Changes to JSON serialization and parsing (as of 2.3)

As of 2.3.x, we have made several changes to how JSON is serialized and parsed.

If you created custom extensions using the MDEXStateManager, MDEXSecurityManager, or QueryFunctions, or have built custom components, you will need to update them.

The changes are:

• Previously, the QueryFunction serialization and parsing framework required a string version of setters for any non-string properties. This is no longer required. If any setters are left with both string and other data type overloads, JSON deserialization will break.
• Jackson annotations can now be used to customize JSON output for custom QueryFunctions.
• The following interfaces have been removed:
  • com.endeca.portal.data.functions.QueryFunction.getInstance
  • com.endeca.portal.data.functions.QueryFunction.toJSON
• Built-in QueryFunctions no longer set their content in the PassThroughElements in the Conversation Service.
• The default MDEXSecurityManager has been updated to adjust how it serializes and parses QueryFunctions.
• Previously, the JSON produced by serialization converted all values to Strings regardless of their type.

  So an object with a boolean getter or an int getter would return "prop":"true" or "prop":"42", instead of "prop":true or "prop":42.

  The new QueryFunctionUtils can parse JSON of the form "prop":"true" into an object with a boolean setter. This could potentially affect the following QueryFilter-generated JSON:

  • ExposeRefinement - dimExposed, exposeAll
  • RefinementFilter - isNavigable
  • SearchFilter - isSearchWithin, enableSnippeting, snippetLength
  Note: This does not mean that bookmarks, deep links, or data source definitions will become invalid.
• In JSON serializations, RecordDetailsConfig must have both attributeKey and attributeValue properties.

To reflect these changes, you will need to update your custom QueryFunctions. As a reminder, make sure you load all custom QueryFunctions into the global classloader.

The required changes are:

1. Remove the string setters for non-string properties. To do this, either:
   • Delete the string overload, or
   • Add @ org.codehaus.jackson.annotate.JsonIgnore to any methods that include both String and the actual datatype.

     For example:

     void setIsShown(boolean shown) { ... }
     void @JsonIgnore setIsShown(String shown) { ... }

2. Remove all getGetters and getSetters.
3. For com.endeca.portal.data.functions.QueryFunction.getInstanceMove, move customizations to:

   com.endeca.portal.data.functions.utils.QueryFunctionUtils.fromString/fromJSONObject

   For com.endeca.portal.data.functions.QueryFunction.toJSON, move customizations to:

   com.endeca.portal.data.functions.utils.QueryFunctionUtils.toString/toJSONObject

   Update any custom MDEXStateManagers that relied on these removed QueryFunction interfaces.

4. Update any customized versions of the MDEXSecurityManager to reflect the change to the serialization and parsing of QueryFunctions.
5. Instead of scanning the com.endeca.mdex.conversation.Results object's passthrough elements for filters, look in MDEXState/DataSource.getQueryState().