DocumentContext returns for the same path always a different object

[jlolling]

I am testing this configuration. It looks like this provider does not keep the objects in sync.
When I modify a JsonNode from the Jackson API these modification will not refected by the JsonNode returned by the DocumentContext.read() method.

    DocumentContext docContext = JsonPath.using(JACKSON_JSON_NODE_CONFIGURATION).parse("[]");

    ObjectNode nodeMadeByJackson_1 = new ObjectNode(JsonNodeFactory.instance);
    nodeMadeByJackson_1.put("a1", "v1");
    docContext.add("$", nodeMadeByJackson_1);
    // looks: [{"a1":"v1"}]
    System.out.println("1: " + docContext.jsonString());

    // now add to the first array node a new attribute referring to a new node
    ObjectNode nodeMadeByJackson_2 = new ObjectNode(JsonNodeFactory.instance);
    nodeMadeByJackson_2.put("a21", "v21");
    docContext.put("$[0]","a2", nodeMadeByJackson_2);
    // looks: [{"a1":"v1","a2":{"a21":"v21"}}]
    System.out.println("2: " + docContext.jsonString());

    // read back the first array node
    ObjectNode node_retrieved_from_context_1 = docContext.read("$[0]");
    System.out.println("3: " + node_retrieved_from_context_1);

    ObjectNode test21 = docContext.read("$[0].a2");
    System.out.println("4: " + test21);

    // now we are trying to get back the nodeMadeByJackson_2 but we get null!
    JsonNode test22 = nodeMadeByJackson_1.get("a2");
    System.out.println("5: " + test22);

Here the output:

1: [{"a1":"v1"}]
2: [{"a1":"v1","a2":{"a21":"v21"}}]
3: {"a1":"v1","a2":{"a21":"v21"}}
4: {"a21":"v21"}
5: null

This is a huge problem in the conjunction of jayway json path with Jackson Json API.
Do you have some suggestions how to improve this ?

[jlolling]

I have found the problem. It is caused by the JacksonJsonNodeJsonNodeProvider.
In this class the setProperty and setArrayIndex methods always creates a copy from the given value also if the value is a JsonNode.
I have created a patch for me and now it works. I will fork your repository, make the changes and send you a pull request.

Your API is great and now I can modify the returned JsonNodes and it is in sync with the model.

[ben-manes]

This backwards incompatible change broke me in #364. Can we iterate on it further?