Scala JSON serialization support in Jersey 2.5 - json

Question

I have created a Jersey 2.5 Scala REST API Project.
I have a ResourceConfig file, we will call it MyApplication, that looks similar to this:
class MyApplication extends ResourceConfig {
packages(classOf[MyResource].getPackage().getName())
}
All it does is register the resource: MyResource. How can I configure Jersey (2.5) to provide out-of-the-box style JSON Serialization/Deserialization.
For example, here is what MyResource might look like:
#Path("/")
class MyResource {
#POST
#Produces(Array("application/json"))
#Consumes(Array("application/json"))
def getIt(request:SomeRequestModel) = {
/* Do something with the request, return some response model */
return new SomeResponseModel
}
}
So to reiterate, how can I configure Jersey to automatically deserialize and serialize the request and response models, respectively?

Answer 1

It's not actually Jersey that provides the serialisation, it simply draws on an implementation of JAX-RS to perform that role.
Assuming Jersey is a strict requirement, the easiest solution here is to use jackson with Scala bindings. You can find an example here: https://bitbucket.org/jordipradel/jersey-scala-example
If you're not completely tied to Jersey... Might I suggest trying either Spray or spray2-mini instead for a far more idiomatic Scala solution?

Answer 2

I have used Jersey little when developing Java REST services. However, I would say you appear to be conflating two concepts--registering JAX-RS providers and configuring providers to serialize/deserialize JSON.
To register a provider, you use ResourceConfig as you have done.
As for the second issue of configuring Jersey to "know" how to serialize/deserialize JSON:
"As stated in Section 4.3, “Auto-Discoverable Features” JSON-Processing media module is one of the modules where you don't need to explicitly register it's Features (JsonProcessingFeature) in your client/server Configurable as this feature is automatically discovered and registered when you add jersey-media-json-processing module to your classpath."
To add the Jackson flavor of that module to the classpath, you just manually put it there or do this with Maven:
<dependency>
<groupId>org.glassfish.jersey.media</groupId>
<artifactId>jersey-media-json-jackson</artifactId>
<version>2.5</version>
</dependency>
I chose Jackson because it is in my view the best JSON serializer/deserializer in the Java realm.
Having said all this, I once experimented writing services with my preferred Java REST framework, RESTEasy, in Scala. It was more awkward than my first date. Scala and RESTEasy just don't fit together because of an idiom mismatch, issues with types, and so on.
If you want to write REST services in Scala, please consider frameworks built with the language in mind like Scalatra, Unfiltered, or Spray.