Start implementing #1980

Author: cowtowncoder

src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/JsonNode.java

@@ -1090,6 +1090,22 @@ public <T extends JsonNode> T withObject(String propertyName) {
                 +getClass().getName()+"), cannot call with() on it");
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Method that can be called on Object nodes, to access a Object-valued
+     * node pointed to by given {@link JsonPointer}, if such a node exists:
+     * if not, an attempt is made to create it.
+     * If the node method is called on is not Object node,
+     * or if property exists and has value that is not Object node,
+     * {@link UnsupportedOperationException} is thrown
+     *
+     * @since 2.14
+     */
+    public <T extends JsonNode> T withObject(JsonPointer ptr) {
+        // To avoid abstract method, base implementation just fails
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("`withObject(JsonPointer)` not implemented by "
+                +getClass().getName());
+    }
+
     /**
      * @deprecated Since 2.14 use {@code withObject} instead
      */

src/main/java/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/node/BaseJsonNode.java

@@ -103,6 +103,27 @@ public JsonParser.NumberType numberType() {
         return null; 
     }
 
+    /*
+    /**********************************************************
+    /* Other traversal
+    /**********************************************************
+     */
+
+    @Override
+    public <T extends JsonNode> T withObject(JsonPointer ptr) {
+        if (!isObject()) {
+            // To avoid abstract method, base implementation just fails
+            _reportWrongNodeType("Can only call `withObject()` on `ObjectNode`, not `%s`",
+                getClass().getName());
+        }
+        return _withObject(ptr, ptr);
+    }
+
+    protected <T extends JsonNode> T _withObject(JsonPointer origPtr,
+            JsonPointer currentPTr)  {
+        return null;
+    }
+
     /*
     /**********************************************************
     /* JsonSerializable
@@ -140,5 +161,18 @@ public String toString() {
    public String toPrettyString() {
        return InternalNodeMapper.nodeToPrettyString(this);
    }
-}
 
+   /*
+   /**********************************************************
+   /* Other helper methods for subtypes
+   /**********************************************************
+    */
+
+   /**
+    * Helper method that throws {@link UnsupportedOperationException} as a result of
+    * this node being of wrong type
+    */
+   protected <T> T _reportWrongNodeType(String msgTemplate, Object...args) {
+       throw new UnsupportedOperationException(String.format(msgTemplate, args));
+   }
+}