JAXB collation in WebSphere 8.5.5.3 results in elements from the interface in the XML SOAP response

We have a web service that uses JAXB to marshal and expose a SOAP request and response. We are using Sun / Oracle JDK7 on Tomcat and the corresponding IBM JDK7 on WebSphere 8.5.5.3. The application works as expected on Tomcat, however unmarshalling the response from WebSphere results in a null object due to an additional element from the Java interface that implements the class - in the XML response. The Java Dynamic Web Service Sample Project was created in Eclipse (Kepler Service Release 2) to reproduce an object marshalling error by returning a class that extends an abstract class that returns an interface to WebSphere. The project is structured as follows:

• Person.java - Person is an interface.
• Employee.java - Employee is a class that implements the Person interface.

• Manager.java - Manager is a class that extends the Employee class.

• Department.java is an abstract class that contains an abstract getPerson () method that returns the Person interface.

• Finance.java - [This is a class that extends Department that polymorphizes the getPerson () method to return a Manager object.]

• PersonnelEndPoint.java - [This is the Personnel web service endpoint that contains the getFinanceDepartment () method that returns the Finance object]

Note that there is an additional element in the XML returned from WebSphere below <person>

. Is there an option in WebSphere that suppresses returning an item from the base interface?

Capturing SoapUI from an application deployed to Tomcat looks like this:

<S:Envelope xmlns:S="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <S:Body>
      <ns3:getFinanceDepartmentResponse xmlns:ppl="http://personnel.corporate.org" xmlns:ns3="http://application.corporate.org/">
         <return>
            <manager>
               <firstName>Austin</firstName>
               <internalId>1000</internalId>
               <lastName>Smith</lastName>
               <middleName>J</middleName>
               <level>1</level>
               <managerYn>true</managerYn>
            </manager>
         </return>
      </ns3:getFinanceDepartmentResponse>
   </S:Body>
</S:Envelope>

      

        
        
        
      

    

The WebSphere result looks like this:

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <soapenv:Body>
      <ns2:getFinanceDepartmentResponse xmlns:ppl="http://personnel.corporate.org" xmlns:ns2="http://application.corporate.org/">
         <return>
            <manager>
               <firstName>Austin</firstName>
               <internalId>1000</internalId>
               <lastName>Smith</lastName>
               <middleName>J</middleName>
               <level>1</level>
               <managerYn>true</managerYn>
            </manager>
            <person>
               <firstName>Austin</firstName>
               <internalId>1000</internalId>
               <lastName>Smith</lastName>
               <middleName>J</middleName>
               <level>1</level>
               <managerYn>true</managerYn>
            </person>
         </return>
      </ns2:getFinanceDepartmentResponse>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

      

        
        
        
      

    

Examples of java files:

Personnel.java

package org.corporate.personnel;
import java.io.Serializable;

// this is a base interface.

public interface Person extends Cloneable, Serializable{
    public Long getInternalId();
    public String getFirstName();
    public String getLastName();
    public String getMiddleName();
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

Employee.java

package org.corporate.personnel;

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlSeeAlso;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlType;

import org.corporate.personnel.Person;
import org.corporate.personnel.Manager;

// Employee class implements Person interface.

@XmlType(name="Employee")
@XmlSeeAlso({Manager.class})
public class Employee implements Person {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 2019814652839014485L;

    private Long internalId;
    private String firstName;
    private String lastName;
    private String middleName;
    private Manager manager;

    public Employee() {}

    public Employee(Long pInternalId, String pFirstName, String pLastName, 
            String pMiddleName) {
        internalId = pInternalId;
        firstName = pFirstName;
        lastName = pLastName;
        middleName = pMiddleName;
    }

    public Long getInternalId() {
        return internalId;
    }

    public void setInternalId(Long internalId) {
        this.internalId = internalId;
    }

    public String getFirstName() {
        return firstName;
    }

    public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
        this.firstName = firstName;
    }

    public String getLastName() {
        return lastName;
    }

    public void setLastName(String lastName) {
        this.lastName = lastName;
    }

    public String getMiddleName() {
        return middleName;
    }

    public void setMiddleName(String middleName) {
        this.middleName = middleName;
    }

    public Manager getManager() {
        return manager;
    }

    public void setManager(Manager manager) {
        this.manager = manager;
    }
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

Manager.java

package org.corporate.personnel;
import java.util.List;

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlType;

import org.corporate.personnel.Employee;

// this class inherits Employee class, which implements Person interface.

@XmlType(name = "Manager")
@XmlRootElement(name = "Manager")
public class Manager extends Employee {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = -1750217675821392021L;

    private Long managerId;
    private Integer level;
    private Boolean managerYn;
    private List<Manager> alternateManagers;
    private List<Employee> subordinates;

    public Long getManagerId() {
        return managerId;
    }

    public void setManagerId(Long managerId) {
        this.managerId = managerId;
    }

    public Integer getLevel() {
        return level;
    }

    public void setLevel(Integer level) {
        this.level = level;
    }

    public Boolean getManagerYn() {
        return managerYn;
    }

    public void setManagerYn(Boolean managerYn) {
        this.managerYn = managerYn;
    }

    public List<Manager> getAlternateManagers() {
        return alternateManagers;
    }

    public void setAlternateManagers(List<Manager> alternateManagers) {
        this.alternateManagers = alternateManagers;
    }

    public List<Employee> getSubordinates() {
        return subordinates;
    }

    public void setSubordinates(List<Employee> subordinates) {
        this.subordinates = subordinates;
    }
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

Department.java

package org.corporate.personnel;

import java.io.Serializable;

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlType;

@XmlType(name="Department")
@javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlSeeAlso({Manager.class, Finance.class})
public abstract class Department implements Cloneable, Serializable {
    // eclipse auto generated serial version 
    private static final long serialVersionUID = -910358057883859853L;

    // references Person interface.
    public abstract Person getPerson();
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

Finance.java

package org.corporate.personnel;

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlType;

@XmlType(name = "Finance")
@XmlRootElement(name = "Finance")
public class Finance extends Department {
    // eclipse auto generated serial version 
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 4012667746961776179L;
    private Manager manager;

    // note: the getPerson method returns Person interface.
    // Manager is a class that extends Employee class, which implements Person
    // interface.

    // implements getPerson method from abstract class.
    public Manager getPerson() {
        return manager;
    }
    public void setPerson(Manager pManager) {
        manager = pManager;
    }
    public Manager getManager() {
        return manager;
    }
    public void setManager(Manager manager) {
        this.manager = manager;
    }
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

PersonnelEndPoint.java

package org.corporate.application;

import javax.jws.WebMethod;
import javax.jws.WebService;

import org.corporate.personnel.Finance;
import org.corporate.personnel.Manager;

/**
 * This sample application demonstrates WebSphere returns 
 * properties from an interface. 
 * @author EXL Landa
 *
 */
@WebService
@javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlSeeAlso({Manager.class, Finance.class})
public class PersonnelEndPoint {    
    /**
     * The public method that returns an interface implemented
     * in a base class Department.
     * @return
     */
    @WebMethod
    public Finance getFinanceDepartment() {
        Finance lFinance = new Finance();
        lFinance.setPerson(getManager());
        return lFinance;
    }

    /**
     * This method returns a local manager object.
     * @return Manager
     */
    private Manager getManager() {
        Manager lManager = new Manager();
        lManager.setInternalId(1000L);
        lManager.setFirstName("Austin");
        lManager.setMiddleName("J");
        lManager.setLastName("Smith");
        lManager.setLevel(1);
        lManager.setManagerYn(true);
        return lManager;
    }
}