single custom deserializer for all objects as their ids or embedded whole objects during POST/PUT

Question

@Entity
public Product {
   @Id
   public int id;

   public String name;

   @ManyToOne(cascade = {CascadeType.DETACH} )
   Category category

   @ManyToMany(fetch          


        

Answer 1

Another approach is to use @JsonCreator factory method if you can modify your Entity

private class Product {
    @JsonProperty("category")
    private Category category;

    @JsonProperty("secondaryCategories")
    private List secondaryCategories;
}


private class Category {
    @JsonProperty("id")
    private int id;

    @JsonCreator
    public static Category factory(int id){
        Category p = new Category();
        p.id = id;
        // or some db call 
        return p;
    }
}

Or even something like this should also work

private class Category {
    private int id;

    public Category() {}

    @JsonCreator
    public Category(int id) {
        this.id = id;
    }
}