Add DeserializationFeature.USE_NULL_FOR_MISSING_REFERENCE_VALUES for selecting null vs "empty/absent" value when deserializing missing Optional value #5350
Description
(note: follow-up to #3601, #5335)
As of 3.0.1, handling of "reference types" (java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference, java.util.Optional) is inconsistent: in case of "missing" (absent) value from incoming JSON, when passed via Constructor:
AtomicReferenceis mapped tonull(same as in 2.x and 3.0.0)Optionalis mapped toOptional.empty()(same as in 2.x stand-alone module default)
but neither behavior is configurable. (also note that this mapping only matters for Creator-passed properties, including Records -- for Field/Setter settable, absent/missing value is never set).
Let's add a new DeserializationFeature to allow configuring this behavior.
Activity
[-]Add `DeserializationFeature` for selecting `null` or "empty" value for missing `Optional` value[/-][+]Add `DeserializationFeature` for selecting `null` or "empty" value when deserializing missing `Optional` value[/+]M-PRANAY commentedon Oct 18, 2025
Could I work on this?If Yes I will paste a skeleton and continue, please reply @cowtowncoder
cowtowncoder commentedon Oct 19, 2025
@M-PRANAY thank you -- I appreciate the offer -- but I think this is something I need to handle myself.
[-]Add `DeserializationFeature` for selecting `null` or "empty" value when deserializing missing `Optional` value[/-][+]Add `DeserializationFeature.USE_NULL_FOR_MISSING_REFERENCE_VALUES` for selecting `null` vs "empty/absent" value when deserializing missing `Optional` value[/+]Fix #5350: add `DeserializationFeature.USE_NULL_FOR_MISSING_REFERENCE…
Fix FasterXML#5350: add `DeserializationFeature.USE_NULL_FOR_MISSING_…