CXF JAXRS – How do I pass Date as QueryParam

The problem is that JAX-RS dictates that parameter unbundling be done in one of two ways:

1. The parameter bean has a public constructor that accepts a String
2. The parameter bean has a static valueOf(String) method.

In your case, the Date is being unbundled via its Date(String) constructor, which cannot handle the input format your client is sending. You have a couple options available to remedy this:

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Option 1

Get your client to change the format of the date before they send it. This is the ideal, but probably the hardest to accomplish!

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Option 2

Handle the crazy date format. The options for this are:

Change your method signature to accept a string. Attempt to construct a Date object out of that and if that fails, use your own custom SimpleDateFormat class to parse it.

static final DateFormat CRAZY_FORMAT = new SimpleDateFormat("");

public String getData(@QueryParam("date") String dateString) {
    final Date date;
    try {
        date = new Date(dateString); // yes, I know this is a deprecated method
    } catch(Exception e) {
        date = CRAZY_FORMAT.parse(dateString);
    }
}

Define your own parameter class that does the logic mentioned above. Give it a string constructor or static valueOf(String) method that invokes the logic. And an additional method to get the Date when all is said and done.

public class DateParameter implements Serializable {
    public static DateParameter valueOf(String dateString) {
        try {
            date = new Date(dateString); // yes, I know this is a deprecated method
        } catch(Exception e) {
            date = CRAZY_FORMAT.parse(dateString);
        }
    }

    private Date date;
    // Constructor, Getters, Setters
}

public String getData(@QueryParam("date") DateParameter dateParam) {
    final Date date = dateParam.getDate();
}

Or finally, you can register a parameter handler for dates. Where its logic is simply the same as mentioned for the other options above. Note that you need to be using at least CXF 2.5.3 in order to have your parameter handler evaluated before it tries the default unbundling logic.

public class DateHandler implements ParameterHandler<Date> {
    public Map fromString(String s) {
        final Date date;
        try {
            date = new Date(dateString); // yes, I know this is a deprecated method
        } catch(Exception e) {
            date = CRAZY_FORMAT.parse(dateString);
        }
    }
}