Maven WADL plugin not producing a usable WADL

Question

I am trying to produce a WADL using the maven plugin. The project builds and the service works. Here is the part of the POM with plugin:

             <plugin>
                <groupId>com.sun.jersey.contribs</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-wadl-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>1.19.2</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <id>generate</id>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>generate</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <phase>package</phase>
                    </execution>
                </executions>

                <configuration>
                    <wadlFile>${basedir}/src/main/docs/ThingREST.wadl</wadlFile>
                    <formatWadlFile>true</formatWadlFile>
                    <baseUri>http://localhost:8080/ThingREST</baseUri>
                    <packagesResourceConfig>
                        <param>samp.rest.ws.controller</param>
                    </packagesResourceConfig>
                    <wadlGenerators>
                        <wadlGeneratorDescription>
                            <className>com.sun.jersey.server.wadl.generators.WadlGeneratorApplicationDoc
                            </className>
                            <properties>
                                <property>
                                    <name>applicationDocsFile</name>
                                    <value>${basedir}/src/main/docs/xml/app-wadl-doc.xml</value>
                                </property>
                            </properties>
                        </wadlGeneratorDescription>
                        <wadlGeneratorDescription>
                            <className>com.sun.jersey.server.wadl.generators.WadlGeneratorGrammarsSupport
                            </className>
                            <properties>
                                <property>
                                    <name>grammarsFile</name>
                                    <value>${basedir}/src/main/docs/xml/app-wadl-grammar.xml</value>
                                </property>
                            </properties>
                        </wadlGeneratorDescription>                        
                    </wadlGenerators>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>

The applicationDocFile and grammarFile exist, but they do not contain any significant info. I am not sure what to include.

Here is the controller:

package samp.rest.ws.controller;

import java.util.List;
import samp.rest.ws.ThingDB;
import samp.rest.ws.vo.Thing;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.PathVariable;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestBody;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMethod;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

/**
 *
 * @author Grayson
 */
@RestController
public class ThingController {

    @RequestMapping(value = "/things", method = RequestMethod.GET, headers = "Accept=application/json") //produces = "application/json")
    public List<Thing> getThings() {
        return ThingDB.getThings();
    }

    @RequestMapping(value = "/thing/{id}", method = RequestMethod.GET, headers = "Accept=application/json")
    public Thing getThingById(@PathVariable int id) {
        return ThingDB.getThing(id);
    }

    @RequestMapping(value = "/thingy/{id}", method = RequestMethod.GET)
    public String getThingy(@PathVariable int id) {
        return ThingDB.getThing(id).toString();
    }

    @RequestMapping(value = "/addthing", method = RequestMethod.PUT) //, headers = "Accept=application/json")    
    public void addThing(@RequestBody Thing thing) {
        ThingDB.addThing(thing);

        List<Thing> lt = ThingDB.getThings();
        for (Thing t : lt) {
            System.out.println(" Post add: " + t.toString());
        }
    }
}

Finally, here is the WADL produced:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<application xmlns="http://wadl.dev.java.net/2009/02">
    <doc
        jersey:generatedBy="Jersey: 1.19.2 08/25/2016 12:00 AM"
        xmlns:jersey="http://jersey.java.net/"/>
    <doc
        title="Maven Spring REST Sample WADL"
        xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[
        This is the Web Application Description Language (WADL) for
        a Maven Spring REST Service. This service is intended to serve as
        a workign model/sample.
    ]]></doc>
    <grammars/>
    <resources base="http://localhost:8080/ThingREST"/>
</application>

I am expecting the WADL to include the available service calls and also identify the input types. Obviously, I am not getting this.

I have searched high and low for examples and documentation to use this plugin. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Sadly, what documentation/examples that do exist seem outdated.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Unfortunately this plugin does not support Spring REST controllers. It will only process classes annotated with @Path and other JAX-RS annotations. There is no other plugin that does what you need. You have two options:

1) Rewrite your controller to use JAX-RS. For example I changed your controller to the following:

package samp.rest.ws.controller;

import java.util.List;
import samp.rest.ws.ThingDB;
import samp.rest.ws.vo.Thing;

import javax.ws.rs.*;

@Path("/thing")
public class ThingController {

    @GET
    @Path(value = "/things")
    @Produces("application/json")
    public List<Thing> getThings() {
        return ThingDB.getThings();
    }

    @GET
    @Path(value = "/thing/{id}")
    @Produces("application/json")
    public Thing getThingById(@PathParam("id") int id) {
        return ThingDB.getThing(id);
    }

    @GET
    @Path(value = "/thingy/{id}")
    public String getThingy(@PathParam("id") int id) {
        return ThingDB.getThing(id).toString();
    }

    @PUT
    @Path(value = "/addthing")
    @Produces("application/json")
    public void addThing(Thing thing) {
        ThingDB.addThing(thing);

        List<Thing> lt = ThingDB.getThings();
        for (Thing t : lt) {
            System.out.println(" Post add: " + t.toString());
        }
    }
}

Then the plugin produces this WADL file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<application xmlns="http://wadl.dev.java.net/2009/02">
    <doc jersey:generatedBy="Jersey: 1.19.2 08/25/2016 12:00 AM" xmlns:jersey="http://jersey.java.net/"/>
    <doc title="A message in the WADL" xml:lang="en"><![CDATA[This is the Web Application Description Language (WADL) for
        a Maven Spring REST Service. This service is intended to serve as
        a workign model/sample.]]></doc>
    <grammars>
        <include href="xsd0.xsd">
            <doc/>
        </include>
    </grammars>
    <resources base="http://localhost:8080/ThingREST">
        <resource path="/thing">
            <resource path="/things">
                <method id="getThings" name="GET">
                    <response>
                        <representation mediaType="application/json"/>
                    </response>
                </method>
            </resource>
            <resource path="/addthing">
                <method id="addThing" name="PUT">
                    <request>
                        <representation mediaType="*/*"/>
                    </request>
                </method>
            </resource>
            <resource path="/thing/{id}">
                <param name="id" style="template" type="xs:int" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"/>
                <method id="getThingById" name="GET">
                    <response>
                        <representation mediaType="application/json"/>
                    </response>
                </method>
            </resource>
            <resource path="/thingy/{id}">
                <param name="id" style="template" type="xs:int" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"/>
                <method id="getThingy" name="GET">
                    <response>
                        <representation mediaType="*/*"/>
                    </response>
                </method>
            </resource>
        </resource>
    </resources>
</application>

2) Write your own Maven WADL plugin that supports Spring REST controllers. For reference, you can look at this generator in the form of web service:

https://javattitude.com/2014/05/26/wadl-generator-for-spring-rest/

And the source code of Maven WADL plugin:

https://github.com/jersey/jersey-1.x/tree/master/contribs/maven-wadl-plugin