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I am having trouble with some basic JSON parsing

The return from an external application is an Input Stream that looks like this:
JSONObj = {
"output":
[
{
"box":[0, 44, 43, 189],
"text":"~9 000 -"
}
]
}
I'm having trouble parsing the JSON in Java
The 'JSONOBJ' keeps coming back as an Invalid Token.
Is there a way to simply begin parsing at the '['?

I would advice against manipulating the JSON prior to parsing it. If you want to cut out parts it's a sign that your target data structure (the Java class you're intending to get) does not match the data you're receiving. These two should be in sync.

Throwing this into any decent JSON parser will tell you that this is invalid JSON.
Particularily, at line 6, you should remove the manual line breaks, since JSON only permits explicit ones using the line seperator \n:
{
"output": [
{
"box": [
0,
44,
43,
189
],
"text": "~9 000 -"
}
]
}

The easiest way might be:
json = json.substring(json.indexOf('{'))
And I actually disagree with Nicktar's statement, since that external program isn't even returning valid JSON (and I'd consider it a very very stupid implementation to be frank). There is no need in saying "hey, that's an object" because that's actually implicit. If a JSON starts with {, it's an object, if it starts with [, it's an array.

How to/best practice on how to differentiate between serialised objects stored within JSON format?

Suppose that I serialise two different objects and save them to a directory.
Problem: Upon application start up, parsing the JSON files are not a problem - since GSON is employed, I can write my own serialisers and deserialisers for both of the JSON files for their respective objects to be constructed.
But the problem is, how can I differentiate between the numerous JSON files in terms of what they store within them, so I can apply the correct deserialiser to it.
Thank you, best.

Consider standardizing your JSON structure to include document type. You can even store the target object type in that field. Good practice is to include document version number as well. Example below shows two different versions of the 'account' document and a transaction document. All three can be stored in, say, the same Couchbase bucket. The way to differentiate between different documents would be to look at the "doc_type" field and the document version (if required). From the GSON serializer selection standpoint, you can look at at the "doc_type" in a switch/if-else statement or store the target object type in place of "account" or "transaction" and then, at the expense of performance, dynamically parse JSON to POJO.
{
"doc_type": "account",
"doc_ver": 1,
"content": {
"accnt_no": "12321645645484",
"name": "Name or alias",
"email": "Email address",
"password": "Password in raw format",
"exp_date": "06/10/2017"
}
}
{
"doc_type": "account",
"doc_ver": 2,
"content": {
"accnt_no": "12321645645484",
"name": "customer name",
"email": "customer email",
"password": "pass",
"timezone": "customer timezone",
"ip": "IP address",
"spoken_languages": [ "EN", "RU" ],
"exp_date": "06/10/2017"
}
}
{
"doc_type": "transaction",
"doc_ver": 1,
"content": {
"accnt_no": "12321645645484",
"tran_date": "06/04/2017",
"tran_time": "09:15:84.953"
}
}
Hope this helps.

I think that the best way is parse JSON to a HashMap<String, Object> with multiple level. GSON will parse your JSON to HashMap with key is object name and value is an object (This object will belong to 3 type: HashMap for a object in JSON, List for an array in JSON and String for a string in JSON). To using this HashMap you need to iterate through the HashMap using a recursive method.

JSON Object can't be converted to JSON Array

ya i know that it's very usual problem while mapping but my problem is some different hear is the scenario
when my response have the data it gives me JSON Response like this
{
"responseID": "110",
"resultSet": [
{
"USERNAME": "Aninja",
"position": "Developer",
"salary": "60000"
}
],
"isSuccessful": true,
"rtnCode": "0000"
}
and below is the same JSON response when data is not found
{
"responseID": "123",
"resultSet": {},
"isSuccessful": true,
"rtnCode": " "
}
as i can see hear when response have some data result set have JSON Array but when no data found we have JSON Object as a response
so this is the reason I'm getting this problem.
so my question is that how should i handle this problem thanks for your response
Edit: the main problem is that i have made my model like list of JSON Object it works fine when there is result but it gives me error Can't convert JSON Object to JSON Array when result is empty s please suggest me how can i hanle it I'm using Jackson 2.2 i have also tried #JsonInclude(Include.NON_EMPTY) and #JsonInclude(Include.NON_NULL)

I wouldn't say it is mistake from server or back-end. But it is always a good practice to provide appropriate "Null Object Pattern" which describes the uses of such objects and their behavior.
So for better practice array which doesn't have any values should be sent back using "[]". So in this case "resultSet" should be given as [] instead of {} so it can be easily understood at front-end.
There are number of examples here which shows why it is useful to follow Null Object Pattern.
For example, if you are returning count in you response and there is no count then it is better to use "0" instead of "null".

Convert nested arbitrary JSON to CSV in Java

This question has been asked many times but I couldn't find the answer that fixes my issue.
I'm trying to convert nested JSON format to CSV format like this :
The JSON structure is arbitrary and could be anything, nested or not.
I'm not suppose to know it, it's a database answer and I need to export this JSON answer into CSV file.
Here is an example
Input :
{
"_id": 1,
"name": "Aurelia Menendez",
"scores": [
{
"type": "exam",
"score": 60.06045071030959
},
{
"type": "quiz",
"score": 52.79790691903873
},
{
"type": "homework",
"score": 71.76133439165544
}
]
}
The output I'm looking for :
_id,name,scores.type,scores.score,scores.type,scores.score,scores.type,scores.score
1,Aurelia Menendez,exam,60.06...,quiz,52.79...,homework,71.76..
This is an example, it could be any other JSON document.
The idea here is to use dot notation in the CSV column name.
I've already used CDL but the output is not what I want :
_id scores name
1 "[{score:60.06045071030959,type:exam},{score:52.79790691903873,type:quiz},{score:71.76133439165544,type:homework}]" Aurelia Menendez
So how can I convert nested JSON to CSV with dot notation and in a generic way ?
Edits
Deserialisation of the JSON with Jackson :
ObjectMapper mapper=new ObjectMapper();
JsonNode jsonNode=mapper.readValue(new File("C:\\...\\...\...\\test.json"), JsonNode.class);
Ismail

Like you said :
The JSON structure is arbitrary and could be anything, nested or not.
The JSON to CSV conversion can't be generalized as it varies from user to user and also depends specific requirements.
But still there's a library json2flat which tries to achieve it. But it may differ from user's requirement. Still it's worth a try.
For example for the JSON given above:
{
"_id": 1,
"name": "Aurelia Menendez",
"scores": [
{
"type": "exam",
"score": 60.06045071030959
},
{
"type": "quiz",
"score": 52.79790691903873
},
{
"type": "homework",
"score": 71.76133439165544
}
]
}
can be interpreted as follows :
/_id,/name,/scores/type,/scores/score
1,"Aurelia Menendez","exam",60.06045071030959
1,"Aurelia Menendez","quiz",52.79790691903873
1,"Aurelia Menendez","homework",71.76133439165544

Converting JSON to XLS/CSV in Java has what you are looking for.
Basically, you need to use org.json.CDL to convert from JSON to CSV format

Comments are not convenient place to post longs answers, so I post my answer here.
Analyze your JSON and all possible JSON structures you can get from your database. It should be a limited number of JSON forms.
As you have analyzed your JSON structure build a class/class hierarchy, that fully reflects this structure.
Use JSON serializer/deserializer library at your choice, to deserialize JSON to a java object.
Employ StringBuffer/StringBuilder classes, and iterate over your object information, and build comma delimited (or tab-delimited) strings.
Write strings you have built on the previous stage to the file.
That's it.

How to convert Invalid JSON String to JSONObject in Java?

I have a string response like below which is a invalid json as it contains "obj13=".I want to convert it to a JSONObject(JAVA) and use it.Is there any good way to convert it to JSONObject without using String split operation.
obj13={
players: [
{
name: "rocky",
place: "brazil",
age: "21",
},
{
name: "andy",
place: "New Zealand",
age: "23",
}
]
}

This is, of course, JavaScript, not JSON. If you can, I would go back to the service provider and ask for a JSON response.
If the format of the string is consistent, you could just use:
json=json.substring(json.indexof('=')+1);
and then parse the result. Note that most good parsers should have an option to allow the keywords without quotes and to allow the extraneous commas (mine does, but unfortunately for you it doesn't create JSONObject's but is of a lower level - it's designed to construct the data-structure of the caller's choice, which could be a JSONObject if that's what you wanted but you'd have to code it).
If the result may or may not have the assignment, you may want to get a bit fancier and ensure that the non-whitespace characters before the '=' are valid for a JS identifier and the first non-whitespace after it is '{'.