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How to serialize/deserialize object to Map

I have one specific case. I need to serialize/deserialize an object to Map<String, Object>. I have a class that looks like the following:
public class Data {
public String name;
public Map<String, Object> options = new HashMap<>();
}
I can put to this options objects of any type. For instance:
public class Option {
public int id;
...
}
public class TestOpt {
public name;
...
}
and I try to serialize and deserialize it:
public static void main(String... args) {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
Option o = new Option();
o.id = 1;
TestOpt t = new TestOpt();
t.name = "fff";
Data data = new Data();
data.name = "data";
data.options.put("o", o);
data.options.put("t", t);
String json = mapper.writeValueAsString(data);
Data d1 = mapper.readValue(json, Data.class);
// I get error because options.get("o") contains LinkedHashMap instead of Option.class
System.out.println(((Option)d1.options.get("o")).id);
}
How can I fix this issue?

The value of the serialized json is
{"name":"data","options":{"t":{"name":"fff"},"o":{"id":1}}}
So, the problem is that the object mapper has no way to tell that the o value inside the json is an Option. The best guess is that it could be a map and thus it is deserialized as a LinkedHashMap.
If you are sure that the element o is an Option, you can convert the value using an object mapper:
Option option = mapper.convertValue(d1.options.get("o"), Option.class);
But please note, that this means that the value is again serialized and then deserialized using the right type information. You can do that, but it is not a good solution.
If it is possible, a better way would be to change your model from a generic map to a specific class that contains the type information:
class Data {
public String name;
public DataOptions options = new DataOptions();
}
class DataOptions {
public Option o;
public TestOpt t;
}
Serializing this model has the same json representation as the model using a map, and the model can be used to deserialize the json from your example.

How to serialize an object to a list of one elements with gson

I have some json string like this:
example1
{
"path":{
"start":"abc"
},
"name":"Fork1"
}
example2
{
"path":[{
"start":"abc"
},
{
"start":"def"
}],
"name":"Fork1"
}
and I want to serialize with one JAVA object like this:
#Data
public static class ForkNode {
private List<Path> path;
private String name;
}
#Data
public static class Path {
private String start;
}
new Gson().fromJson(jsonStr, ForkNode.class)
but it will throw an exception
IllegalStateException: Expected BEGIN_ARRAY but was BEGIN_OBJECT at line 2 column 11 path $.path
So how do I treat the first example as a list of one elements?
Or is there any way I can serialize two different types of json strings with one object?

I don't think it is a good way to serialize two different types of json strings with ONE object.
For example 1, the Object should be like this:
#Data
public static class ForkNode {
// only one path
private Path path;
private String name;
}
#Data
public static class Path {
private String start;
}
new Gson().fromJson(jsonStr, ForkNode.class)
While For example 2, the Object should be like this:
#Data
public static class ForkNode {
// several paths
private List<Path> path;
private String name;
}
#Data
public static class Path {
private String start;
}
new Gson().fromJson(jsonStr, ForkNode.class)
In JSON:
Objects are enclosed directly in curly brackets {} While JSON
Arrays that are enclosed in square brackets [] inside JSON Objects.
One more thing, If you do really want to do that, I think you need to implement a custom deserializer by yourself. Please ref the doc of Gson.

I solved it by modify JsonObject.
I use this code to convent JsonObject to JsonArray, so I can deserializer it like JsonArray.
public void objectToArray(JsonObject jsonObject, String node) {
JsonElement jsonElement = jsonObject.get(node);
if (jsonElement instanceof JsonObject) {
JsonArray array = new JsonArray();
array.add(jsonElement);
jsonObject.remove(node);
jsonObject.add(node, array);
}
}

Jackson - how to send byte value as char in json sting

I want to deserialize this json string
{"value":"Y"}
to this object
public class Data {
byte value;
public byte getValue() {
return value;
}
public void setValue(byte value) {
this.value = value;
}
}
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
Data data = mapper.readValue(js, Data.class);
it works when in json string I put an ascii code
{"value":89}
But I want to use char value.
Main problem is that Data class is legacy class, and I can't add #JsonDeserialize annotation inside it.
Any other option?

How to parse json data using in java

I am getting this data from server how to parse this data in java .
LabelField jsonResult = new LabelField(connectJson.response);
"[{\"screen_refresh_interval\":4,\"station_list_last_update\":\"update4\"},{\"screen_refresh_interval\":4,\"station_list_last_update\":\"update4\"},{\"screen_refresh_interval\":4,\"station_list_last_update\":\"update4\"},{\"screen_refresh_interval\":4,\"station_list_last_update\":\"update4\"},{\"screen_refresh_interval\":4,\"station_list_last_update\":\"update4\"}]"
I am getting response in jsonResult variable

You can use libraries like Jackson to do the same. There is also Google's GSON which will help you do the same. See this example

Take a look at the JSONParser Object in this Tutorial

If you are using Eclipse plugin than may JSON library included in you SDK.
Use below code to parse your JSON string got from the server.
String test = "[{\"screen_refresh_interval\":4,\"station_list_last_update\":\"update4\"},{\"screen_refresh_interval\":4,\"station_list_last_update\":\"update4\"},{\"screen_refresh_interval\":4,\"station_list_last_update\":\"update4\"},{\"screen_refresh_interval\":4,\"station_list_last_update\":\"update4\"},{\"screen_refresh_interval\":4,\"station_list_last_update\":\"update4\"}]";
JSONArray array = new JSONArray(test);
JSONObject obj = (JSONObject) array.get(0);
Your String look like you got JSON Array from the server.
First convert your Json string to JSON Array by
JSONArray array = new JSONArray(Your JSON String);
Each element in array represent JSON Object.You can read JSON Object by
JSONObject obj = (JSONObject) array.get(Index);
You can read parameter from Object to any String variable by :
String valueStr = obj.getString("screen_refresh_interval");
May this help you.

Design a class (viz CustomClass) first with screen_refresh_interval and station_list_last_update as properties. And Make a collection class for CustomClass
I'm using Gson as deserializer. Other libraries are also available.
public class Container {
private CustomClass[] classes;
public CustomClass[] getClasses() {
return classes;
}
public void setClasses(CustomClass[] classes) {
this.classes = classes;
}
}
public class CustomClass {
private String screen_refresh_interval;
private String station_list_last_update;
public String getScreen_refresh_interval() {
return screen_refresh_interval;
}
public void setScreen_refresh_interval(String screen_refresh_interval) {
this.screen_refresh_interval = screen_refresh_interval;
}
public String getStation_list_last_update() {
return station_list_last_update;
}
public void setStation_list_last_update(String station_list_last_update) {
this.station_list_last_update = station_list_last_update;
}
}
Gson gson = new Gson();
Container customClassCollection = gson.fromJson(jsonResult, Container.class);

How to keep fields sequence in Gson serialization

Seems like Gson.toJson(Object object) generates JSON code with randomly spread fields of the object. Is there way to fix fields order somehow?
public class Foo {
public String bar;
public String baz;
public Foo( String bar, String baz ) {
this.bar = bar;
this.baz = baz;
}
}
Gson gson = new Gson();
String jsonRequest = gson.toJson(new Foo("bar","baz"));
The string jsonRequest can be:
{ "bar":"bar", "baz":"baz" } (correct)
{ "baz":"baz", "bar":"bar" } (wrong sequence)

You'd need to create a custom JSON serializer.
E.g.
public class FooJsonSerializer implements JsonSerializer<Foo> {
#Override
public JsonElement serialize(Foo foo, Type type, JsonSerializationContext context) {
JsonObject object = new JsonObject();
object.add("bar", context.serialize(foo.getBar());
object.add("baz", context.serialize(foo.getBaz());
// ...
return object;
}
}
and use it as follows:
Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().registerTypeAdapter(Foo.class, new FooJsonSerializer()).create();
String json = gson.toJson(foo);
// ...
This maintains the order as you've specified in the serializer.
See also:
Gson User Guide - Custom serializers and deserializers

If GSON doesn't support definition of field order, there are other libraries that do. Jackson allows definining this with #JsonPropertyOrder, for example. Having to specify one's own custom serializer seems like awful lot of work to me.
And yes, I agree in that as per JSON specification, application should not expect specific ordering of fields.

Actually Gson.toJson(Object object) doesn't generate fields in random order. The order of resulted json depends on literal sequence of the fields' names.
I had the same problem and it was solved by literal order of properties' names in the class.
The example in the question will always return the following jsonRequest:
{ "bar":"bar", "baz":"baz" }
In order to have a specific order you should modify fields' names, ex: if you want baz to be first in order then comes bar:
public class Foo {
public String f1_baz;
public String f2_bar;
public Foo ( String f1_baz, String f2_bar ) {
this.f1_baz = f1_baz;
this.f2_bar = f2_bar;
}
}
jsonRequest will be { "f1_baz ":"baz", "f2_bar":"bar" }

Here's my solution for looping over json text files in a given directory and writing over the top of them with sorted versions:
private void standardizeFormat(File dir) throws IOException {
File[] directoryListing = dir.listFiles();
if (directoryListing != null) {
for (File child : directoryListing) {
String path = child.getPath();
JsonReader jsonReader = new JsonReader(new FileReader(path));
Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().setPrettyPrinting().registerTypeAdapter(LinkedTreeMap.class, new SortedJsonSerializer()).create();
Object data = gson.fromJson(jsonReader, Object.class);
JsonWriter jsonWriter = new JsonWriter(new FileWriter(path));
jsonWriter.setIndent(" ");
gson.toJson(data, Object.class, jsonWriter);
jsonWriter.close();
}
}
}
private class SortedJsonSerializer implements JsonSerializer<LinkedTreeMap> {
#Override
public JsonElement serialize(LinkedTreeMap foo, Type type, JsonSerializationContext context) {
JsonObject object = new JsonObject();
TreeSet sorted = Sets.newTreeSet(foo.keySet());
for (Object key : sorted) {
object.add((String) key, context.serialize(foo.get(key)));
}
return object;
}
}
It's pretty hacky because it depends on the fact that Gson uses LinkedTreeMap when the Type is simply Object. This is an implementation details that is probably not guaranteed. Anyway, it's good enough for my short-lived purposes...