Chapter 4. Defining REST Services

Apache Camel provides many different approaches and components for defining REST services in your Camel applications. This section provides a quick overview of these different approaches and components, so that you can decide which implementation and API best suits your requirements.

Representational State Transfer (REST) is an architecture for distributed applications that centers around the transmission of data over HTTP, using only the four basic HTTP verbs: GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE.

In contrast to a protocol such as SOAP, which treats HTTP as a mere transport protocol for SOAP messages, the REST architecture exploits HTTP directly. The key insight is that the HTTP protocol itself, augmented by a few simple conventions, is eminently suitable to serve as the framework for distributed applications.

Because the REST architecture is built around the standard HTTP verbs, in many cases you can use a regular browser as a REST client. For example, to invoke a simple Hello World REST service running on the host and port, localhost:9091, you could navigate to a URL like the following in your browser:

http://localhost:9091/say/hello/Garp

The Hello World REST service might then return a response string, such as:

Hello Garp

Which gets displayed in your browser window. The ease with which you can invoke REST services, using nothing more than a standard browser (or the curl command-line utility), is one of the many reasons why the REST protocol has rapidly gained popularity.

The following REST wrapper layers offer a simplified syntax for defining REST services and can be layered on top of different REST implementations:

Apache Camel provides several different REST implementations, through the following components:

JAX-RS (Java API for RESTful Web Services) is a framework for binding REST requests to Java objects, where the Java classes must be decorated with JAX-RS annotations in order to define the binding. The JAX-RS framework is relatively mature and provides a sophisticated framework for developing REST services, but it is also somewhat complex to program.

The JAX-RS integration with Apache Camel is implemented by the CXFRS component, which is layered over Apache CXF. In outline, JAX-RS binds a REST request to a Java class using the following annotations (where this is only an incomplete sample of the many available annotations):

The body of a REST request or REST response is normally expected to be in JAXB (XML) data format. But Apache CXF also supports conversion of JSON format to JAXB format, so that JSON messages can also be parsed.

For more details, see CXFRS in the Apache Camel Component Reference Guide and Apache CXF Development Guide.

The REST DSL is effectively a facade that provides a simplified syntax for defining REST services in a Java DSL or an XML DSL (Domain Specific Language). REST DSL does not actually provide the REST implementation, it is just a wrapper around an existing REST implementation (of which there are several in Apache Camel).

The REST DSL wrapper layer offers the following advantages:

Because the REST DSL is not an actual REST implementation, one of the first things you need to do is to choose a Camel component to provide the underlying implementation. The following Camel components are currently integrated with the REST DSL:

To specify the REST implementation, you use either the restConfiguration() builder (in Java DSL) or the restConfiguration element (in XML DSL). For example, to configure REST DSL to use the Spark-Rest component, you would use a builder expression like the following in the Java DSL:

restConfiguration().component("spark-rest").port(9091);

And you would use an element like the following (as a child of camelContext) in the XML DSL:

<restConfiguration component="spark-rest" port="9091"/>

The Java DSL syntax for defining a REST service is as follows:

rest("BasePath").Option().
    .Verb("Path").Option().[to() | route().CamelRoute.endRest()]
    .Verb("Path").Option().[to() | route().CamelRoute.endRest()]
    ...
    .Verb("Path").Option().[to() | route().CamelRoute];

Where CamelRoute is an optional embedded Camel route (defined using the standard Java DSL syntax for routes).

The REST service definition starts with the rest() keyword, followed by one or more verb clauses that handle specific URL path segments. The HTTP verb can be one of get(), head(), put(), post(), delete(), patch() or verb(). Each verb clause can use either of the following syntaxes:

In Java, to define a service with the REST DSL, put the REST definition into the body of a RouteBuilder.configure() method, just like you do for regular Apache Camel routes. For example, to define a simple Hello World service using the REST DSL with the Spark-Rest component, define the following Java code:

restConfiguration().component("spark-rest").port(9091);

rest("/say")
    .get("/hello").to("direct:hello")
    .get("/bye").to("direct:bye");

from("direct:hello")
    .transform().constant("Hello World");
from("direct:bye")
    .transform().constant("Bye World");

The preceding example features three different kinds of builder:

In XML, to define a service with the XML DSL, define a rest element as a child of the camelContext element. For example, to define a simple Hello World service using the REST DSL with the Spark-Rest component, define the following XML code (in Blueprint):

<camelContext xmlns="http://camel.apache.org/schema/blueprint">
  <restConfiguration component="spark-rest" port="9091"/>

  <rest path="/say">
    <get uri="/hello">
      <to uri="direct:hello"/>
    </get>
    <get uri="/bye">
      <to uri="direct:bye"/>
    </get>
  </rest>

  <route>
    <from uri="direct:hello"/>
    <transform>
      <constant>Hello World</constant>
    </transform>
  </route>
  <route>
    <from uri="direct:bye"/>
    <transform>
      <constant>Bye World</constant>
    </transform>
  </route>
</camelContext>

The rest() keyword (Java DSL) or the path attribute of the rest element (XML DSL) allows you to define a base path, which is then prefixed to the paths in all of the verb clauses. For example, given the following snippet of Java DSL:

rest("/say")
    .get("/hello").to("direct:hello")
    .get("/bye").to("direct:bye");

Or given the following snippet of XML DSL:

<rest path="/say">
  <get uri="/hello">
    <to uri="direct:hello"/>
  </get>
  <get uri="/bye" consumes="application/json">
    <to uri="direct:bye"/>
  </get>
</rest>

The REST DSL builder gives you the following URL mappings:

/say/hello
/say/bye

The base path is optional. If you prefer, you could (less elegantly) specify the full path in each of the verb clauses:

rest()
    .get("/say/hello").to("direct:hello")
    .get("/say/bye").to("direct:bye");

The REST DSL supports the toD dynamic to parameter. Use this parameter to specify URIs.

For example, in JMS a dynamic endpoint URI could be defined in the following way:

public void configure() throws Exception {
   rest("/say")
     .get("/hello/{language}").toD("jms:queue:hello-${header.language}");
}

In XML DSL, the same details would look like this:

<rest uri="/say">
  <get uri="/hello//{language}">
    <toD uri="jms:queue:hello-${header.language}"/>
  </get>
<rest>

For more information about the toD dynamic to parameter, see the section called “Dynamic To”.

In a verb argument, you can specify a URI template, which enables you to capture specific path segments in named properties (which are then mapped to Camel message headers). For example, if you would like to personalize the Hello World application so that it greets the caller by name, you could define a REST service like the following:

rest("/say")
    .get("/hello/{name}").to("direct:hello")
    .get("/bye/{name}").to("direct:bye");

from("direct:hello")
    .transform().simple("Hello ${header.name}");
from("direct:bye")
    .transform().simple("Bye ${header.name}");

The URI template captures the text of the {name} path segment and copies this captured text into the name message header. If you invoke the service by sending a GET HTTP Request with the URL ending in /say/hello/Joe, the HTTP Response is Hello Joe.

Instead of terminating a verb clause with the to() keyword (Java DSL) or the to element (XML DSL), you have the option of embedding an Apache Camel route directly into the REST DSL, using the route() keyword (Java DSL) or the route element (XML DSL). The route() keyword enables you to embed a route into a verb clause, with the following syntax:

RESTVerbClause.route("...").CamelRoute.endRest()

Where the endRest() keyword (Java DSL only) is a necessary punctuation mark that enables you to separate the verb clauses (when there is more than one verb clause in the rest() builder).

For example, you could refactor the Hello World example to use embedded Camel routes, as follows in Java DSL:

rest("/say")
    .get("/hello").route().transform().constant("Hello World").endRest()
    .get("/bye").route().transform().constant("Bye World");

And as follows in XML DSL:

<camelContext xmlns="http://camel.apache.org/schema/blueprint">
  ...
  <rest path="/say">
    <get uri="/hello">
      <route>
        <transform>
          <constant>Hello World</constant>
        </transform>
      </route>
    </get>
    <get uri="/bye">
      <route>
        <transform>
          <constant>Bye World</constant>
        </transform>
      </route>
    </get>
  </rest>
</camelContext>

If you do not explicitly configure an HTTP transport component then the REST DSL automatically discovers which HTTP component to use by checking for available components on the classpath. The REST DSL looks for the default names of any HTTP components and uses the first one it finds. If there are no HTTP components on the classpath and you did not explicitly configure an HTTP transport then the default HTTP component is camel-http.

You can filter the content type of HTTP requests and responses using the consumes() and produces() options in Java, or the consumes and produces attributes in XML. For example, some common content types (officially known as Internet media types) are the following:

The content type is specified as an option on a verb clause in the REST DSL. For example, to restrict a verb clause to accept only text/plain HTTP requests, and to send only text/html HTTP responses, you would use Java code like the following:

rest("/email")
    .post("/to/{recipient}").consumes("text/plain").produces("text/html").to("direct:foo");

And in XML, you can set the consumes and produces attributes, as follows:

<camelContext xmlns="http://camel.apache.org/schema/blueprint">
  ...
  <rest path="/email">
    <post uri="/to/{recipient}" consumes="text/plain" produces="text/html">
      <to "direct:foo"/>
    </get>
  </rest>
</camelContext>

You can also specify the argument to consumes() or produces() as a comma-separated list. For example, consumes("text/plain, application/json").

Some HTTP server implementations support additional HTTP methods, which are not provided by the standard set of verbs in the REST DSL, get(), head(), put(), post(), delete(), patch(). To access additional HTTP methods, you can use the generic keyword, verb(), in Java DSL and the generic element, verb, in XML DSL.

For example, to implement the TRACE HTTP method in Java:

rest("/say")
    .verb("TRACE", "/hello").route().transform();

Where transform() copies the body of the IN message to the body of the OUT message, thus echoing the HTTP request.

To implement the TRACE HTTP method in XML:

<camelContext xmlns="http://camel.apache.org/schema/blueprint">
  ...
  <rest path="/say">
    <verb uri="/hello" method="TRACE">
      <route>
        <transform/>
      </route>
    </get>
</camelContext>

If your REST service needs to send an error message as its response, you can define a custom HTTP error message as follows:

The following Java example shows how to define a custom error message:

// Java
// Configure the REST DSL, with JSON binding mode
restConfiguration().component("restlet").host("localhost").port(portNum).bindingMode(RestBindingMode.json);

// Define the service with REST DSL
rest("/users/")
    .post("lives").type(UserPojo.class).outType(CountryPojo.class)
        .route()
            .choice()
                .when().simple("${body.id} < 100")
                    .bean(new UserErrorService(), "idTooLowError")
                .otherwise()
                    .bean(new UserService(), "livesWhere");

In this example, if the input ID is a number less than 100, we return a custom error message, using the UserErrorService bean, which is implemented as follows:

// Java
public class UserErrorService {
    public void idTooLowError(Exchange exchange) {
        exchange.getIn().setBody("id value is too low");
        exchange.getIn().setHeader(Exchange.CONTENT_TYPE, "text/plain");
        exchange.getIn().setHeader(Exchange.HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE, 400);
    }
}

In the UserErrorService bean we define the custom error message and set the HTTP error code to 400.

Default values can be specified for the headers of an incoming Camel message.

You can specify a default value by using a key word such as verbose on the query parameter. For example, in the code below, the default value is false. This means that if no other value is provided for a header with the verbose key, false will be inserted as a default.

rest("/customers/")
    .get("/{id}").to("direct:customerDetail")
    .get("/{id}/orders")
      .param()
	.name("verbose")
	.type(RestParamType.query)
	.defaultValue("false")
	.description("Verbose order details")
      .endParam()
        .to("direct:customerOrders")
    .post("/neworder").to("direct:customerNewOrder");

A common case where you might want to return a custom error message is in order to wrap a JsonParserException exception. For example, you can conveniently exploit the Camel exception handling mechanism to create a custom HTTP error message, with HTTP error code 400, as follows:

// Java
onException(JsonParseException.class)
    .handled(true)
    .setHeader(Exchange.HTTP_RESPONSE_CODE, constant(400))
    .setHeader(Exchange.CONTENT_TYPE, constant("text/plain"))
    .setBody().constant("Invalid json data");

In general, REST DSL options can be applied either directly to the base part of the service definition (that is, immediately following rest()), as follows:

rest("/email").consumes("text/plain").produces("text/html")
    .post("/to/{recipient}").to("direct:foo")
    .get("/for/{username}").to("direct:bar");

In which case the specified options apply to all of the subordinate verb clauses. Or the options can be applied to each individual verb clause, as follows:

rest("/email")
    .post("/to/{recipient}").consumes("text/plain").produces("text/html").to("direct:foo")
    .get("/for/{username}").consumes("text/plain").produces("text/html").to("direct:bar");

In which case the specified options apply only to the relevant verb clause, overriding any settings from the base part.

Table 4.1, “REST DSL Options” summarizes the options supported by the REST DSL.

One of the most common ways to use the REST protocol is to transmit the contents of a Java bean in the message body. In order for this to work, you need to have a mechanism for marshalling the Java object to and from a suitable data format. The following data formats, which are suitable for encoding Java objects, are supported by the REST DSL:

You could, of course, write the required code to convert the message body to and from a Java object yourself. But the REST DSL offers the convenience of performing this conversion automatically. In particular, the integration of JSON and JAXB with the REST DSL offers the following advantages:

Apache Camel provides a number of different implementations of the JSON and JAXB data formats. The following data formats are currently supported by the REST DSL:

To enable object marshalling in the REST DSL, observe the following points:

The bindingMode option is off by default, so you must configure it explicitly, in order to enable marshalling of Java objects. TABLE shows the list of supported binding modes.

In Java, these binding mode values are represented as instances of the following enum type:

org.apache.camel.model.rest.RestBindingMode

There are several different levels at which you can set the bindingMode, as follows:

For a complete code example, showing how to use the REST DSL, using the Servlet component as the REST implementation, take a look at the Apache Camel camel-example-servlet-rest-blueprint example. You can find this example by installing the standalone Apache Camel distribution, apache-camel-2.23.2.fuse-7_10_0-00018-redhat-00001.zip, which is provided in the extras/ subdirectory of your Fuse installation.

After installing the standalone Apache Camel distribution, you can find the example code under the following directory:

ApacheCamelInstallDir/examples/camel-example-servlet-rest-blueprint

In the camel-example-servlet-rest-blueprint example, the underlying implementation of the REST DSL is provided by the Servlet component. The Servlet component is configured in the Blueprint XML file, as shown in Example 4.1, “Configure Servlet Component for REST DSL”.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<blueprint ...>

  <!-- to setup camel servlet with OSGi HttpService -->
  <reference id="httpService" interface="org.osgi.service.http.HttpService"/>

  <bean class="org.apache.camel.component.servlet.osgi.OsgiServletRegisterer"
        init-method="register"
        destroy-method="unregister">
    <property name="alias" value="/camel-example-servlet-rest-blueprint/rest"/>
    <property name="httpService" ref="httpService"/>
    <property name="servlet" ref="camelServlet"/>
  </bean>

  <bean id="camelServlet" class="org.apache.camel.component.servlet.CamelHttpTransportServlet"/>
  ...
  <camelContext xmlns="http://camel.apache.org/schema/blueprint">

    <restConfiguration component="servlet"
                       bindingMode="json"
                       contextPath="/camel-example-servlet-rest-blueprint/rest"
                       port="8181">
      <dataFormatProperty key="prettyPrint" value="true"/>
    </restConfiguration>
    ...
  </camelContext>

</blueprint>

To configure the Servlet component with REST DSL, you need to configure a stack consisting of the following three layers:

This example has two dependencies which are of key importance to the REST DSL, as follows:

The example application passes User type objects back and forth in HTTP Request and Response messages. The User Java class is defined as shown in Example 4.2, “User Class for JSON Response”.

// Java
package org.apache.camel.example.rest;

public class User {

    private int id;
    private String name;

    public User() {
    }

    public User(int id, String name) {
        this.id = id;
        this.name = name;
    }

    public int getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(int id) {
        this.id = id;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }
}

The User class has a relatively simple representation in the JSON data format. For example, a typical instance of this class expressed in JSON format is:

{
    "id" : 1234,
    "name" : "Jane Doe"
}

The REST DSL configuration and the REST service definition for this example are shown in Example 4.3, “REST DSL Route with JSON Binding”.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<blueprint xmlns="http://www.osgi.org/xmlns/blueprint/v1.0.0"
           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
           ...>
  ...
  <!-- a bean for user services -->
  <bean id="userService" class="org.apache.camel.example.rest.UserService"/>

  <camelContext xmlns="http://camel.apache.org/schema/blueprint">

    <restConfiguration component="servlet"
                       bindingMode="json"
                       contextPath="/camel-example-servlet-rest-blueprint/rest"
                       port="8181">
      <dataFormatProperty key="prettyPrint" value="true"/>
    </restConfiguration>

    <!-- defines the REST services using the  base path, /user -->
    <rest path="/user" consumes="application/json" produces="application/json">
      <description>User rest service</description>

      <!-- this is a rest GET to view a user with the given id -->
      <get uri="/{id}" outType="org.apache.camel.example.rest.User">
        <description>Find user by id</description>
        <to uri="bean:userService?method=getUser(${header.id})"/>
      </get>

      <!-- this is a rest PUT to create/update a user -->
      <put type="org.apache.camel.example.rest.User">
        <description>Updates or create a user</description>
        <to uri="bean:userService?method=updateUser"/>
      </put>

      <!-- this is a rest GET to find all users -->
      <get uri="/findAll" outType="org.apache.camel.example.rest.User[]">
        <description>Find all users</description>
        <to uri="bean:userService?method=listUsers"/>
      </get>

    </rest>

  </camelContext>

</blueprint>

The REST service from Example 4.3, “REST DSL Route with JSON Binding” defines the following REST operations:

By inspecting the REST DSL definitions from Example 4.3, “REST DSL Route with JSON Binding”, you can piece together the URLs required to invoke each of the REST operations. For example, to invoke the first REST operation, which returns details of a user with a given ID, the URL is built up as follows:

Hence, it is possible to invoke this REST operation with the curl utility, by entering the following command at the command line:

curl -X GET -H "Accept: application/json" http://localhost:8181/camel-example-servlet-rest-blueprint/rest/user/123

Similarly, the remaining REST operations could be invoked with curl, by entering the following sample commands:

curl -X GET -H "Accept: application/json" http://localhost:8181/camel-example-servlet-rest-blueprint/rest/user/findAll

curl -X PUT -d "{ \"id\": 666, \"name\": \"The devil\"}" -H "Accept: application/json" http://localhost:8181/camel-example-servlet-rest-blueprint/rest/user

In Java, you can configure the REST DSL using the restConfiguration() builder API. For example, to configure the REST DSL to use the Servlet component as the underlying implementation:

restConfiguration().component("servlet").bindingMode("json").port("8181")
    .contextPath("/camel-example-servlet-rest-blueprint/rest");

In XML, you can configure the REST DSL using the restConfiguration element. For example, to configure the REST DSL to use the Servlet component as the underlying implementation:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<blueprint ...>
  ...
  <camelContext xmlns="http://camel.apache.org/schema/blueprint">
    ...
    <restConfiguration component="servlet"
                       bindingMode="json"
                       contextPath="/camel-example-servlet-rest-blueprint/rest"
                       port="8181">
      <dataFormatProperty key="prettyPrint" value="true"/>
    </restConfiguration>
    ...
  </camelContext>

</blueprint>

Table 4.3, “Options for Configuring REST DSL” shows options for configuring the REST DSL using the restConfiguration() builder (Java DSL) or the restConfiguration element (XML DSL).

If CORS (cross-origin resource sharing) is enabled, the following headers are set by default. You can optionally override the default settings, by invoking the corsHeaderProperty DSL command.

You can enable or disable specific Jackson JSON features by configuring the following keys in the dataFormatProperty option:

For example, to disable Jackson’s FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES feature (which causes Jackson to fail if a JSON input has a property that cannot be mapped to a Java object):

restConfiguration().component("jetty")
    .host("localhost").port(getPort())
    .bindingMode(RestBindingMode.json)
    .dataFormatProperty("json.in.disableFeatures", "FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES");

You can disable multiple features by specifying a comma-separated list. For example:

.dataFormatProperty("json.in.disableFeatures", "FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES,ADJUST_DATES_TO_CONTEXT_TIME_ZONE");

Here is an example that shows how to disable and enable Jackson JSON features in the Java DSL:

restConfiguration().component("jetty")
    .host("localhost").port(getPort())
    .bindingMode(RestBindingMode.json)
    .dataFormatProperty("json.in.disableFeatures", "FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES,ADJUST_DATES_TO_CONTEXT_TIME_ZONE")
    .dataFormatProperty("json.in.enableFeatures", "FAIL_ON_NUMBERS_FOR_ENUMS,USE_BIG_DECIMAL_FOR_FLOATS");

Here is an example that shows how to disable and enable Jackson JSON features in the XML DSL:

<restConfiguration component="jetty" host="localhost" port="9090" bindingMode="json">
  <dataFormatProperty key="json.in.disableFeatures" value="FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES,ADJUST_DATES_TO_CONTEXT_TIME_ZONE"/>
  <dataFormatProperty key="json.in.enableFeatures" value="FAIL_ON_NUMBERS_FOR_ENUMS,USE_BIG_DECIMAL_FOR_FLOATS"/>
</restConfiguration>

The Jackson features that can be disabled or enabled correspond to the enum IDs from the following Jackson classes

You can use a OpenAPI service to create API documentation for any REST-defined routes and endpoints in a CamelContext file. To do this, use the Camel REST DSL with the camel-openapi-java module, which is purely Java-based. The camel-openapi-java module creates a servlet that is integrated with the CamelContext and that pulls the information from each REST endpoint to generate the API documentation in JSON or YAML format.

If you use Maven then edit your pom.xml file to add a dependency on the camel-openapi-java component:

<dependency>
   <groupId>org.apache.camel</groupId>
   <artifactId>camel-openapi-java</artifactId>
   <version>x.x.x</version>
   <!-- Specify the version of your camel-core module. -->
</dependency>

To enable the use of the OpenAPI in the Camel REST DSL, invoke apiContextPath() to set the context path for the OpenAPI-generated API documentation. For example:

public class UserRouteBuilder extends RouteBuilder {
    @Override
    public void configure() throws Exception {
        // Configure the Camel REST DSL to use the netty4-http component:
        restConfiguration().component("netty4-http").bindingMode(RestBindingMode.json)
            // Generate pretty print output:
            .dataFormatProperty("prettyPrint", "true")
            // Set the context path and port number that netty will use:
            .contextPath("/").port(8080)
            // Add the context path for the OpenAPI-generated API documentation:
            .apiContextPath("/api-doc")
                .apiProperty("api.title", "User API").apiProperty("api.version", "1.2.3")
                // Enable CORS:
                .apiProperty("cors", "true");

        // This user REST service handles only JSON files:
        rest("/user").description("User rest service")
            .consumes("application/json").produces("application/json")
            .get("/{id}").description("Find user by id").outType(User.class)
                .param().name("id").type(path).description("The id of the user to get").dataType("int").endParam()
                .to("bean:userService?method=getUser(${header.id})")
            .put().description("Updates or create a user").type(User.class)
                .param().name("body").type(body).description("The user to update or create").endParam()
                .to("bean:userService?method=updateUser")
            .get("/findAll").description("Find all users").outTypeList(User.class)
                .to("bean:userService?method=listUsers");
    }
}

The options described in the table below let you configure the OpenAPI module. Set an option as follows:

Starting with Camel 3.1, the camel-openapi-java module supports both JSON and YAML formatted output. To specify the output you want, add /openapi.json or /openapi.yaml to the request URL. If a request URL does not specify a format then the camel-openapi-java module inspects the HTTP Accept header to detect whether JSON or YAML can be accepted. If both are accepted or if none was set as accepted then JSON is the default return format.

In the Apache Camel 3.x distribution, camel-example-openapi-cdi and camel-example-openapi-java demonstrate the use of the camel-openapi-java module.

In the Apache Camel 2.x distribution, camel-example-swagger-cdi and camel-example-swagger-java demonstrate the use of the camel-swagger-java module.

Starting with Camel 3.1, you can enhance the documentation generated by OpenAPI by defining parameter details such as name, description, data type, parameter type and so on. If you are using XML, specify the param element to add this information. The following example shows how to provide information about the ID path parameter:

<!-- This is a REST GET request to view information for the user with the given ID: -->
<get uri="/{id}" outType="org.apache.camel.example.rest.User">
     <description>Find user by ID.</description>
     <param name="id" type="path" description="The ID of the user to get information about." dataType="int"/>
     <to uri="bean:userService?method=getUser(${header.id})"/>
</get>

Following is the same example in Java DSL:

.get("/{id}").description("Find user by ID.").outType(User.class)
   .param().name("id").type(path).description("The ID of the user to get information about.").dataType("int").endParam()
   .to("bean:userService?method=getUser(${header.id})")

If you define a parameter whose name is body then you must also specify body as the type of that parameter. For example:

<!-- This is a REST PUT request to create/update information about a user. -->
<put type="org.apache.camel.example.rest.User">
     <description>Updates or creates a user.</description>
     <param name="body" type="body" description="The user to update or create."/>
     <to uri="bean:userService?method=updateUser"/>
</put>

Following is the same example in Java DSL:

.put().description("Updates or create a user").type(User.class)
     .param().name("body").type(body).description("The user to update or create.").endParam()
     .to("bean:userService?method=updateUser")

See also: examples/camel-example-servlet-rest-tomcat in the Apache Camel distribution.