Consume Dropwizard REST APIs with Jersey/HTTP Client

We have already built the REST APIs using dropwizard. Now let’s build REST client for consuming REST APIs across the network. Dropwizard includes both Apache HttpClient and Jersey Client. Let’s build out them.

Read More: Dropwizard Hello World Application

Maven Dependency

Dropwizard client module is added as separate module.

<properties>
	<dropwizard.version>1.0.0</dropwizard.version>
</properties>
<dependency>
	<groupId>io.dropwizard</groupId>
	<artifactId>dropwizard-client</artifactId>
	<version>${dropwizard.version}</version>
</dependency>

Dropwizard REST Client Configuration

Dropwizard provide easy to declare and use REST client configuration. You need to create io.dropwizard.client.JerseyClientBuilder instance and give it io.dropwizard.setup.Environment reference.

@Override
public void run(Configuration c, Environment e) throws Exception {
	//Here we added REST Resource
	e.jersey().register(new EmployeeRESTController(e.getValidator()));
	
	//Now we added REST Client Resource named RESTClientController
	final Client client = new JerseyClientBuilder(e).build("DemoRESTClient");
	e.jersey().register(new RESTClientController(client));
}

To add HTTP Client, use similar steps as below:

@Override
public void run(Configuration c, Environment e) throws Exception {
	//Here we added REST Resource
	e.jersey().register(new EmployeeRESTController(e.getValidator()));
	
	//Now we added REST Client Resource named RESTClientController
	final HttpClient client = new HttpClientBuilder(e).build("DemoRESTClient");
	e.jersey().register(new RESTClientController(client));
}

The default configuration for HttpClientConfiguration is as follows:

timeout: 500ms
connectionTimeout: 500ms
timeToLive: 1 hour
cookiesEnabled: false
maxConnections: 1024
maxConnectionsPerRoute: 1024
keepAlive: 0s

The default configuration for JerseyClientConfiguration is as follows:

minThreads: 1
maxThreads: 128
gzipEnabled: true
gzipEnabledForRequests: true

//same as HttpClientConfiguration
timeout: 500ms
connectionTimeout: 500ms
timeToLive: 1 hour
cookiesEnabled: false
maxConnections: 1024
maxConnectionsPerRoute: 1024
keepAlive: 0s

Dropwizard REST Client Resource

Now when you have access to javax.ws.rs.client.Client or org.apache.http.client.HttpClient inside REST client resource RESTClientController.java, you can library specific methods to call HTTP URIs as usual.

package com.howtodoinjava.rest.controller;

import java.util.ArrayList;

import javax.ws.rs.GET;
import javax.ws.rs.Path;
import javax.ws.rs.PathParam;
import javax.ws.rs.Produces;
import javax.ws.rs.client.Client;
import javax.ws.rs.client.Invocation;
import javax.ws.rs.client.WebTarget;
import javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType;
import javax.ws.rs.core.Response;

import com.howtodoinjava.rest.representations.Employee;

@Produces(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN)
@Path("/client/")
public class RESTClientController 
{
	private Client client;

	public RESTClientController(Client client) {
		this.client = client;
	}
	
	@GET
	@Path("/employees/")
	public String getEmployees()
	{
		//Do not hard code in your application
		WebTarget webTarget = client.target("http://localhost:8080/employees");
		Invocation.Builder invocationBuilder =  webTarget.request(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON);
		Response response = invocationBuilder.get();
		@SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
		ArrayList employees = response.readEntity(ArrayList.class);
		return employees.toString();
	}
	
	@GET
	@Path("/employees/{id}")
	public String getEmployeeById(@PathParam("id") int id)
	{
		//Do not hard code in your application
		WebTarget webTarget = client.target("http://localhost:8080/employees/"+id);
		Invocation.Builder invocationBuilder =  webTarget.request(MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON);
		Response response = invocationBuilder.get();
		Employee employee = response.readEntity(Employee.class);
		return employee.toString();
	}
}

In above class, I have accessed REST APIs created in dropwizard hello world tutorial.

After accessing the APIs, I have returned the response in plain text form as show in below image.

I have set the context path of the client resource class to /client/ to logically separate the URIs of client and service endpoints.

Read More :

Jersey RESTful Client Examples
Apache HttpClient GET/POST Request Examples

Drop me your questions in comments section.

Happy Learning !!