
            sr.series = ms.getSeriesByName(name);
            break;
            */

    }

    return buildResponse(sr);
}
static class SearchResult {
    @JsonProperty("Movies")
    Collection<Movie> movies;
    @JsonProperty("List_Movies")
    Collection<ListMovie> listMovies;
    @JsonProperty("Series")
    Collection<Seria> series;
}
}

Is it possible to add a "new value" to a JSON. I mean, I have got the class Movie and I want to return to the JSON the type of the item search. Example: if I search a Movie, the JSON has to return itemType = movie, if it a tv_show, itemType = serie

For example this should be my JSON if I search Titanic:

{
     "id": 18926,
     "name": "Titanic",
     "itemType": "Movie",
     "year": 1997
}

Answer 1

Don't modify the JSON - that's just a rendering of the object returned.

Instead, return a different object type, perhaps a SearchResult object. Create, populate, modify it as you like, then let the JSON library do its thing.