Jackson - Quick Guide

Overview

Jackson is a simple java based library to serialize java objects to JSON and vice versa.

Features

• Easy to use. - jackson API provides a high level facade to simplify commonly used use cases.

• No need to create mapping. - jackson API provides default mapping for most of the objects to be serialized.

• Performance. - jackson is quiet fast and is of low memory footprint and is suitable for large object graphs or systems.

• Clean JSON. - jackson creates a clean and compact JSON results which is easy to read.

• No Dependency. - jackson library does not require any other library apart from jdk.

• Open Source - jackson library is open source and is free to use.

Three ways of processing JSON

Jackson provides three alternative ways to process JSON

• Streaming API - reads and writes JSON content as discrete events. JsonParser reads the data whereas JsonGenerator writes the data. It is most powerful approach among the three and is of lowest overhead and fastest in read/write opreations. It is Analogus to Stax parser for XML.

• Tree Model - prepares a in-memory tree representation of the JSON document. ObjectMapper build tree of JsonNode nodes. It is most flexible approach. It is analogus to DOM parser for XML.

• Data Binding - converts JSON to and from POJO (Plain Old Java Object) using property accessor or using annotations. It is of two type.

  • Simple Data Binding - Converts JSON to and from Java Maps, Lists, Strings, Numbers, Booleans and null objects.

  • Full Data Binding - Converts JSON to and from any JAVA type.

  ObjectMapper reads/writes JSON for both types of data bindings. Data Binding is most convenient way and is analogus to JAXB parer for XML.

Environment Setup

Try it Option Online

You really do not need to set up your own environment to start learning Guava, a JAVA based library. Reason is very simple, we already have setup Java Programming environment online, so that you can compile and execute all the available examples online at the same time when you are doing your theory work. This gives you confidence in what you are reading and to check the result with different options. Feel free to modify any example and execute it online.

Try following example using Try it option available at the top right corner of the below sample code box:

public class MyFirstJavaProgram {

    public static void main(String []args) {
       System.out.println("Hello World");
    }
} 

For most of the examples given in this tutorial, you will find Try it option, so just make use of it and enjoy your learning.

Local Environment Setup

If you are still willing to set up your environment for Java programming language, then this section guides you on how to download and set up Java on your machine. Please follow the following steps to set up the environment.

Java SE is freely available from the link Download Java. So you download a version based on your operating system.

Follow the instructions to download java and run the .exe to install Java on your machine. Once you installed Java on your machine, you would need to set environment variables to point to correct installation directories:

Setting up the path for windows 2000/XP:

Assuming you have installed Java in c:\Program Files\java\jdk directory:

• Right-click on 'My Computer' and select 'Properties'.

• Click on the 'Environment variables' button under the 'Advanced' tab.

• Now, alter the 'Path' variable so that it also contains the path to the Java executable. Example, if the path is currently set to 'C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32', then change your path to read 'C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32;c:\Program Files\java\jdk\bin'.

Setting up the path for windows 95/98/ME:

Assuming you have installed Java in c:\Program Files\java\jdk directory:

• Edit the 'C:\autoexec.bat' file and add the following line at the end:
  'SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\java\jdk\bin'

Setting up the path for Linux, UNIX, Solaris, FreeBSD:

Environment variable PATH should be set to point to where the Java binaries have been installed. Refer to your shell documentation if you have trouble doing this.

Example, if you use bash as your shell, then you would add the following line to the end of your '.bashrc: export PATH=/path/to/java:$PATH'

Popular Java Editors:

To write your Java programs, you will need a text editor. There are even more sophisticated IDEs available in the market. But for now, you can consider one of the following:

• Notepad: On Windows machine you can use any simple text editor like Notepad (Recommended for this tutorial), TextPad.

• Netbeans:is a Java IDE that is open-source and free which can be downloaded from http://www.netbeans.org/index.html.

• Eclipse: is also a Java IDE developed by the eclipse open-source community and can be downloaded from http://www.eclipse.org/.

Download jackson archive

Download the latest version of Jackson jar file from Maven Repository - Jackson. In this tutorial, jackson-core-2.8.9.jar,jackson-annotations-2.8.9.jar and jackson-databind-2.8.9.jar are downloaded and copied into C:\> jackson folder.

Set jackson environment

Set the jackson_HOME environment variable to point to the base directory location where Guava jar is stored on your machine. Assuming, we've extracted jackson-core-2.8.9.jar,jackson-annotations-2.8.9.jar and jackson-databind-2.8.9.jar in jackson folder on various Operating Systems as follows.

Set CLASSPATH variable

Set the CLASSPATH environment variable to point to the jackson jar location. Assuming, we've stored jackson-core-2.8.9.jar,jackson-annotations-2.8.9.jar and jackson-databind-2.8.9.jar in jackson folder on various Operating Systems as follows.

First Application

Before going into the details of the jackson library, let's see an application in action. In this example, we've created Student class. We'll create a JSON string with student details and deserialize it to student object and then serialize it to an JSON String.

Create a java class file named JacksonTester in C:\>Jackson_WORKSPACE.

File: JacksonTester.java

import java.io.IOException;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

public class JacksonTester {
   public static void main(String args[]){
   
      ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
      String jsonString = "{\"name\":\"Mahesh\", \"age\":21}";
      
      //map json to student
      try{
         Student student = mapper.readValue(jsonString, Student.class);
         
         System.out.println(student);
         
         jsonString = mapper.writerWithDefaultPrettyPrinter().writeValueAsString(student);
         
         System.out.println(jsonString);
      }
      catch (JsonParseException e) { e.printStackTrace();}
      catch (JsonMappingException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
      catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
   }
}

class Student {
   private String name;
   private int age;
   public Student(){}
   public String getName() {
      return name;
   }
   public void setName(String name) {
      this.name = name;
   }
   public int getAge() {
      return age;
   }
   public void setAge(int age) {
      this.age = age;
   }
   public String toString(){
      return "Student [ name: "+name+", age: "+ age+ " ]";
   }
}

Verify the result

Compile the classes using javac compiler as follows:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>javac JacksonTester.java

Now run the jacksonTester to see the result:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>java JacksonTester

Verify the Output

Student [ name: Mahesh, age: 21 ]
{
  "name" : "Mahesh",
  "age" : 21
}

Steps to remember

Following are the important steps to be considered here.

Step 1: Create ObjectMapper object.

Create ObjectMapper object. It is a reusable object.

ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

Step 2: DeSerialize JSON to Object.

Use readValue() method to get the Object from the JSON. Pass json string/ source of json string and object type as parameter.

//Object to JSON Conversion
Student student = mapper.readValue(jsonString, Student.class);

Step 3: Serialize Object to JSON.

Use writeValueAsString() method to get the JSON string representation of an object.

//Object to JSON Conversion		
jsonString = mapper.writerWithDefaultPrettyPrinter().writeValueAsString(student);

ObjectMapper Class

ObjectMapper is the main actor class of Jackson library. ObjectMapper class ObjectMapper provides functionality for reading and writing JSON, either to and from basic POJOs (Plain Old Java Objects), or to and from a general-purpose JSON Tree Model (JsonNode), as well as related functionality for performing conversions. It is also highly customizable to work both with different styles of JSON content, and to support more advanced Object concepts such as polymorphism and Object identity. ObjectMapper also acts as a factory for more advanced ObjectReader and ObjectWriter classes.

Class Declaration

Following is the declaration for com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper class −

public class ObjectMapper
   extends ObjectCodec
      implements Versioned, Serializable

Nested Classes

Fields

• protected DeserializationConfig _deserializationConfig - Configuration object that defines basic global settings for the serialization process.

• protected DefaultDeserializationContext _deserializationContext - Blueprint context object; stored here to allow custom sub-classes.

• protected InjectableValues _injectableValues - Provider for values to inject in deserialized POJOs.

• protected JsonFactory _jsonFactory - Factory used to create JsonParser and JsonGenerator instances as necessary.

• protected SimpleMixInResolver _mixIns - Mapping that defines how to apply mix-in annotations: key is the type to received additional annotations, and value is the type that has annotations to "mix in".

• protected ConfigOverrides _propertyOverrides - Currently active per-type configuration overrides, accessed by declared type of property.

• protected Set<Object> _registeredModuleTypes - Set of module types (as per Module.getTypeId() that have been registered; kept track of iff MapperFeature.IGNORE_DUPLICATE_MODULE_REGISTRATIONS is enabled, so that duplicate registration calls can be ignored (to avoid adding same handlers multiple times, mostly).

• protected ConcurrentHashMap<JavaType,JsonDeserializer<Object>> _rootDeserializers - We will use a separate main-level Map for keeping track of root-level deserializers.

• protected SerializationConfig _serializationConfig - Configuration object that defines basic global settings for the serialization process.

• protected SerializerFactory _serializerFactory - Serializer factory used for constructing serializers.

• protected DefaultSerializerProvider _serializerProvider - Object that manages access to serializers used for serialization, including caching.

• protected SubtypeResolver _subtypeResolver - Thing used for registering sub-types, resolving them to super/sub-types as needed.

• protected TypeFactory _typeFactory - Specific factory used for creating JavaType instances; needed to allow modules to add more custom type handling (mostly to support types of non-Java JVM languages).

• protected static AnnotationIntrospector DEFAULT_ANNOTATION_INTROSPECTOR

• protected static BaseSettings DEFAULT_BASE - Base settings contain defaults used for all ObjectMapper instances.

• protected static VisibilityChecker<?> STD_VISIBILITY_CHECKER

Constructors

Methods

Methods inherited

This class inherits methods from the following classes:

• java.lang.Object

ObjectMapper Example

Create the following java program using any editor of your choice in say C:/> Jackson_WORKSPACE

File: JacksonTester.java

import java.io.IOException;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

public class JacksonTester {
   public static void main(String args[]){
   
      ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
      String jsonString = "{\"name\":\"Mahesh\", \"age\":21}";
      
      //map json to student
      try{
         Student student = mapper.readValue(jsonString, Student.class);
         
         System.out.println(student);
         
         jsonString = mapper.writerWithDefaultPrettyPrinter().writeValueAsString(student);
         
         System.out.println(jsonString);
      }
      catch (JsonParseException e) { e.printStackTrace();}
      catch (JsonMappingException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
      catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
   }
}

class Student {
   private String name;
   private int age;
   public Student(){}
   public String getName() {
      return name;
   }
   public void setName(String name) {
      this.name = name;
   }
   public int getAge() {
      return age;
   }
   public void setAge(int age) {
      this.age = age;
   }
   public String toString(){
      return "Student [ name: "+name+", age: "+ age+ " ]";
   }
}

Verify the result

Compile the classes using javac compiler as follows:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>javac JacksonTester.java

Now run the jacksonTester to see the result:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>java JacksonTester

Verify the Output

Student [ name: Mahesh, age: 21 ]
{
  "name" : "Mahesh",
  "age" : 21
}

Object Serialization

let's serialize a java object to a json file and then read that json file to get the object back. In this example, we've created Student class. We'll create a student.json file which will have a json representation of Student object.

Create a java class file named JacksonTester in C:\>Jackson_WORKSPACE.

File: JacksonTester.java

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerationException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

public class JacksonTester {
   public static void main(String args[]){
      JacksonTester tester = new JacksonTester();
      try {
         Student student = new Student();
         student.setAge(10);
         student.setName("Mahesh");
         tester.writeJSON(student);

         Student student1 = tester.readJSON();
         System.out.println(student1);

      } catch (JsonParseException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      } catch (JsonMappingException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      } catch (IOException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }

   private void writeJSON(Student student) throws JsonGenerationException, JsonMappingException, IOException{
      ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();	
      mapper.writeValue(new File("student.json"), student);
   }

   private Student readJSON() throws JsonParseException, JsonMappingException, IOException{
      ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
      Student student = mapper.readValue(new File("student.json"), Student.class);
      return student;
   }
}

class Student {
   private String name;
   private int age;
   public Student(){}
   public String getName() {
      return name;
   }
   public void setName(String name) {
      this.name = name;
   }
   public int getAge() {
      return age;
   }
   public void setAge(int age) {
      this.age = age;
   }
   public String toString(){
      return "Student [ name: "+name+", age: "+ age+ " ]";
   }	
}

Verify the result

Compile the classes using javac compiler as follows:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>javac JacksonTester.java

Now run the jacksonTester to see the result:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>java JacksonTester

Verify the Output

Student [ name: Mahesh, age: 10 ]

Data Binding

Data Binding API is used to convert JSON to and from POJO (Plain Old Java Object) using property accessor or using annotations. It is of two type.

• Simple Data Binding - Converts JSON to and from Java Maps, Lists, Strings, Numbers, Booleans and null objects.

• Full Data Binding - Converts JSON to and from any JAVA type.

ObjectMapper reads/writes JSON for both types of data bindings. Data Binding is most convenient way and is analogus to JAXB parer for XML.

Simple Data Binding

Simple data binding refers to mapping of JSON to JAVA Core data types. Following table illustrates the relationship between JSON types vs Java Types.

Let's see simple data binding in action. Here we'll map JAVA basic types directly to JSON and vice versa.

Create a java class file named JacksonTester in C:\>Jackson_WORKSPACE.

File: JacksonTester.java

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

public class JacksonTester {
   public static void main(String args[]){
      JacksonTester tester = new JacksonTester();
         try {
            ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

            Map<String,Object> studentDataMap = new HashMap<String,Object>(); 
            int[] marks = {1,2,3};

            Student student = new Student();
            student.setAge(10);
            student.setName("Mahesh");
            // JAVA Object
            studentDataMap.put("student", student);
            // JAVA String
            studentDataMap.put("name", "Mahesh Kumar");   		
            // JAVA Boolean
            studentDataMap.put("verified", Boolean.FALSE);
            // Array
            studentDataMap.put("marks", marks);

            mapper.writeValue(new File("student.json"), studentDataMap);
            //result student.json
			//{ 
            //   "student":{"name":"Mahesh","age":10},
            //   "marks":[1,2,3],
            //   "verified":false,
            //   "name":"Mahesh Kumar"
            //}
            studentDataMap = mapper.readValue(new File("student.json"), Map.class);

            System.out.println(studentDataMap.get("student"));
            System.out.println(studentDataMap.get("name"));
            System.out.println(studentDataMap.get("verified"));
            System.out.println(studentDataMap.get("marks"));
      } catch (JsonParseException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      } catch (JsonMappingException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

class Student {
   private String name;
   private int age;
   public Student(){}
   public String getName() {
      return name;
   }
   public void setName(String name) {
      this.name = name;
   }
   public int getAge() {
      return age;
   }
   public void setAge(int age) {
      this.age = age;
   }
   public String toString(){
      return "Student [ name: "+name+", age: "+ age+ " ]";
   }	
}

Verify the result

Compile the classes using javac compiler as follows:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>javac JacksonTester.java

Now run the jacksonTester to see the result:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>java JacksonTester

Verify the Output

{name=Mahesh, age=10}
Mahesh Kumar
false
[1, 2, 3]

Full Data Binding

Full data binding refers to mapping of JSON to any JAVA Object.

//Create an ObjectMapper instance
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();	
//map JSON content to Student object
Student student = mapper.readValue(new File("student.json"), Student.class);
//map Student object to JSON content
mapper.writeValue(new File("student.json"), student);

Let's see simple data binding in action. Here we'll map JAVA Object directly to JSON and vice versa.

Create a java class file named JacksonTester in C:\>Jackson_WORKSPACE.

File: JacksonTester.java

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerationException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

public class JacksonTester {
   public static void main(String args[]){
      JacksonTester tester = new JacksonTester();
      try {
         Student student = new Student();
         student.setAge(10);
         student.setName("Mahesh");
         tester.writeJSON(student);

         Student student1 = tester.readJSON();
         System.out.println(student1);

      } catch (JsonParseException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      } catch (JsonMappingException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      } catch (IOException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }

   private void writeJSON(Student student) throws JsonGenerationException, JsonMappingException, IOException{
      ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();	
      mapper.writeValue(new File("student.json"), student);
   }

   private Student readJSON() throws JsonParseException, JsonMappingException, IOException{
      ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
      Student student = mapper.readValue(new File("student.json"), Student.class);
      return student;
   }
}

class Student {
   private String name;
   private int age;
   public Student(){}
   public String getName() {
      return name;
   }
   public void setName(String name) {
      this.name = name;
   }
   public int getAge() {
      return age;
   }
   public void setAge(int age) {
      this.age = age;
   }
   public String toString(){
      return "Student [ name: "+name+", age: "+ age+ " ]";
   }	
}

Verify the result

Compile the classes using javac compiler as follows:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>javac JacksonTester.java

Now run the jacksonTester to see the result:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>java JacksonTester

Verify the Output

Student [ name: Mahesh, age: 10 ]

Data Binding with Generics

In simple data binding, we've used Map class which use String as key and Object as a value object. Instead we can have concrete java object and type cast it to be used in JSON binding.

Consider the following example with a class UserData, a class to hold user specific data.

Create a java class file named JacksonTester in C:\>Jackson_WORKSPACE.

File: JacksonTester.java

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.type.TypeReference;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

public class JacksonTester {
   public static void main(String args[]){
      JacksonTester tester = new JacksonTester();
         try {
            ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

            Map<String, UserData> userDataMap = new HashMap<String, UserData>();
            UserData studentData = new UserData(); 
            int[] marks = {1,2,3};

            Student student = new Student();
            student.setAge(10);
            student.setName("Mahesh");
            // JAVA Object
            studentData.setStudent(student);
            // JAVA String
            studentData.setName("Mahesh Kumar");
            // JAVA Boolean
            studentData.setVerified(Boolean.FALSE);
            // Array
            studentData.setMarks(marks);
            TypeReference ref = new TypeReference<Map<String,UserData>>() { };
            userDataMap.put("studentData1", studentData);
            mapper.writeValue(new File("student.json"), userDataMap);
            //{
            //   "studentData1":
            //	 {
            //		"student":
            //		{
            //			"name":"Mahesh",
            //			"age":10
            //      },
            //      "name":"Mahesh Kumar",
            //      "verified":false,
            //      "marks":[1,2,3]
            //   }
            //}
            userDataMap = mapper.readValue(new File("student.json"), ref);

            System.out.println(userDataMap.get("studentData1").getStudent());
            System.out.println(userDataMap.get("studentData1").getName());
            System.out.println(userDataMap.get("studentData1").getVerified());
            System.out.println(Arrays.toString(userDataMap.get("studentData1").getMarks()));
      } catch (JsonParseException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      } catch (JsonMappingException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

class Student {
   private String name;
   private int age;
   public Student(){}
   public String getName() {
      return name;
   }
   public void setName(String name) {
      this.name = name;
   }
   public int getAge() {
      return age;
   }
   public void setAge(int age) {
      this.age = age;
   }
   public String toString(){
      return "Student [ name: "+name+", age: "+ age+ " ]";
   }	
}

class UserData {
   private Student student;
   private String name;
   private Boolean verified;
   private int[] marks;

   public UserData(){}

   public Student getStudent() {
      return student;
   }
   public void setStudent(Student student) {
      this.student = student;
   }
   public String getName() {
      return name;
   }
   public void setName(String name) {
      this.name = name;
   }
   public Boolean getVerified() {
      return verified;
   }
   public void setVerified(Boolean verified) {
      this.verified = verified;
   }
   public int[] getMarks() {
      return marks;
   }
   public void setMarks(int[] marks) {
      this.marks = marks;
   }		
}

Verify the result

Compile the classes using javac compiler as follows:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>javac JacksonTester.java

Now run the jacksonTester to see the result:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>java JacksonTester

Verify the Output

Student [ name: Mahesh, age: 10 ]
Mahesh Kumar
false
[1, 2, 3]

Tree Model

Tree Model prepares a in-memory tree representation of the JSON document. ObjectMapper build tree of JsonNode nodes. It is most flexible approach. It is analogus to DOM parser for XML.

Create Tree from JSON

ObjectMapper provides a pointer to root node of the tree after reading the JSON. Root Node can be used to traverse the complete tree. Consider the following code snippet to get the root node of a provided JSON String.

//Create an ObjectMapper instance
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();	
String jsonString = "{\"name\":\"Mahesh Kumar\", \"age\":21,\"verified\":false,\"marks\": [100,90,85]}";
//create tree from JSON
JsonNode rootNode = mapper.readTree(jsonString);

Traversing Tree Model

Get each node using relative path to the root node while traversing tree and process the data. Consider the following code snippet traversing the tree provided the root node.

JsonNode nameNode = rootNode.path("name");
System.out.println("Name: "+ nameNode.textValue());
 
JsonNode marksNode = rootNode.path("marks");
Iterator<JsonNode> iterator = marksNode.elements();

Example

Create a java class file named JacksonTester in C:\>Jackson_WORKSPACE.

File: JacksonTester.java

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Iterator;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

public class JacksonTester {
   public static void main(String args[]){

      try {
         ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
         String jsonString = "{\"name\":\"Mahesh Kumar\",  \"age\":21,\"verified\":false,\"marks\": [100,90,85]}";
         JsonNode rootNode = mapper.readTree(jsonString);

         JsonNode nameNode = rootNode.path("name");
         System.out.println("Name: "+ nameNode.textValue());

         JsonNode ageNode = rootNode.path("age");
         System.out.println("Age: " + ageNode.intValue());

         JsonNode verifiedNode = rootNode.path("verified");
         System.out.println("Verified: " + (verifiedNode.booleanValue() ? "Yes":"No"));

         JsonNode marksNode = rootNode.path("marks");
         Iterator<JsonNode> iterator = marksNode.elements();
         System.out.print("Marks: [ ");

         while (iterator.hasNext()) {
            JsonNode marks = iterator.next();
            System.out.print(marks.intValue() + " "); 
         }

         System.out.println("]");
      }
      catch (JsonParseException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
      catch (JsonMappingException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
      catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
   }
}

Verify the result

Compile the classes using javac compiler as follows:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>javac JacksonTester.java

Now run the jacksonTester to see the result:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>java JacksonTester

Verify the Output

Name: Mahesh Kumar
Age: 21
Verified: No
Marks: [ 100 90 85 ]

Tree to JSON

In this example, we've created a Tree using JsonNode and write it to a json file and read back.

Create a java class file named JacksonTester in C:\>Jackson_WORKSPACE.

File: JacksonTester.java

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Iterator;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

public class JacksonTester {
   public static void main(String args[]){

      try {
         ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
         String jsonString = "{\"name\":\"Mahesh Kumar\",  \"age\":21,\"verified\":false,\"marks\": [100,90,85]}";
         JsonNode rootNode = mapper.readTree(jsonString);

         JsonNode nameNode = rootNode.path("name");
         System.out.println("Name: "+ nameNode.textValue());

         JsonNode ageNode = rootNode.path("age");
         System.out.println("Age: " + ageNode.intValue());

         JsonNode verifiedNode = rootNode.path("verified");
         System.out.println("Verified: " + (verifiedNode.booleanValue() ? "Yes":"No"));

         JsonNode marksNode = rootNode.path("marks");
         Iterator<JsonNode> iterator = marksNode.elements();
         System.out.print("Marks: [ ");

         while (iterator.hasNext()) {
            JsonNode marks = iterator.next();
            System.out.print(marks.intValue() + " "); 
         }

         System.out.println("]");
      }
      catch (JsonParseException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
      catch (JsonMappingException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
      catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
   }
}

Verify the result

Compile the classes using javac compiler as follows:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>javac JacksonTester.java

Now run the jacksonTester to see the result:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>java JacksonTester

Verify the Output

Name: Mahesh Kumar
Age: 21
Verified: No
Marks: [ 100 90 85 ]

Tree to Java Objects

In this example, we've created a Tree using JsonNode and write it to a json file and read back tree and then convert it as a Student object.

Create a java class file named JacksonTester in C:\>Jackson_WORKSPACE.

File: JacksonTester.java

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Iterator;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ArrayNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ObjectNode;

public class JacksonTester {
   public static void main(String args[]){
      JacksonTester tester = new JacksonTester();
      try {
         ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

         JsonNode rootNode = mapper.createObjectNode();
         JsonNode marksNode = mapper.createArrayNode();
         ((ArrayNode)marksNode).add(100);
         ((ArrayNode)marksNode).add(90);
         ((ArrayNode)marksNode).add(85);
         ((ObjectNode) rootNode).put("name", "Mahesh Kumar");
         ((ObjectNode) rootNode).put("age", 21);
         ((ObjectNode) rootNode).put("verified", false);
         ((ObjectNode) rootNode).put("marks",marksNode);

         mapper.writeValue(new File("student.json"), rootNode);

         rootNode = mapper.readTree(new File("student.json"));

         Student student = mapper.treeToValue(rootNode, Student.class);

         System.out.println("Name: "+ student.getName());
         System.out.println("Age: " + student.getAge());
         System.out.println("Verified: " + (student.isVerified() ? "Yes":"No"));
         System.out.println("Marks: "+Arrays.toString(student.getMarks()));
      } catch (JsonParseException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      } catch (JsonMappingException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      } catch (IOException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}
class Student {
   String name;
   int age;
   boolean verified;
   int[] marks;
   public String getName() {
      return name;
   }
   public void setName(String name) {
      this.name = name;
   }
   public int getAge() {
      return age;
   }
   public void setAge(int age) {
      this.age = age;
   }
   public boolean isVerified() {
      return verified;
   }
   public void setVerified(boolean verified) {
      this.verified = verified;
   }
   public int[] getMarks() {
      return marks;
   }
   public void setMarks(int[] marks) {
      this.marks = marks;
   }
}

Verify the result

Compile the classes using javac compiler as follows:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>javac JacksonTester.java

Now run the jacksonTester to see the result:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>java JacksonTester

Verify the Output

Name: Mahesh Kumar
Age: 21
Verified: No
Marks: [ 100 90 85 ]

Streaming API

Streaming API reads and writes JSON content as discrete events. JsonParser reads the data whereas JsonGenerator writes the data. It is most powerful approach among the three and is of lowest overhead and fastest in read/write opreations. It is Analogus to Stax parser for XML.

In this Article, we'll showcase using Jackson streaming APIs to read and write JSON data. Streaming API works with concept of token and every details of Json is to be handle carefuly. Following are two class which we'll use in the examples:

• JsonGenerator - Write to JSON String.

• JsonParser - Parse JSON String.

Writing JSON using JsonGenerator

Using JsonGenerator is pretty simple. First create the JsonGenerator using JsonFactory.createJsonGenerator() method and use it's write***() methods to write each json value.

JsonFactory jsonFactory = new JsonFactory();
JsonGenerator jsonGenerator = jsonFactory.createGenerator(new File(
   "student.json"), JsonEncoding.UTF8);
// {
jsonGenerator.writeStartObject();
// "name" : "Mahesh Kumar"
jsonGenerator.writeStringField("name", "Mahesh Kumar"); 

Let's see JsonGenerator in action. Create a java class file named JacksonTester in C:\>Jackson_WORKSPACE.

File: JacksonTester.java

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Map;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonEncoding;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonFactory;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerator;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

public class JacksonTester {
   public static void main(String args[]){

      try {         
         JsonFactory jsonFactory = new JsonFactory();
         JsonGenerator jsonGenerator = jsonFactory.createGenerator(new File("student.json"), JsonEncoding.UTF8);

         jsonGenerator.writeStartObject();

         // "name" : "Mahesh Kumar"
         jsonGenerator.writeStringField("name", "Mahesh Kumar"); 

         // "age" : 21
         jsonGenerator.writeNumberField("age", 21);

         // "verified" : false
         jsonGenerator.writeBooleanField("verified", false);

         // "marks" : [100, 90, 85]
         jsonGenerator.writeFieldName("marks"); 

         // [
         jsonGenerator.writeStartArray(); 
         // 100, 90, 85
         jsonGenerator.writeNumber(100); 
         jsonGenerator.writeNumber(90); 
         jsonGenerator.writeNumber(85); 
         // ]

         jsonGenerator.writeEndArray(); 

         jsonGenerator.writeEndObject(); 
         jsonGenerator.close();        

         //result student.json
         //{ 
         //   "name":"Mahesh Kumar",
         //   "age":21,
         //   "verified":false,
         //   "marks":[100,90,85]
         //}

         ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
         Map<String,Object> dataMap = mapper.readValue(new File("student.json"), Map.class);

         System.out.println(dataMap.get("name"));
         System.out.println(dataMap.get("age"));
         System.out.println(dataMap.get("verified"));
         System.out.println(dataMap.get("marks"));
      } 
      catch (JsonParseException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } 
      catch (JsonMappingException e) { e.printStackTrace(); } 
      catch (IOException e) { e.printStackTrace(); }
   }
}

Verify the result

Compile the classes using javac compiler as follows:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>javac JacksonTester.java

Now run the jacksonTester to see the result:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>java JacksonTester

Verify the Output

Mahesh Kumar
21
false
[100, 90, 85]

Reading JSON using JsonParser

Using JsonParser is again pretty simple. First create the JsonParser using JsonFactory.createJsonParser() method and use it's nextToken() methods to read each json string as token. Check each token and process accordingly

JsonFactory jasonFactory = new JsonFactory();
JsonParser jsonParser = jasonFactory.createJsonParser(new File("student.json"));
while (jsonParser.nextToken() != JsonToken.END_OBJECT) {
   //get the current token
   String fieldname = jsonParser.getCurrentName();
   if ("name".equals(fieldname)) {
      //move to next token
      jsonParser.nextToken();
      System.out.println(jsonParser.getText());        	 
   }
}

Let's see JsonParser in action. Create a java class file named JacksonTester in C:\>Jackson_WORKSPACE.

File: JacksonTester.java

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Map;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonEncoding;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonFactory;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerator;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;

public class JacksonTester {
   public static void main(String args[]){
      JacksonTester tester = new JacksonTester();
      try {        	
         JsonFactory jsonFactory = new JsonFactory();

         JsonGenerator jsonGenerator = jsonFactory.createGenerator(new File(
            "student.json"), JsonEncoding.UTF8);
         jsonGenerator.writeStartObject();
         jsonGenerator.writeStringField("name", "Mahesh Kumar"); 
         jsonGenerator.writeNumberField("age", 21);
         jsonGenerator.writeBooleanField("verified", false); 
         jsonGenerator.writeFieldName("marks"); 
         jsonGenerator.writeStartArray(); // [
         jsonGenerator.writeNumber(100); 
         jsonGenerator.writeNumber(90); 
         jsonGenerator.writeNumber(85); 
         jsonGenerator.writeEndArray(); 
         jsonGenerator.writeEndObject(); 
         jsonGenerator.close();       	 

         //result student.json
         //{ 
         //   "name":"Mahesh Kumar",
         //   "age":21,
         //   "verified":false,
         //   "marks":[100,90,85]
         //}

         JsonParser jsonParser = jsonFactory.createParser(new File("student.json"));
         while (jsonParser.nextToken() != JsonToken.END_OBJECT) {
            //get the current token
            String fieldname = jsonParser.getCurrentName();
            if ("name".equals(fieldname)) {
               //move to next token
               jsonParser.nextToken();
               System.out.println(jsonParser.getText());        	 
            }
            if("age".equals(fieldname)){
               //move to next token
               jsonParser.nextToken();
               System.out.println(jsonParser.getNumberValue());        	 
            }
            if("verified".equals(fieldname)){
               //move to next token
               jsonParser.nextToken();
               System.out.println(jsonParser.getBooleanValue());        	 
            }
            if("marks".equals(fieldname)){
               //move to [ 
               jsonParser.nextToken();
               // loop till token equal to "]"
               while (jsonParser.nextToken() != JsonToken.END_ARRAY) {
                  System.out.println(jsonParser.getNumberValue()); 
               }
            }
         }
      } catch (JsonParseException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      } catch (JsonMappingException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      } catch (IOException e) {
         e.printStackTrace();
      }
   }
}

Verify the result

Compile the classes using javac compiler as follows:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>javac JacksonTester.java

Now run the jacksonTester to see the result:

C:\Jackson_WORKSPACE>java JacksonTester

Verify the Output

Mahesh Kumar
21
false
[100, 90, 85]

JsonGenerator Class

Introduction

JsonParser is the base class to define public API for reading Json content. Instances are created using factory methods of a JsonFactory instance.

Class declaration

Following is the declaration for org.codehaus.jackson.JsonParser class:

public abstract class JsonParser
   extends Object
      implements Closeable, Versioned

Nested Classes

Fields

• protected PrettyPrinter _cfgPrettyPrinter - Object that handles pretty-printing (usually additional white space to make results more human-readable) during output.

• protected JsonToken _currToken - Last token retrieved via nextToken(), if any.

• protected int _features - Bit flag composed of bits that indicate which JsonParser.Features are enabled.

• protected JsonToken _lastClearedToken - Last cleared token, if any: that is, value that was in effect when clearCurrentToken() was called.

Constructors

Class Methods

Methods inherited

This class inherits methods from the following classes:

• java.lang.Object

JsonParser Class

Introduction

JsonParser is the base class to define public API for reading Json content. Instances are created using factory methods of a JsonFactory instance.

Class declaration

Following is the declaration for com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser class:

public abstract class JsonParser
   extends Object
      implements Closeable, Versioned

Nested Classes

Fields

• protected int _features - Bit flag composed of bits that indicate which JsonParser.Features are enabled.

Constructors

Class Methods

Methods inherited

This class inherits methods from the following classes:

• java.lang.Object