Spring 3.0 exception converting String to java.util.Date on POST

I'm hoping someone can help me since I have been banging my head against a wall for a couple of days on a issue which seems straightforward and which has been documented in other threads on the web.

I am using Smart GWT client (3.0) in conjunction with Spring 3.1 server and using JSON to communicate (with Jackson API 1.9).

The issue is that when I attempt to save a date from my SmartGWT client and it is sent to the server I get the following exception:

org.springframework.validation.BindException: org.springframework.validation.BeanPropertyBindingResult: 1 errors Field error in object 'comment' on field 'dateAdded': rejected value [2012-06-27T10:57:47+0100]; codes [typeMismatch.comment.dateAdded,typeMismatch.dateAdded,typeMismatch.java.util.Date,typeMismatch]; arguments [org.springframework.context.support.DefaultMessageSourceResolvable: codes [comment.dateAdded,dateAdded]; arguments []; default message [dateAdded]]; default message [Failed to convert property value of type 'java.lang.String' to required type 'java.util.Date' for property 'dateAdded'; nested exception is org.springframework.core.convert.ConversionFailedException: Failed to convert from type java.lang.String to type java.util.Date for value '2012-06-27T10:57:47+0100'; nested exception is java.lang.IllegalArgumentException] at org.springframework.web.method.annotation.ModelAttributeMethodProcessor.resolveArgument(ModelAttributeMethodProcessor.java:110)

I have seen this issue in a few other posts, but most relate to not having formatted the Date in the correct format, but I have tried various formats: - yyyy-MM-dd - yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ - yyyyMMddHHmmssZ (as per suggestion here: http://code.google.com/p/usersapi/issues/detail?id=8)

So in my code I have done the following:

1. Configured a CustomObjectMapper:

` public class CustomObjectMapper extends ObjectMapper {

SimpleDateFormat formatter = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ");

public CustomObjectMapper() {
    super();
    configure(Feature.WRITE_DATES_AS_TIMESTAMPS, false);
    setDateFormat(formatter);
    getDeserializationConfig().setDateFormat(formatter);
}

} `

1. Spring app context thusly:

`

<mvc:annotation-driven>
    <mvc:message-converters>            
        <bean class="org.springframework.http.converter.xml.MarshallingHttpMessageConverter">
            <constructor-arg ref="jaxbMarshaller" />
            <property name="supportedMediaTypes" value="application/xml"/>
        </bean>
        <bean class="org.springframework.http.converter.json.MappingJacksonHttpMessageConverter">
            <property name="objectMapper" ref="jacksonObjectMapper" />
            <property name="supportedMediaTypes" value="application/json" />
        </bean>
    </mvc:message-converters>
</mvc:annotation-driven>

<context:component-scan base-package="com.jpmorgan.creditriskreporting.server" />

<bean id="marshallingConverter" class="org.springframework.http.converter.xml.MarshallingHttpMessageConverter">
    <constructor-arg ref="jaxbMarshaller" />
    <property name="supportedMediaTypes" value="application/xml"/>
</bean>


<bean id="jsonConverter" class="org.springframework.http.converter.json.MappingJacksonHttpMessageConverter">
    <property name="supportedMediaTypes" value="application/json" />
    <property name="objectMapper" ref="jacksonObjectMapper" />
</bean>


<bean id="jacksonObjectMapper" class="com.jpmorgan.creditriskreporting.server.util.CustomObjectMapper" />


<!-- Client -->
<bean id="restTemplate" class="org.springframework.web.client.RestTemplate">
    <property name="messageConverters">
        <list>
            <ref bean="marshallingConverter" />
            <ref bean="jsonConverter" />
        </list>
    </property>
</bean>

`

1. Bean object:

` import java.util.Date;

@JsonAutoDetect public class Comment {

private int id;
private String comment;
private Date dateAdded;

public Comment() {}

public Comment(int id) {
    this.id = id;
}

...

//@JsonSerialize(using=JsonDateSerializer.class) -- I had previously tried to use these custom Date serializer class
public Date getDateAdded() {
    return dateAdded;
}
//@JsonDeserialize(using=JsonDateDeserializer.class)
public void setDateAdded(Date dateAdded) {
    this.dateAdded = dateAdded;
}

`

EDIT:

1. Controller Class

This may be where the issue lies, since when I use @RequestBody it works from my Integration tests, however, my Abstract RestDataSource in SmartGWT only works with @ModelAttribute, so I'm not sure how to proceed.

@RequestMapping(value="/", method=RequestMethod.POST) public @ResponseBody Comment createNewComment2(@ModelAttribute Comment comment) { log.info("calling createComment with comment: {}", comment); comment.setDateAdded(new Date()); Comment added = commentDao.create(comment); log.info("created comment: {}", added); return commentDao.get(comment);
}

So I can fetch data from the server and the date is displayed in SmartGWT fine. It's only when I do the add data that I get the issue. From Smart GWT Developer Console:

{ "dataSource":"CommentDS", "operationType":"add", "componentId":"isc_DynamicForm_1", "data":{ "userAdded":"sharper", "dateAdded":"2012-06-27T10:57:47+0100", "comment":"sample" }, "callback":{ "target":[DynamicForm ID:isc_DynamicForm_1], "methodName":"saveEditorReply" }, "showPrompt":true, "prompt":"Saving form...", "oldValues":{ }, "clientContext":{ }, "requestId":"CommentDS$6272" }

Any help with this is hugely appreciated.

Cheers, Steve