RESTful Java Web Services - Third Edition

Using header parameters for content negotiation

It is recommended to have an appropriate header parameter in the client request and in the server response to indicate how the entity body is serialized when transmitted over a wire:

• Accept: This request header field defines a list of acceptable response formats for the response, for example, Accept: application/json,application/xml.

The javax.ws.rs.client.WebTarget class allows you to specify the Accept header via the request() method for a JAX-RS client application.

• Content-Type: This header field defines the type of the request or response message body content, for example, Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8.

Note that when you use the @javax.ws.rs.Produces annotation, the JAX-RS ...