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How do I serialize using two different getters based on JsonView in RestController?

I want the ability to serialize a field in an object based on the JsonView. It doesn't have to be JsonView, it's just what I have been exploring. Basically using #JsonView annotation on RestController class, it would serialize my POJO.
However I have a User and Admin view where there is an object:
Map secrets;
That for an Admin view I want both key:value to show up and serialize, but for a User I would only want a List keys or if its simpler, keep Map but only show the key and all of the values switch to '****' 4 asteriks or something.
I thought about having two getters but the JsonView annotation doesn't work like that where two getters can have different views and Jackson knows which one to call.
I'm not sure JsonView is the best thing here. Perhaps a JsonGetter method that serializes based on view or some custom serializer, but I think there might be a more straightforward way to do it with Jackson and few annotations
What I am looking to do is:
Person.java
Map<String,String> secrets;
This would serialize to (for Admin):
{
"person":{
"secrets":{
"password":"123456",
"creditCard":"1234 5678 9101"
}
}
}
This would serialize to (for User):
{
"person":{
"secrets":{
"password":"****",
"creditCard":"****"
}
}
}
However what I would envision what I could do is something like
#JsonView(View.User.class)
Map<String,String> getSecrets(){
this.secrets.forEach(value -> "****") //code would be different but basically setting all values to ****
return secrets;
}
#JsonView(View.Admin.class)
Map<String,String> getSecrets(){
//Returning secrets as they should be
return secrets;
}

You can try defining a custom serializer for the object mapper , so that whenever the object mapper is used for serialization you can check and convert the password and credit card field to the value you choose.For example
public class ItemSerializer extends StdSerializer<Item> {
public ItemSerializer() {
this(null);
}
public ItemSerializer(Class<Item> t) {
super(t);
}
#Override
public void serialize(
Item value, JsonGenerator jgen, SerializerProvider provider)
throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
jgen.writeStartObject();
jgen.writeNumberField("id", value.id);
jgen.writeStringField("itemName", value.itemName);
jgen.writeNumberField("owner", value.owner.id);
jgen.writeEndObject();
}
}
You can provide an object mapper that utilizes this custom serializer then,
Item myItem = new Item(1, "theItem", new User(2, "theUser"));
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
SimpleModule module = new SimpleModule();
module.addSerializer(Item.class, new ItemSerializer());
mapper.registerModule(module);
String serialized = mapper.writeValueAsString(myItem);
In your case you can register the objectmapper bean with the custom serializer in the spring context and make jackson use your object mapper bean.
Or using #JsonSerialize annotation like :
public class Event {
public String name;
#JsonSerialize(using = CustomDateSerializer.class)
public Date eventDate;
}
Public class CustomDateSerializer extends StdSerializer<Date> {
private static SimpleDateFormat formatter
= new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy hh:mm:ss");
public CustomDateSerializer() {
this(null);
}
public CustomDateSerializer(Class<Date> t) {
super(t);
}
#Override
public void serialize(
Date value, JsonGenerator gen, SerializerProvider arg2)
throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
gen.writeString(formatter.format(value));
}
}
Refer:
https://www.baeldung.com/jackson-json-view-annotation
https://www.baeldung.com/jackson-custom-serialization

Spring Boot: Wrapping JSON response in dynamic parent objects

I have a REST API specification that talks with back-end microservices, which return the following values:
On "collections" responses (e.g. GET /users) :
{
users: [
{
... // single user object data
}
],
links: [
{
... // single HATEOAS link object
}
]
}
On "single object" responses (e.g. GET /users/{userUuid}) :
{
user: {
... // {userUuid} user object}
}
}
This approach was chosen so that single responses would be extensible (for example, maybe if GET /users/{userUuid} gets an additional query parameter down the line such at ?detailedView=true we would have additional request information).
Fundamentally, I think it is an OK approach for minimizing breaking changes between API updates. However, translating this model to code is proving very arduous.
Let's say that for single responses, I have the following API model object for a single user:
public class SingleUserResource {
private MicroserviceUserModel user;
public SingleUserResource(MicroserviceUserModel user) {
this.user = user;
}
public String getName() {
return user.getName();
}
// other getters for fields we wish to expose
}
The advantage of this method is that we can expose only the fields from the internally used models for which we have public getters, but not others. Then, for collections responses I would have the following wrapper class:
public class UsersResource extends ResourceSupport {
#JsonProperty("users")
public final List<SingleUserResource> users;
public UsersResource(List<MicroserviceUserModel> users) {
// add each user as a SingleUserResource
}
}
For single object responses, we would have the following:
public class UserResource {
#JsonProperty("user")
public final SingleUserResource user;
public UserResource(SingleUserResource user) {
this.user = user;
}
}
This yields JSON responses which are formatted as per the API specification at the top of this post. The upside of this approach is that we only expose those fields that we want to expose. The heavy downside is that I have a ton of wrapper classes flying around that perform no discernible logical task aside from being read by Jackson to yield a correctly formatted response.
My questions are the following:
How can I possibly generalize this approach? Ideally, I would like to have a single BaseSingularResponse class (and maybe a BaseCollectionsResponse extends ResourceSupport class) that all my models can extend, but seeing how Jackson seems to derive the JSON keys from the object definitions, I would have to user something like Javaassist to add fields to the base response classes at Runtime - a dirty hack that I would like to stay as far away from as humanly possible.
Is there an easier way to accomplish this? Unfortunately, I may have a variable number of top-level JSON objects in the response a year from now, so I cannot use something like Jackson's SerializationConfig.Feature.WRAP_ROOT_VALUE because that wraps everything into a single root-level object (as far as I am aware).
Is there perhaps something like #JsonProperty for class-level (as opposed to just method and field level)?

There are several possibilities.
You can use a java.util.Map:
List<UserResource> userResources = new ArrayList<>();
userResources.add(new UserResource("John"));
userResources.add(new UserResource("Jane"));
userResources.add(new UserResource("Martin"));
Map<String, List<UserResource>> usersMap = new HashMap<String, List<UserResource>>();
usersMap.put("users", userResources);
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
System.out.println(mapper.writeValueAsString(usersMap));
You can use ObjectWriter to wrap the response that you can use like below:
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
ObjectWriter writer = mapper.writer().withRootName(root);
result = writer.writeValueAsString(object);
Here is a proposition for generalizing this serialization.
A class to handle simple object:
public abstract class BaseSingularResponse {
private String root;
protected BaseSingularResponse(String rootName) {
this.root = rootName;
}
public String serialize() {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
ObjectWriter writer = mapper.writer().withRootName(root);
String result = null;
try {
result = writer.writeValueAsString(this);
} catch (JsonProcessingException e) {
result = e.getMessage();
}
return result;
}
}
A class to handle collection:
public abstract class BaseCollectionsResponse<T extends Collection<?>> {
private String root;
private T collection;
protected BaseCollectionsResponse(String rootName, T aCollection) {
this.root = rootName;
this.collection = aCollection;
}
public T getCollection() {
return collection;
}
public String serialize() {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
ObjectWriter writer = mapper.writer().withRootName(root);
String result = null;
try {
result = writer.writeValueAsString(collection);
} catch (JsonProcessingException e) {
result = e.getMessage();
}
return result;
}
}
And a sample application:
public class Main {
private static class UsersResource extends BaseCollectionsResponse<ArrayList<UserResource>> {
public UsersResource() {
super("users", new ArrayList<UserResource>());
}
}
private static class UserResource extends BaseSingularResponse {
private String name;
private String id = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
public UserResource(String userName) {
super("user");
this.name = userName;
}
public String getUserName() {
return this.name;
}
public String getUserId() {
return this.id;
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws JsonProcessingException {
UsersResource userCollection = new UsersResource();
UserResource user1 = new UserResource("John");
UserResource user2 = new UserResource("Jane");
UserResource user3 = new UserResource("Martin");
System.out.println(user1.serialize());
userCollection.getCollection().add(user1);
userCollection.getCollection().add(user2);
userCollection.getCollection().add(user3);
System.out.println(userCollection.serialize());
}
}
You can also use the Jackson annotation #JsonTypeInfo in a class level
#JsonTypeInfo(include=As.WRAPPER_OBJECT, use=JsonTypeInfo.Id.NAME)

Personally I don't mind the additional Dto classes, you only need to create them once, and there is little to no maintenance cost. And If you need to do MockMVC tests, you will most likely need the classes to deserialize your JSON responses to verify the results.
As you probably know the Spring framework handles the serialization/deserialization of objects in the HttpMessageConverter Layer, so that is the correct place to change how objects are serialized.
If you don't need to deserialize the responses, it is possible to create a generic wrapper, and a custom HttpMessageConverter (and place it before MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter in the message converter list). Like this:
public class JSONWrapper {
public final String name;
public final Object object;
public JSONWrapper(String name, Object object) {
this.name = name;
this.object = object;
}
}
public class JSONWrapperHttpMessageConverter extends MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter {
#Override
protected void writeInternal(Object object, Type type, HttpOutputMessage outputMessage) throws IOException, HttpMessageNotWritableException {
// cast is safe because this is only called when supports return true.
JSONWrapper wrapper = (JSONWrapper) object;
Map<String, Object> map = new HashMap<>();
map.put(wrapper.name, wrapper.object);
super.writeInternal(map, type, outputMessage);
}
#Override
protected boolean supports(Class<?> clazz) {
return clazz.equals(JSONWrapper.class);
}
}
You then need to register the custom HttpMessageConverter in the spring configuration which extends WebMvcConfigurerAdapter by overriding configureMessageConverters(). Be aware that doing this disables the default auto detection of converters, so you will probably have to add the default yourself (check the Spring source code for WebMvcConfigurationSupport#addDefaultHttpMessageConverters() to see defaults. if you extend WebMvcConfigurationSupport instead WebMvcConfigurerAdapter you can call addDefaultHttpMessageConverters directly (Personally I prefere using WebMvcConfigurationSupport over WebMvcConfigurerAdapter if I need to customize anything, but there are some minor implications to doing this, which you can probably read about in other articles.

Jackson doesn't have a lot of support for dynamic/variable JSON structures, so any solution that accomplishes something like this is going to be pretty hacky as you mentioned. As far as I know and from what I've seen, the standard and most common method is using wrapper classes like you are currently. The wrapper classes do add up, but if you get creative with your inheretence you may be able to find some commonalities between classes and thus reduce the amount of wrapper classes. Otherwise you might be looking at writing a custom framework.

I guess you are looking for Custom Jackson Serializer. With simple code implementation same object can be serialized in different structures
some example:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/10835504/814304
http://www.davismol.net/2015/05/18/jackson-create-and-register-a-custom-json-serializer-with-stdserializer-and-simplemodule-classes/

Custom Jackson Serializer for a specific type in a particular class

Is there a way by which Jackson allows custom serialization for a specific type only in a particular class?
Here is my scenario:
I have ClassA.java which is something like:
public Class ClassA {
byte[] token;
String name;
public getToken() {
return token;
}
public setToken(byte[] newToken) {
token = newToken;
}
public getName() {
return name;
}
public setName(String newName) {
name = newName;
}
}
I do not have access to this class as it is in an external jar. However, I want to serialize the token byte array here in a particular manner. I have created a Custom serializer that does that and tries adding it to the mapper in all the ways mentioned in Jackson docs.
public class ByteArrayJacksonSerializer extends JsonSerializer<byte[]> {
public void serialize(byte[] value, JsonGenerator jgen, SerializerProvider provider) throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
String token = doMyThing(value);
jgen.writeString(token);
}
}
And in mapper, something like this:
public class MyObjectMapper extends ObjectMapper {
CustomSerializerFactory sf = new CustomSerializerFactory();
sf.addGenericMapping(byte[].class, new ByteArrayJacksonSerializer());
this.setSerializerFactory(sf);
and some more code here...
}
However I can do it only for byte[] in general, and not for ONLY byte[] in ClassA. Is there a way to let Jackson know that this custom serializer must be used ONLY for fields of byte[] type in ClassA, and to do serialization it's own way for all other classes?

You should use MixIn feature. In your example you have to create new interface:
interface ClassAMixIn {
#JsonSerialize(using = ByteArrayJacksonSerializer.class)
byte[] getToken();
}
which specifies custom serializer for given property. Now we have to configure ObjectMapper
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
mapper.addMixInAnnotations(ClassA.class, ClassAMixIn.class);
Your custom serializer will be used only for serializing byte array property in ClassA.

Nested Classes that need custom Jackson deserializer

I have a light wrapper class around a complex class for which I needed to write a custom Jackson JSON deserializer. The wrapper class is simple and only contains a String, a Date, and my complex object as properties. Does Jackson automatically apply a simple deserializer to the wrapper and my custom deserializer to my complex object? The custom deserializer works by itself. But when I try to serialize the wrapper Jackson throws a Nullpointer Exception. I must be missing something conceptual. Do I have to register another serializer with my module in addition to my custom deserializer?
java.lang.NullPointerException
at org.codehaus.jackson.impl.ReaderBasedParser._skipWSOrEnd(ReaderBasedParser.java:1477)
at org.codehaus.jackson.impl.ReaderBasedParser.nextToken(ReaderBasedParser.java:368)
at org.codehaus.jackson.map.deser.BeanDeserializer.deserializeFromObject(BeanDeserializer.java:690)
at org.codehaus.jackson.map.deser.BeanDeserializer.deserialize(BeanDeserializer.java:580)
at org.codehaus.jackson.map.ObjectMapper._readMapAndClose(ObjectMapper.java:2732)
at org.codehaus.jackson.map.ObjectMapper.readValue(ObjectMapper.java:1863)
at com.newoak.noc.curve.model.tests.ModelParamsTest.deserializeGraph(ModelParamsTest.java:100)
at com.newoak.noc.curve.model.tests.ModelParamsTest.testSerializationDeserialization(ModelParamsTest.java:113)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:601)
Trying to deserialize
public ModelParamGraph deserializeGraph(String json) throws JsonGenerationException, JsonMappingException, IOException
{
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
SimpleModule testModule = new SimpleModule("MyModule", new Version(1, 0, 0, null));
testModule.addSerializer(new SpaceJsonSerializer());
testModule.addDeserializer(Space.class, new SpaceJsonDeserializer());
mapper.registerModule(testModule);
ModelParamGraph space = mapper.readValue(json, ModelParamGraph.class);
return space;
}
Wrapper
public class ModelParamGraph
{
public String source;
public Date date;
#JsonSerialize(using=SpaceJsonSerializer.class)
#JsonDeserialize(using=SpaceJsonDeserializer.class)
public Space<TModelParam> paramSpace;
public ModelParamGraph()
{
}
public ModelParamGraph(String source, Date date)
{
setSource(source);
setDate(date);
setParamSpace(new Space<TModelParam>());
}
//getters and setters
}

If you can modify the class being wrapped, then you can use Jackson's #JsonView annotation, here is the full tutorial.
Step 1: create interfaces like so:
public class MyJsonViews {
public static class Small { }
public static class Medium extends Small { }
public static class Large extends Medium { }
}
Step 2: annotate properties (or methods) in your POJOs:
public class Wrapper {
#JsonView(MyJsonViews.Small.class)
private String name;
#JsonView(MyJsonViews.Medium.class)
private Wrapped wrapped;
// getters and setters
}
public class Wrapped {
#JsonView(MyJsonViews.Small.class)
private String someField;
#JsonView(MyJsonViews.Medium.class)
private String anotherField;
// getters and setters
}
Step 3: serialize using the new views:
ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
// important: this excludes all fields without #JsonView from being serialized
objectMapper.configure(MapperFeature.DEFAULT_VIEW_INCLUSION, false);
String json = objectMapper.writerWithView(SMyJsonViews.mall.class).writeValueAsString(wrapper);
Your JSON will now contain just the fields annotated with #JsonView(MyJsonViews.Small.class).
If you cannot modify the class being wrapped, then you could use the Filter approach, described here.

How to (De)serialize field from object based on annotation using Jackson?

I need to configure Jackson in a specific way which I'll describe below.
Requirements
Annotated fields are serialized with only their id:
If the field is a normal object, serialize its id
If the field is a collection of objects, serialize an array of id
Annotated fields get their property names serialized differently:
If the field is a normal object, add "_id" suffix to property name
If the field is a collection of objects, add "_ids" suffix to property name
For the annotation I was thinking something like a custom #JsonId, ideally with an optional value to override the name just like #JsonProperty does
The id property should be defined by the user, either using:
The already existing Jackson's #JsonIdentityInfo
Or by creating another class or field annotation
Or by deciding which annotation to inspect for id property discoverability (useful for JPA scenarios, for example)
Objects should be serialized with a wrapped root value
Camel case naming should be converted to lower case with underscores
All of this should be deserializable (by constructing an instance with just the id setted)
An example
Considering these POJO's:
//Inform Jackson which property is the id
#JsonIdentityInfo(
generator = ObjectIdGenerators.PropertyGenerator.class,
property = "id"
)
public abstract class BaseResource{
protected Long id;
//getters and setters
}
public class Resource extends BaseResource{
private String name;
#JsonId
private SubResource subResource;
#JsonId
private List<SubResource> subResources;
//getters and setters
}
public class SubResource extends BaseResource{
private String value;
//getters and setters
}
A possible serialization of a Resource instance could be:
{
"resource":{
"id": 1,
"name": "bla",
"sub_resource_id": 2,
"sub_resource_ids": [
1,
2,
3
]
}
}
So far...
Requirement #5 can be accomplished by configuring ObjectMapper in the following way:
objectMapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.UNWRAP_ROOT_VALUE, true);
objectMapper.configure(SerializationFeature.WRAP_ROOT_VALUE, true);
And then using #JsonRootName("example_root_name_here") in my POJO's.
Requirement #6 can be accomplished by configuring ObjectMapper in the following way:
objectMapper.setPropertyNamingStrategy(
PropertyNamingStrategy.CAMEL_CASE_TO_LOWER_CASE_WITH_UNDERSCORES);
As you can see there are still lots of requirements to fulfill. For those wondering why I need such a configuration, it's because I'm developing a REST webservice for ember.js (more specifically Ember Data).
You would appreciate very much if you could help with any of the requirements.
Thanks!

Most (all?) of your requirements can be accomplished through the use of a contextual serializer. Taking one answer from ContextualDeserializer for mapping JSON to different types of maps with Jackson and Jackson's wiki (http://wiki.fasterxml.com/JacksonFeatureContextualHandlers) I was able to come up with the following.
You need to start with the #JsonId annotation, which is the key indicating a property needs to only use the Id property.
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.*;
import java.lang.annotation.*;
#Target({ElementType.FIELD, ElementType.METHOD, ElementType.TYPE})
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
#JacksonAnnotation // important so that it will get included!
public #interface JsonId {
}
Next is the actual ContextualSerializer, which does the heavy lifting.
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.*;
import java.io.*;
public class ContextualJsonIdSerializer
extends JsonSerializer<BaseResource>
implements ContextualSerializer/*<BaseResource>*/
{
private ObjectMapper mapper;
private boolean useJsonId;
public ContextualJsonIdSerializer(ObjectMapper mapper) { this(mapper, false); }
public ContextualJsonIdSerializer(ObjectMapper mapper, boolean useJsonId) {
this.mapper = mapper;
this.useJsonId = useJsonId;
}
#Override
public void serialize(BaseResource br, JsonGenerator jgen, SerializerProvider provider) throws IOException
{
if ( useJsonId ) {
jgen.writeString(br.getId().toString());
} else {
mapper.writeValue(jgen, br);
}
}
#Override
public JsonSerializer<BaseResource> createContextual(SerializerProvider config, BeanProperty property)
throws JsonMappingException
{
// First find annotation used for getter or field:
System.out.println("Finding annotations for "+property);
if ( null == property ) {
return new ContextualJsonIdSerializer(mapper, false);
}
JsonId ann = property.getAnnotation(JsonId.class);
if (ann == null) { // but if missing, default one from class
ann = property.getContextAnnotation(JsonId.class);
}
if (ann == null ) {//|| ann.length() == 0) {
return this;//new ContextualJsonIdSerializer(false);
}
return new ContextualJsonIdSerializer(mapper, true);
}
}
This class looks at BaseResource properties and inspects them to see if the #JsonId annotation is present. If it is then only the Id property is used, otherwise a passed in ObjectMapper is used to serialize the value. This is important because if you try to use the mapper that is (basically) in the context of the ContextualSerializer then you will get a stack overflow since it will eventually call these methods over and over.
You're resource should look something like the following. I used the #JsonProperty annotation instead of wrapping the functionality in the ContextualSerializer because it seemed silly to reinvent the wheel.
import java.util.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.*;
public class Resource extends BaseResource{
private String name;
#JsonProperty("sub_resource_id")
#JsonId
private SubResource subResource;
#JsonProperty("sub_resource_ids")
#JsonId
private List<SubResource> subResources;
//getters and setters
public String getName() {return name;}
public void setName(String name) {this.name = name;}
public SubResource getSubResource() {return subResource;}
public void setSubResource(SubResource subResource) {this.subResource = subResource;}
public List<SubResource> getSubResources() {return subResources;}
public void setSubResources(List<SubResource> subResources) {this.subResources = subResources;}
}
Finally the method that performs the serialization just creates an additional ObjectMapper and registers a module in the original ObjectMapper.
// Create the original ObjectMapper
ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
objectMapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.UNWRAP_ROOT_VALUE, true);
objectMapper.configure(SerializationFeature.WRAP_ROOT_VALUE, true);
objectMapper.setPropertyNamingStrategy(PropertyNamingStrategy.CAMEL_CASE_TO_LOWER_CASE_WITH_UNDERSCORES);
// Create a clone of the original ObjectMapper
ObjectMapper objectMapper2 = new ObjectMapper();
objectMapper2.configure(DeserializationFeature.UNWRAP_ROOT_VALUE, true);
objectMapper2.configure(SerializationFeature.WRAP_ROOT_VALUE, true);
objectMapper2.setPropertyNamingStrategy(PropertyNamingStrategy.CAMEL_CASE_TO_LOWER_CASE_WITH_UNDERSCORES);
// Create a module that references the Contextual Serializer
SimpleModule module = new SimpleModule("JsonId", new Version(1, 0, 0, null));
// All references to SubResource should be run through this serializer
module.addSerializer(SubResource.class, new ContextualJsonIdSerializer(objectMapper2));
objectMapper.registerModule(module);
// Now just use the original objectMapper to serialize