Why do I need to include #JsonProperty with my RestController - jackson

Question

Rest Controller:
#RequestMapping(value = "/admin/rest/new-subscriptions")
public List<NewSubscriptionDTO> getNewSubscriptions() {
NewSubscriptionDTO dto = new NewSubscriptionDTO();
dto.setId("54");
dto.setName("John Doe");
return Arrays.asList(dto);
}
NewSubscriptionDTO:
package dermatica.web.admin.rx;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
import org.joda.time.DateTime;
import java.io.Serializable;
public class NewSubscriptionDTO implements Serializable {
private String id;
private String name;
public String getId() {
return id;
}
public void setId(String id) {
this.id = id;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
}
I get the following exception:
no properties discovered to create BeanSerializer (to avoid exception,
disable SerializationFeature.FAIL_ON_EMPTY_BEANS)
If I annotate the fields with #JsonProperty it work fine.
Is there a way for the serialization to work automatically without needing this annotation?

Answer 1

#JsonProperty auto-generates a getter/setter that Jackson uses to read/write to the fields during serialization/deserialization. Here are some alternative approaches:
Provide your own public getters/setters for all fields
Make the fields public, generally frowned upon, but if you're creating a simple DTO, that may be acceptable.
Setting ObjectMapper Visibility for FIELD to ANY (see here)
Disable the FAIL_ON_EMPTY_BEANS exception (see here)
Given that your DTO class has getters and setters, this should work without #JsonProperty. I wasn't able to reproduce the exact error message you showed, but here are some suggestions that may help:
[Controller] Explicitly specify the method type as GET, either using method = GET or #GetMapping - not necessary, but it's good to be explicit
[Controller] Make sure you annotate the controller class with #RestController, indicating the response is serialized to JSON and wrapped in an HttpResponse object.
[DTO] You don't need to extend Serializable (see here).
The final controller would look like this:
#RestController
public class MyController {
#GetMapping(value = "/admin/rest/new-subscriptions")
public List<MyDTO> getDTO() {
MyDTO dto = new MyDTO();
dto.setId("54");
dto.setName("John Doe");
return Collections.singletonList(dto);
}
}
Response:
[{"id":"54","name":"John Doe"}]