springfox swagger configuration for JsonNode property in a model class - json

Question

I have a Model 'NewModel' with the following property
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
#ApiModel(
description = "Data Class to hold new details"
)
public class NewModel {
#ApiModelProperty(
notes = "Value in JSON key:value format. Can be any key:value pair",
example = "{ds:2017:08:05,hh:11}"
)
private final JsonNode value;
(... getters and setters ...)
}
Apart from this, I have some rest controllers which get a JSON in request body. I use this model to get the JSOn from request body.
I have configured springfox swagger using maven, and generated the api definition. But in the generated API definitions, this model has been generated as
"NewModel": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"value": {
"example": "{nds:2017:08:05,hh:11}",
"description": "Value of the stamp in JSON key:value format",
"$ref": "#/definitions/JsonNode"
}
},
"description": "Data Class to hold details"
}
And the reference JsonNode definition generated is
"definitions": {
"JsonNode": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"array": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"bigDecimal": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"bigInteger": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"binary": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"boolean": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"containerNode": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"double": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"float": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"floatingPointNumber": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"int": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"integralNumber": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"long": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"missingNode": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"nodeType": {
"type": "string",
"enum": [
"ARRAY",
"BINARY",
"BOOLEAN",
"MISSING",
"NULL",
"NUMBER",
"OBJECT",
"POJO",
"STRING"
]
},
"null": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"number": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"object": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"pojo": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"short": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"textual": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"valueNode": {
"type": "boolean"
}
}
}
Now, when I generate a client library with this API definition, the JsonNode Object allowed on the client side has only Boolean variables, and I cannot assign actual JSON strings to it, and hence cannot pass a JSON value to the connecting server (from which I generated the API definitions)
I was wondering is there was a way I could get to pass Json Strings from client to server using the swagger generated libraries. Or any other directions in which I can achieve the required end result.
Thanks (and apologies for the long post)

Answer 1

An attribute in ApiModelProperty, dataType="java.util.Map" should help
public class NewModel {
#ApiModelProperty(
example = "{ds:2017:08:05,hh:11}",
dataType = "java.util.Map"
)
private final JsonNode value;

Answer 2

Perhaps AlternateTypeRuleConvention, which is introduced in Springfox, will help you.
For example, you can do this:
#Bean
public AlternateTypeRuleConvention typeConvention(final TypeResolver resolver) {
return new AlternateTypeRuleConvention() {
#Override
public int getOrder() {
return Ordered.HIGHEST_PRECEDENCE;
}
#Override
public List<AlternateTypeRule> rules() {
return Collections.singletonList(
AlternateTypeRules.newRule(resolver.resolve(JsonNode.class), resolver.resolve(jsonNodeApi()))
);
}
};
}
private Type jsonNodeApi() {
return new AlternateTypeBuilder()
.fullyQualifiedClassName(
String.format("%s.generated.%s",
JsonNode.class.getPackage().getName(),
JsonNode.class.getSimpleName()))
.build();
}
AlternateTypeBuilder also allows you to specify custom fields if necessary.