REST. Jersey. How to programmatically choose what type to return: JSON or XML?

Question

I have 2 questions:

1. Can I create one class, annotate it with JAXB annotations(for XML support) and declare in web.xml

Answer 1

No need for seperate classes, what you need is seperate methods:

@GET
@Produces({ MediaType.APPLICATION_XML, MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON })
public Todo getXML() {
    Todo todo = new Todo();
    todo.setSummary("This is my first todo");
    todo.setDescription("This is my first todo");
    return todo;
}

Then in the client side, when you request for the service, you indicate in what format you want it:

// Get XML
System.out.println(service.path("rest").path("todo").accept(MediaType.TEXT_XML).get(String.class));
// Get XML for application
System.out.println(service.path("rest").path("todo").accept(MediaType.APPLICATION_XML).get(String.class));
// Get JSON for application
System.out.println(service.path("rest").path("todo").accept(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON).get(String.class));