JsonIdentityInfo Resolver instantiated in Spring Context

Question

How can I register an ObjectIdResolver to an Spring/Jackson object mapper so that the ObjectIdResolver class gets instantiated by Spring? I would like to use dependency injection in my ObjectIdResolver class.

ObjectIdResolver.java

@Component
public class UserIdResolver implements ObjectIdResolver {

    @Autowired
    UserConverter userConverter;

    @Override
    public void bindItem(ObjectIdGenerator.IdKey id, Object ob) { }

    @Override
    public Object resolveId(ObjectIdGenerator.IdKey id) {
        return userConverter.convert((Integer)id.key);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean canUseFor(ObjectIdResolver resolverType) {
        return getClass().isAssignableFrom(resolverType.getClass());
    }

    @Override
    public ObjectIdResolver newForDeserialization(Object c) {
        return this;
    }

}

Order.java

public class Order  {

    @JsonIdentityInfo(
            generator = ObjectIdGenerators.PropertyGenerator.class,
            property = "id",
            resolver = UserIdResolver.class,
            scope = User.class
    )
    @JsonIdentityReference(alwaysAsId=true)
    private User user;

..

}

spring-servlet.xml

<bean id="objectMapper" class="org.springframework.http.converter.json.Jackson2ObjectMapperFactoryBean"
      p:indentOutput="true" p:simpleDateFormat="yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss.SSSZ" />

<bean class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.MethodInvokingFactoryBean"
      p:targetObject-ref="objectMapper" p:targetMethod="registerModule">
    <property name="arguments">
        <list>
            <bean class="com.fasterxml.jackson.datatype.joda.JodaModule" />
        </list>
    </property>
</bean>

<mvc:annotation-driven conversion-service="conversionService">
    <mvc:message-converters>
        <bean class="org.springframework.http.converter.StringHttpMessageConverter"/>
        <bean class="org.springframework.http.converter.ResourceHttpMessageConverter" />
        <bean class="org.springframework.http.converter.json.MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter">
            <property name="objectMapper" ref="objectMapper" />
        </bean>
    </mvc:message-converters>
</mvc:annotation-driven>

Answer 1

You can try another solution, a little bit more complexe, but you have the full control of deserialization.

Step 1 : Create a JpaEntityResolver

public class JpaEntityResolver extends SimpleObjectIdResolver {

    private EntityManager em;

    private Class<? extends EntityType> entityClass;

    public JpaEntityResolver() {

    }

    public JpaEntityResolver(EntityManager em, Class<? extends EntityType> entityClass) {
        this.em = em;
        this.entityClass = entityClass;
    }

    @Override
    public Object resolveId(IdKey id) {
        Object resolved = super.resolveId(id);
        if (resolved == null) {
            resolved = findEntityById(id);
            bindItem(id, resolved);
        }
        return resolved;
    }

    private Object findEntityById(IdKey idKey) {
        Long id = (Long) idKey.key;
        return em.find(entityClass, id);
    }

    @Override
    public ObjectIdResolver newForDeserialization(Object context) {
        return new JpaEntityResolver(this.em, this.entityClass);
    }
}

Step 2 : Create a custom SpringHandlerInstantiator that help jackson to define dynamically which

@Component
public class TsqBeanHandlerInstantiator extends SpringHandlerInstantiator {

    /** Logger. */
    protected static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(TsqBeanHandlerInstantiator.class.getName());

    private final AutowireCapableBeanFactory beanFactory;

    private final EntityManager em;

    private List<Class<? extends EntityType>> tsqEntities = new ArrayList<>();

    /**
     * Create a new SpringHandlerInstantiator for the given BeanFactory.
     * @param beanFactory the target BeanFactory
     */
    public TsqBeanHandlerInstantiator(AutowireCapableBeanFactory beanFactory, EntityManager em) {
        super(beanFactory);
        this.beanFactory = beanFactory;
        this.em = em;
    }

    @PostConstruct
    public void init()
    {
        //We record all available entity for futur use.
        for (EntityType<?> entity : em.getMetamodel().getEntities()) {
            Class<? extends EntityType> entityClass = (Class<? extends EntityType>) entity.getJavaType();
            String className = entityClass.getName();
            tsqEntities.add(entityClass);
        }       
    }

    @Override
    public JsonDeserializer<?> deserializerInstance(DeserializationConfig config, Annotated annotated, Class<?> implClass) {
        Class entityClass =  annotated.getRawType();
        LOGGER.debug("deserializerInstance : " + entityClass);
        return (JsonDeserializer<?>) this.beanFactory.createBean(implClass);
    }

    /** @since 4.3 */
    @Override
    public ObjectIdGenerator<?> objectIdGeneratorInstance(MapperConfig<?> config, Annotated annotated, Class<?> implClass) {
        Class entityClass =  annotated.getRawType();
        LOGGER.debug("objectIdGeneratorInstance : " + entityClass);
        return (ObjectIdGenerator<?>) this.beanFactory.createBean(implClass);
    }

    /** @since 4.3 */
    @Override
    public ObjectIdResolver resolverIdGeneratorInstance(MapperConfig<?> config, Annotated annotated, Class<?> implClass) {
        Class entityClass =  annotated.getRawType();
        if(!tsqEntities.contains(entityClass))
        {
            return super.resolverIdGeneratorInstance(config, annotated, implClass);
        }
        LOGGER.debug("resolverIdGeneratorInstance : " + entityClass);
        return new JpaEntityResolver(em, entityClass);
    }
}

Step 3 : Register your handler to the ObjectMapper of jacksonHttpMessageConverter

@Configuration
public class WebMvcConfig extends WebMvcConfigurerAdapter {

    private @Autowired MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter jacksonHttpMessageConverter;

    private @Autowired TsqBeanHandlerInstantiator tsqBeanHandlerInstantiator;

    @PostConstruct
    public void init(){
        ObjectMapper objectMapper = jacksonHttpMessageConverter.getObjectMapper();
        objectMapper.setHandlerInstantiator(tsqBeanHandlerInstantiator);
    }
}

Step 4 : Enjoy to use it on your controller

@RequestMapping(method = RequestMethod.POST, produces = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE, consumes = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
public ResponseEntity<Bean> create(HttpServletRequest  request) throws IOException {
    // getting the posted value
    String body = CharStreams.toString(request.getReader());
    Bean bean = jacksonHttpMessageConverter.getObjectMapper().readValue(body, service.getBeanClass());
    Bean saved = service.save(bean);

    URI location = ServletUriComponentsBuilder.fromCurrentRequest().path("/{id}").buildAndExpand(saved.getId()).toUri();
    return ResponseEntity.created(location).body(saved);
}

Answer 2

Actually nowadays it's possible to use @Autowired for your ObjectIdResolver as long as you add the @Autowired in your constructor:

public class CategoryTaskIdResolver implements ObjectIdResolver {

    CategoryTaskRepository categoryTaskRepository;
    
    public CategoryTaskIdResolver(@Autowired CategoryTaskRepository categoryTaskRepo) {
        this.categoryTaskRepository = categoryTaskRepo;
    }
    
    @Override
    public void bindItem(IdKey id, Object pojo) {
    }

    @Override
    public Object resolveId(IdKey id) {
        return categoryTaskRepository.findById((Long) id.key).orElse(null);
    }

    @Override
    public ObjectIdResolver newForDeserialization(Object context) {
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean canUseFor(ObjectIdResolver resolverType) {
        return getClass().isAssignableFrom(resolverType.getClass());;
    }
}

I'm using Spring Boot 2.3.4 and Jackson Databind 2.11.2.

Answer 3

Because a com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.ObjectIdResolver isn't constructed and managed by spring (jackson uses reflection on constructor) there isn't a direct way to accomplished that. I met a similar problem when i want to autowire some dependencies in a jpa EntityListener and found neat trick at: https://guylabs.ch/2014/02/22/autowiring-pring-beans-in-hibernate-jpa-entity-listeners/

/**
 * Helper class which is able to autowire a specified class. It holds a static reference to the {@link org
 * .springframework.context.ApplicationContext}.
 */
public final class AutowireHelper implements ApplicationContextAware {

    private static final AutowireHelper INSTANCE = new AutowireHelper();
    private static ApplicationContext applicationContext;

    private AutowireHelper() {
    }

    /**
     * Tries to autowire the specified instance of the class if one of the specified beans which need to be autowired
     * are null.
     *
     * @param classToAutowire the instance of the class which holds @Autowire annotations
     * @param beansToAutowireInClass the beans which have the @Autowire annotation in the specified {#classToAutowire}
     */
    public static void autowire(Object classToAutowire, Object... beansToAutowireInClass) {
        for (Object bean : beansToAutowireInClass) {
            if (bean == null) {
                applicationContext.getAutowireCapableBeanFactory().autowireBean(classToAutowire);
                return;
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void setApplicationContext(final ApplicationContext applicationContext) {
        AutowireHelper.applicationContext = applicationContext;
    }

    /**
     * @return the singleton instance.
     */
    public static AutowireHelper getInstance() {
        return INSTANCE;
    }

}

So you have to add this AutowireHelper class and change your method:

    @Override
    public ObjectIdResolver newForDeserialization(Object c) {
        AutowireHelper.autowire(this, userConverter);
        return this;
    }