I do have one domain model with JPA annotations as my application's data structure. Now, let's assume that we have two domain classes with the following fields + getters and setters:
Category
- label
- color
Task
- category
- label
- created
- due
As can be seen, the Task is dependent on the Category class. Now, I have two REST resources: /api/categories and /api/tasks with optional /{id} URI parameters.
Now, when retrieving or updating a Task object through the REST resource, I do not want to send or receive the dependent Category object. I'd rather just have the reference ID within the Task REST object.
{
"id": 123,
"category": {"id": 456},
"label": "Test",
"created": "2014-01-01T00:00:00",
"due": "2014-04-05T00:00:00"
}
If, however, I were to expose my core domain model through the REST resource, Jackson would also put the Category object within the Task object which I do not want.
So, I figured it would be a great idea to have a separate REST representation model. What is the best way to decouple and then convert from REST representation objects to domain objects. I already have figured out to use services which are then injected into the REST resource class, but how do I convert between the two models?
