How to have a @PATCH annotation for JAX-RS?

Question

JAX-RS has annotations for HTTP verbs such as GET (@GET) and POST (@POST) but there is no @PATCH annotation. How

Answer 1

Using JAX-RS 2.1?

JAX-RS 2.1 added @PATCH to the list of supported HTTP methods.

Using Swagger?

When using Swagger to document a REST API, you could use the existing @PATCH annotation defined in the io.swagger.jaxrs package.

Using Jersey and Dropwizard?

Dropwizard defines a @PATCH annotation in the io.dropwizard.jersey package.

Write your own

If the above mentioned approaches don't work for you, you can write your own @PATCH annotation:

@Target({ElementType.METHOD})
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@HttpMethod("PATCH")
public @interface PATCH { }

The @HttpMethod annotation is used to associate the name of a HTTP method with an annotation, creating a what the JAX-RS specification calls resource method designator.

Your own @PATCH annotation should work fine in Swagger.