How to build an OData Service with Olingo V4¶

Part 2: Read scenario continued¶

Introduction¶

In the first tutorial, we’ve learned how to build a very simple OData service. That service exposes its metadata and allows reading a list of products. It doesn’t support accessing the URL for a single product. And it also doesn’t support reading a single property of a product. These 2 topics will be covered in the present tutorial.

Note that this tutorial doesn’t cover modifying operations like create, update and delete. Such operations will be the focus of the Olingo V4 tutorial no. 3

Note
The final source code can be found in the project git repository. A detailed description how to checkout the tutorials can be found here.
This tutorial can be found in subdirectory \samples\tutorials\p2_readep

Disclaimer
Again, in the present tutorial, We will focus only on the relevant implementation, in order to keep the code small and simple. The sample code shouldn't be reused for advanced scenarios.

Table of Contents

Prerequisites
Preparation
1. Create data class
2. Adapt the servlet class
3. Modify the DemoEntityCollectionProcessor
4. Create utility class
Implementation of Read Single Entity
1. Implement the EntityProcessor interface
2. Adapt the DemoServlet class
3. Run the service
Implementation of Read Single Property
1. Implement the PrimitiveProcessor interface
2. Adapt the DemoServlet class
3. Run the service
Summary
Links
Appendix: PrimitiveValueProcessor

1. Prerequisites¶

Follow Tutorial Part 1: Read Entity Collection, which also covers setting up the environment and running the service.

2. Preparation¶

Follow the Tutorial Part 1: Read Entity Collection or import the the tutorial form subdirectory \samples\tutorials\p1_read into your Eclipse workspace.
Afterwards do a Deploy and run: it should be working.
Before we start with the actual tutorial, we need to adapt the existing code to meet the requirements of the present tutorial.

2.1. Create a new data-class¶

In the first tutorial, we had created a single method called getData() to provide sample data for the list of products. Handling the sample data will get a bit more advanced from now on, so we move the code into a separate class.

Create a new package myservice.mynamespace.data
Within this package, create a new class Storage.java to simulate the data layer (in a real scenario, this would be e.g. a database or any other data storage)

Here’s the full implementation of this class:

    package myservice.mynamespace.data;

    import java.util.ArrayList;
    import java.util.List;
    import java.util.Locale;

    import myservice.mynamespace.service.DemoEdmProvider;
    import myservice.mynamespace.util.Util;

    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.data.Entity;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.data.EntityCollection;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.data.Property;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.data.ValueType;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.edm.EdmEntitySet;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.edm.EdmEntityType;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.http.HttpStatusCode;
    import org.apache.olingo.server.api.ODataApplicationException;
    import org.apache.olingo.server.api.uri.UriParameter;

    public class Storage {

        private List<Entity> productList;

        public Storage() {
            productList = new ArrayList<Entity>();
            initSampleData();
        }

        /* PUBLIC FACADE */

        public EntityCollection readEntitySetData(EdmEntitySet edmEntitySet)throws ODataApplicationException{

            // actually, this is only required if we have more than one Entity Sets
            if(edmEntitySet.getName().equals(DemoEdmProvider.ES_PRODUCTS_NAME)){
                return getProducts();
            }

            return null;
        }

        public Entity readEntityData(EdmEntitySet edmEntitySet, List<UriParameter> keyParams) throws ODataApplicationException{

            EdmEntityType edmEntityType = edmEntitySet.getEntityType();

            // actually, this is only required if we have more than one Entity Type
            if(edmEntityType.getName().equals(DemoEdmProvider.ET_PRODUCT_NAME)){
                return getProduct(edmEntityType, keyParams);
            }

            return null;
        }



        /*  INTERNAL */

        private EntityCollection getProducts(){
            EntityCollection retEntitySet = new EntityCollection();

            for(Entity productEntity : this.productList){
                retEntitySet.getEntities().add(productEntity);
            }

            return retEntitySet;
        }


        private Entity getProduct(EdmEntityType edmEntityType, List<UriParameter> keyParams) throws ODataApplicationException{

            // the list of entities at runtime
            EntityCollection entitySet = getProducts();

            /*  generic approach  to find the requested entity */
            Entity requestedEntity = Util.findEntity(edmEntityType, entitySet, keyParams);

            if(requestedEntity == null){
                // this variable is null if our data doesn't contain an entity for the requested key
                // Throw suitable exception
                throw new ODataApplicationException("Entity for requested key doesn't exist",
                                           HttpStatusCode.NOT_FOUND.getStatusCode(), Locale.ENGLISH);
            }

            return requestedEntity;
         }

         /* HELPER */
         private void initSampleData(){

             // add some sample product entities
             final Entity e1 = new Entity()
                                   .addProperty(new Property(null, "ID", ValueType.PRIMITIVE, 1))
                                   .addProperty(new Property(null, "Name", ValueType.PRIMITIVE, "Notebook Basic 15"))
                                   .addProperty(new Property(null, "Description", ValueType.PRIMITIVE,
                                                "Notebook Basic, 1.7GHz - 15 XGA - 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM - 40GB"));
            e1.setId(createId("Products", 1));
            productList.add(e1);

            final Entity e2 = new Entity()
                                  .addProperty(new Property(null, "ID", ValueType.PRIMITIVE, 2))
                                  .addProperty(new Property(null, "Name", ValueType.PRIMITIVE, "1UMTS PDA"))
                                  .addProperty(new Property(null, "Description", ValueType.PRIMITIVE,
                                               "Ultrafast 3G UMTS/HSDPA Pocket PC, supports GSM network"));
            e2.setId(createId("Products", 1));
            productList.add(e2);

            final Entity e3 = new Entity()
                                  .addProperty(new Property(null, "ID", ValueType.PRIMITIVE, 3))
                                  .addProperty(new Property(null, "Name", ValueType.PRIMITIVE, "Ergo Screen"))
                                  .addProperty(new Property(null, "Description", ValueType.PRIMITIVE,
						"19 Optimum Resolution 1024 x 768 @ 85Hz, resolution 1280 x 960"));
            e3.setId(createId("Products", 1));
            productList.add(e3);
        }

        private URI createId(String entitySetName, Object id) {
            try {
                return new URI(entitySetName + "(" + String.valueOf(id) + ")");
            } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
                throw new ODataRuntimeException("Unable to create id for entity: " + entitySetName, e);
            }
        }
    }

The Public Façade contains the methods that are called from outside.
They are data-layer-agnostic; their parameters are objects from the OData world.
The implementation of these methods simply delegates the logic to the internal methods.

The internal methods do know about the names of tables or columns and these methods know how to e.g. find a single product.

2.2. Adapt the servlet class¶

The Data-Storage class will be instantiated in the DemoServlet class and attached to the HTTP-session.
This has the advantage that our final OData service can be tested and the sample data can be changed and the changes will remain active until the session is closed.

Open the class myservice.mynamespace.web.DemoServlet

Change the code such that it looks as follows:

    protected void service(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp) throws ServletException, IOException {
    	try {
    		HttpSession session = req.getSession(true);
    		Storage storage = (Storage) session.getAttribute(Storage.class.getName());
    		if (storage == null) {
    		   storage = new Storage();
    		   session.setAttribute(Storage.class.getName(), storage);
    		}

    		// create odata handler and configure it with EdmProvider and Processor
    		OData odata = OData.newInstance();
    		ServiceMetadata edm = odata.createServiceMetadata(new DemoEdmProvider(), new ArrayList<EdmxReference>());
    		ODataHttpHandler handler = odata.createHandler(edm);
    		handler.register(new DemoEntityCollectionProcessor(storage));
      } /* more code */
    }

Note that we pass the instance of the Storage object to the constructor of our existing DemoEntityCollectionProcessor.

So the next step is to adapt the DemoEntityCollectionProcessor class.

2.3. Modify the DemoEntityCollectionProcessor¶

In the DemoEntityCollectionProcessor class that we created in the first tutorial, we have to make 3 changes:

2.3.1 Create Constructor¶

We have to create a Constructor that takes the Storage instance and stores it as a member variable:

    public class DemoEntityCollectionProcessor implements EntityCollectionProcessor {

    	private OData odata;
        private ServiceMetadata serviceMetadata;
    	private Storage storage;

    	public DemoEntityCollectionProcessor(Storage storage) {
    		this.storage = storage;
    	}
    }

2.3.2. Delete the getData() method¶

The code that we had written in this method has been moved to the init() method of the Storage class. So we can delete this getData() method.

2.3.3. Adapt the usage of the getData() method¶

After deleting the getData() method, we get a compile error in the line where this method is used. We replace this method invocation with a call to our Storage object:

    EntitySet entitySet = storage.readEntitySetData(edmEntitySet);

The new code looks as follows:

    public void readEntityCollection(ODataRequest request, ODataResponse response,
                                    UriInfo uriInfo, ContentType responseFormat)
                                    throws ODataApplicationException, SerializerException {

    	// 1st retrieve the requested EntitySet from the uriInfo (representation of the parsed URI)
    	List<UriResource> resourcePaths = uriInfo.getUriResourceParts();
        // in our example, the first segment is the EntitySet
    	UriResourceEntitySet uriResourceEntitySet = (UriResourceEntitySet) resourcePaths.get(0);
    	EdmEntitySet edmEntitySet = uriResourceEntitySet.getEntitySet();

    	// 2nd: fetch the data from backend for this requested EntitySetName and deliver as EntitySet
    	EntityCollection entityCollection = storage.readEntitySetData(edmEntitySet);
    }

2.4. Create utility class¶

Furthermore, we create one more class, to host a few helper methods.
Create package myservice.mynamespace.util Within this package, create a class Util.java

Copy the following code into this class:

    package myservice.mynamespace.util;

    import java.util.List;
    import java.util.Locale;

    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.data.Entity;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.data.EntityCollection;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.edm.EdmEntityType;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.edm.EdmPrimitiveType;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.edm.EdmPrimitiveTypeException;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.edm.EdmProperty;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.edm.EdmType;
    import org.apache.olingo.commons.api.http.HttpStatusCode;
    import org.apache.olingo.server.api.ODataApplicationException;
    import org.apache.olingo.server.api.uri.UriParameter;

    public class Util {

    	public static EdmEntitySet getEdmEntitySet(UriInfoResource uriInfo) throws ODataApplicationException {

    		List<UriResource> resourcePaths = uriInfo.getUriResourceParts();
    		 // To get the entity set we have to interpret all URI segments
    		if (!(resourcePaths.get(0) instanceof UriResourceEntitySet)) {
    			throw new ODataApplicationException("Invalid resource type for first segment.",
    			                        HttpStatusCode.NOT_IMPLEMENTED.getStatusCode(),Locale.ENGLISH);
    		}

    		UriResourceEntitySet uriResource = (UriResourceEntitySet) resourcePaths.get(0);

    		return uriResource.getEntitySet();
    	}

    	public static Entity findEntity(EdmEntityType edmEntityType,
    	                                EntityCollection rt_entitySet, List<UriParameter> keyParams)
    	                                throws ODataApplicationException {

    		List<Entity> entityList = rt_entitySet.getEntities();

    		// loop over all entities in order to find that one that matches all keys in request
    		// an example could be e.g. contacts(ContactID=1, CompanyID=1)
    		for(Entity rt_entity : entityList){
    			boolean foundEntity = entityMatchesAllKeys(edmEntityType, rt_entity, keyParams);
    			if(foundEntity){
    				return rt_entity;
    			}
    		}

    		return null;
    	}


    	public static boolean entityMatchesAllKeys(EdmEntityType edmEntityType, Entity rt_entity,  List<UriParameter> keyParams)
    	                                            throws ODataApplicationException {

            // loop over all keys
            for (final UriParameter key : keyParams) {
            	// key
            	String keyName = key.getName();
            	String keyText = key.getText();

            	// Edm: we need this info for the comparison below
            	EdmProperty edmKeyProperty = (EdmProperty )edmEntityType.getProperty(keyName);
    			Boolean isNullable = edmKeyProperty.isNullable();
    			Integer maxLength = edmKeyProperty.getMaxLength();
    			Integer precision = edmKeyProperty.getPrecision();
    			Boolean isUnicode = edmKeyProperty.isUnicode();
    			Integer scale = edmKeyProperty.getScale();
    			// get the EdmType in order to compare
    			EdmType edmType = edmKeyProperty.getType();
    			// Key properties must be instance of primitive type
    			EdmPrimitiveType edmPrimitiveType = (EdmPrimitiveType)edmType;

    			// Runtime data: the value of the current entity
    			Object valueObject = rt_entity.getProperty(keyName).getValue(); // null-check is done in FWK

    			// now need to compare the valueObject with the keyText String
    			// this is done using the type.valueToString //
    			String valueAsString = null;
    			try {
    				valueAsString = edmPrimitiveType.valueToString(valueObject, isNullable, maxLength,
    				                                                precision, scale, isUnicode);
    			} catch (EdmPrimitiveTypeException e) {
    				throw new ODataApplicationException("Failed to retrieve String value",
    				                             HttpStatusCode.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR.getStatusCode(),Locale.ENGLISH, e);
    			}

    			if (valueAsString == null){
    				return false;
    			}

    			boolean matches = valueAsString.equals(keyText);
    			if(!matches){
    				// if any of the key properties is not found in the entity, we don't need to search further
    				return false;
    			}
    		}

    		return true;
    	}
    }

These helper methods are going to be used within the implementation of the Processor implementations.

3. Implementation of Read Single Entity¶

The user of our sample OData service is enabled to invoke the list of products via the following URL:

http://localhost:8080/DemoService/DemoService.svc/Products

In a next step, he wants to read the details of a single product entity. This is done via the following URL:

http://localhost:8080/DemoService/DemoService.svc/Products(3)

From the above URL we can see that the user requests the product which has an ID with value 3
Whenever such a URL is requested, the Olingo library will delegate the request to an implementation of the Interface EntityProcessor.

This means, we have to create a new Java class that implements the mentioned interface and we have to register it in the DemoServlet class (remember that all Processor-implementations have to be registered there).

3.1. Implement the EntityProcessor interface¶

The interface org.apache.olingo.server.api.processor.EntityProcessor has 5 methods to implement:

init(...)
Here we are initialized by the Framework to pass the context objects to us
readEntity(…)
This method is relevant for reading a single entity
createEntity(…)
We will ignore this method in the present tutorial
updateEntity(…)
We will ignore this method in the present tutorial
deleteEntity(…)
We will ignore this method in the present tutorial

Let’s have a look at the implementation.

Create the class DemoEntityProcessor in package myservice.mynamespace.service which implements the interface EntityProcessor.
First we need to implement the init() method, in order to store the OData object. Second, as described in the preparation-section, we need to create a constructor that takes and stores our Storage instance

    public class DemoEntityProcessor implements EntityProcessor {

    	private OData odata;
    	private ServiceMetadata serviceMetadata;
    	private Storage storage;

    	public DemoEntityProcessor(Storage storage) {
    		this.storage = storage;
    	}

    	public void init(OData odata, ServiceMetadata serviceMetadata) {
    		this.odata = odata;
    		this.serviceMetadata = serviceMetadata;
    	}
    }

readEntity(...)

When going through the implementation, let’s keep in mind that the user invokes e.g. the following URL

http://localhost:8080/DemoService/DemoService.svc/Products(3)

and he receives the following response in the browser:

    {
      @odata.context: "$metadata#Products",
      ID: 3,
      Name: "Ergo Screen",
      Description: "19 Optimum Resolution 1024 x 768 @ 85Hz, resolution 1280 x 960"
    }

Steps
The steps to be followed in the implementation of the readEntity(...) method are the same that we followed in the previous tutorial, when we implemented the readEntityCollection(...) method:

Which data is requested?
Check the UriInfo instance for information about which EntityCollection has been requested.
Note that in the code, we directly access the first segment of the URI and cast it to UriResourceEntitySet
```
   UriResourceEntitySet uriResourceEntitySet = (UriResourceEntitySet) resourcePaths.get(0);
```
This is only possible, because in our current sample scenario we only support simple URIs. In a real production environment OData service, which supports navigation and other OData V4 features, the code would be more complex.
Fetch the data from backend
In the backend, which in our sample is represented by the Storage class, we have a list with products. From this list we have to pick that one that is requested by the user. The information, which one is requested, is contained in the so-called KeyPredicates. In our OData model, we have only one property that is marked as “key”, it is the property with name ID In other models, the key could also be composed by multiple properties. In such a case, all key-properties are mentioned in the URI. That’s why the KeyPredicate information is provided as a list:
```
   List<UriParameter> keyPredicates = uriResourceEntitySet.getKeyPredicates();
```
Now our task is to loop over all product entities that we have in our backend and to find that one that matches all keys. Which means that we have to loop over all key params. In our sample code, we have moved this logic to the Util class that has a findEntity() method, which loops over all existing product entities, and a entityMatchesAllKeys() method that checks if the given entity is the right one.
Transform the data
After fetching the Entity object from the backend, we have to convert it to an InputStream, using the proper ODataSerializer method:
```
   ODataSerializer serializer = odata.createSerializer(responseFormat);
   SerializerResult serializerResult = serializer.entity(serviceMetadata, entityType, entity, options);
   InputStream entityStream = serializerResult.getContent();
```
Note: The ODataSerializer object has to be configured with a ContextURL (in case that it is requested) and with EntitySerializerOptions. In our sample we keep the code simple, since we know that we don’t support advanced operations.
Configure the response
As usual, we have to set the body, the content type and the HTTP status code, as required by the specification.

The following snippet shows the implementation of the readEntity(...) method.

    public void readEntity(ODataRequest request, ODataResponse response,
                            UriInfo uriInfo, ContentType responseFormat)
    		                throws ODataApplicationException, SerializerException {

    	// 1. retrieve the Entity Type
    	List<UriResource> resourcePaths = uriInfo.getUriResourceParts();
    	// Note: only in our example we can assume that the first segment is the EntitySet
    	UriResourceEntitySet uriResourceEntitySet = (UriResourceEntitySet) resourcePaths.get(0);
    	EdmEntitySet edmEntitySet = uriResourceEntitySet.getEntitySet();

    	// 2. retrieve the data from backend
    	List<UriParameter> keyPredicates = uriResourceEntitySet.getKeyPredicates();
    	Entity entity = storage.readEntityData(edmEntitySet, keyPredicates);

    	// 3. serialize
    	EdmEntityType entityType = edmEntitySet.getEntityType();

    	ContextURL contextUrl = ContextURL.with().entitySet(edmEntitySet).build();
        // expand and select currently not supported
    	EntitySerializerOptions options = EntitySerializerOptions.with().contextURL(contextUrl).build();

    	ODataSerializer serializer = odata.createSerializer(responseFormat);
    	SerializerResult serializerResult = serializer.entity(serviceMetadata, entityType, entity, options);
    	InputStream entityStream = serializerResult.getContent();

    	//4. configure the response object
    	response.setContent(entityStream);
    	response.setStatusCode(HttpStatusCode.OK.getStatusCode());
    	response.setHeader(HttpHeader.CONTENT_TYPE, responseFormat.toContentTypeString());
    }

3.2. Adapt the DemoServlet class¶

As we’ve learned in our first tutorial, the Processor implementations have to be registered on the ODataHttpHandler instance in the servlet class. Open the DemoServlet class and add the line that registers the DemoEntityProcessor instance:

    // create odata handler and configure it with EdmProvider and Processor
    OData odata = OData.newInstance();
    ServiceMetadata edm = odata.createServiceMetadata(new DemoEdmProvider(),
    new ArrayList<EdmxReference>());
    ODataHttpHandler handler = odata.createHandler(edm);
    handler.register(new DemoEntityCollectionProcessor(storage));
    handler.register(new DemoEntityProcessor(storage));

3.3. Run the service¶

We have provided the implementation for the readEntity(...), we have registered the processor and in the preparation section, we’ve created the Storage class and the Util class. After building and deploying the project, we can invoke e.g. the following URL:

http://localhost:8080/DemoService/DemoService.svc/Products(3)

and get the expected result:

    {
      @odata.context: "$metadata#Products",
      ID: 3,
      Name: "Ergo Screen",
      Description: "19 Optimum Resolution 1024 x 768 @ 85Hz, resolution 1280 x 960"
    }

4. Implementation of Read Single Property¶

In the following section, We will add the capabilities to our service that allows the user to invoke e.g. the following URL:

http://localhost:8080/DemoService/DemoService.svc/Products(1)/Description

Remember: As described in our first tutorial, “Description” is the name of a property in our OData model.

datamodel

When a user invokes this URL, he doesn’t want to receive the full payload of the entity (since usually there are more properties than in our example), but instead, only the value of the property he is interested in.

Example result:

    {
       @odata.context: "$metadata#Products/Description",
       value: "Notebook Basic, 1.7GHz - 15 XGA - 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM - 40GB"
    }

Advantages:
Allows more performant implementation in the backend, (e.g. SQL statement).
Sends less data through the network to the client (e.g. mobile phone).

Note:
Don’t mix the above mentioned call with this one:

http://localhost:8080/DemoService/DemoService.svc/Products(1)/Description/$value

Here, the response body contains only the pure value of the property, in plain text. This can be realized by implementing the interface PropertyValueProcessor (see Appendix)

4.1. Implement the PrimitiveProcessor interface¶

The interface org.apache.olingo.server.api.processor.PrimitiveProcessor has 4 methods to implement:

init()
Here we are initialized by the Framework to pass the context objects to us
readPrimitive
This one is relevant for reading a single property of a single entity
updatePrimitive
We will ignore this method in the present tutorial
deletePrimitive
We will ignore this method in the present tutorial

Create the class DemoPrimitiveProcessor in package myservice.mynamespace.service which implements the interface PrimitiveProcessor

We have to create a Constructor that takes the Storage instance and stores it as a member variable:

    public class DemoPrimitiveProcessor implements PrimitiveProcessor {

        private OData odata;
        private Storage storage;
        private ServiceMetadata serviceMetadata;

        public DemoPrimitiveProcessor(Storage storage) {
            this.storage = storage;
        }

        public void init(OData odata, ServiceMetadata serviceMetadata) {
            this.odata = odata;
            this.serviceMetadata = serviceMetadata;
        }

readPrimitive

Again, we have the following 4 steps to follow:

Which data is requested?
From the UriInfo object, we not only have to retrieve the information about the EntitySet that is requested, but as well the desired property.
Fetch the data from backend
Based on this information, we can retrieve the backend-data for the entity, just like we did in the readEntity() method, described above. The property value can then be extracted from it.
Transform the data
The third step is to serialize the backend data into an InputStream object.
For the current use case, the ODataSerializer instance offers a method called primitive(...)

Configure the response
When reading a property, we have to consider that the value of the property can be empty.
If this is the case, when configuring the response object, we don’t provide response body and header.

   public void readPrimitive(ODataRequest request, ODataResponse response, UriInfo uriInfo, ContentType responseFormat)
                             throws ODataApplicationException, SerializerException {

            // 1. Retrieve info from URI
            // 1.1. retrieve the info about the requested entity set
            List<UriResource> resourceParts = uriInfo.getUriResourceParts();
            // Note: only in our example we can rely that the first segment is the EntitySet
            UriResourceEntitySet uriEntityset = (UriResourceEntitySet) resourceParts.get(0);
            EdmEntitySet edmEntitySet = uriEntityset.getEntitySet();
            // the key for the entity
            List<UriParameter> keyPredicates = uriEntityset.getKeyPredicates();

            // 1.2. retrieve the requested (Edm) property
            // the last segment is the Property
            UriResourceProperty uriProperty = (UriResourceProperty) resourceParts.get(resourceParts.size() -1);
            EdmProperty edmProperty = uriProperty.getProperty();
            String edmPropertyName = edmProperty.getName();
            // in our example, we know we have only primitive types in our model
            EdmPrimitiveType edmPropertyType = (EdmPrimitiveType) edmProperty.getType();

            // 2. retrieve data from backend
            // 2.1. retrieve the entity data, for which the property has to be read
            Entity entity = storage.readEntityData(edmEntitySet, keyPredicates);
            if (entity == null) { // Bad request
                throw new ODataApplicationException("Entity not found",
                            HttpStatusCode.NOT_FOUND.getStatusCode(), Locale.ENGLISH);
            }

            // 2.2. retrieve the property data from the entity
            Property property = entity.getProperty(edmPropertyName);
            if (property == null) {
                 throw new ODataApplicationException("Property not found",
                            HttpStatusCode.NOT_FOUND.getStatusCode(), Locale.ENGLISH);
            }

            // 3. serialize
            Object value = property.getValue();
            if (value != null) {
                 // 3.1. configure the serializer
                 ODataSerializer serializer = odata.createSerializer(responseFormat);

                 ContextURL contextUrl = ContextURL.with().entitySet(edmEntitySet).navOrPropertyPath(edmPropertyName).build();
                 PrimitiveSerializerOptions options = PrimitiveSerializerOptions.with().contextURL(contextUrl).build();
                 // 3.2. serialize
                 SerializerResult serializerResult = serializer.primitive(serviceMetadata, edmPropertyType, property, options);
                 InputStream propertyStream = serializerResult.getContent();

                 //4. configure the response object
                 response.setContent(propertyStream);
                 response.setStatusCode(HttpStatusCode.OK.getStatusCode());
                 response.setHeader(HttpHeader.CONTENT_TYPE, responseFormat.toContentTypeString());
              }else{
                  // in case there's no value for the property, we can skip the serialization
                  response.setStatusCode(HttpStatusCode.NO_CONTENT.getStatusCode());
              }
 }

4.2. Adapt the DemoServlet class¶

The DemoServlet has to register a third processor:

    // create odata handler and configure it with EdmProvider and Processor
    OData odata = OData.newInstance();
    ServiceMetadata edm = odata.createServiceMetadata(new DemoEdmProvider(),
    new ArrayList<EdmxReference>());
    ODataHttpHandler handler = odata.createHandler(edm);
    handler.register(new DemoEntityCollectionProcessor(storage));
    handler.register(new DemoEntityProcessor(storage));
    handler.register(new DemoPrimitiveProcessor(storage));

4.3. Run the service¶

We have provided the implementation for the readPrimitive, we have registered the processor and in the preparation section, we’ve created the Storage class and the Util class. After building and deploying the project, we can invoke e.g. the following URL

http://localhost:8080/DemoService/DemoService.svc/Products(ID=3)/Description