Create a REST service in Java using JAX-RS and Eclipse

In this article, I will be demonstrating creating a REST service in Java using JAX-RS and Eclipse. I will be using Maven and Eclipse.

Create a Project and And Maven Support

Step 1 – Follow the steps in this article to create a web project in Eclipse with Maven Support. You should see a project as follows:

Step 2 – Add Maven dependencies for JAX-RS and Jersey as follows:

<dependency>
      <groupId>asm</groupId>
      <artifactId>asm</artifactId>
      <version>3.3.1</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.sun.jersey</groupId>
      <artifactId>jersey-bundle</artifactId>
      <version>1.19.4</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.json</groupId>
      <artifactId>json</artifactId>
      <version>20170516</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.sun.jersey</groupId>
      <artifactId>jersey-server</artifactId>
      <version>1.19.4</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>com.sun.jersey</groupId>
      <artifactId>jersey-core</artifactId>
      <version>1.19.4</version>
    </dependency>

Modify web.xml

In the WebContent/WEB-INF/web.xml file, add the following content:

<servlet>
   <servlet-name>LearnJava JAX-RS Jersey Application</servlet-name>
   <servlet-class>com.sun.jersey.spi.container.servlet.ServletContainer</servlet-class>
   <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
 </servlet>
 <servlet-mapping>
   <servlet-name>LearnJava JAX-RS Jersey Application</servlet-name>
   <url-pattern>/learnjava/*</url-pattern>
 </servlet-mapping>

Add Code

Create a new class in src called HelloWorldService as follows:

@Path("/hello")
public class HelloWorldService {
  
  @GET
  @Produces("text/plain")
  public String getGreeting() {
    return "Hello World!";
  }
}

Compile

Step 1 – Right Click on Project –> Run As –> Maven Build

Step 2 – If prompted, enter the goals as Clean Install

Deploy

Step 1 – Setup Tomcat in Eclipse if nor already setup. Refer to this blog post for detailed steps

Step 2 – Deploy your application to Tomcat. Refer to this blog post for detailed steps.

Test

Testing Via Browser

Open a browser window and type the following URL:

http://localhost:8080/LearnJavaRestJAXRSJerseyDemo/learnjava/hello

This will display the following page:

Conclusion

So this is how you can create a REST service in Java using JAX-RS and Eclipse.