Converting a java object to json

Gson is quite powerful when you simply want to build json from a java object. It does not require anything fancy, just pass the java object and you are done. However, it does allow customizations. You can control what goes inside the json from the java object and you can also control the names of the json properties. But more about that later. The example below simply takes a java object and spits out a json string.

package com.studytrails.json.gson;

import com.google.gson.Gson;

/**
 * Example Demonstrating java serialization to json. The example tries to create
 * a subset of json at
 * http://freemusicarchive.org/api/get/albums.json?api_key=60
 * BLHNQCAOUFPIBZ&limit=5 The Albums object contains a list of Dataset objects.
 * Each Dataset object is an album
 * 
 */
public class SerializeObjectExample2 {
	public static void main(String[] args) {

		Albums albums = new Albums();
		albums.setTitle("Example");
		Dataset dataset = new Dataset();
		dataset.setAlbum_title("album1");
		albums.setDataset(new Dataset[] { dataset });
		// create the gson object
		Gson gson = new Gson();
		// use the gson objected created to convert albums to json
		// representation
		System.out.println(gson.toJson(albums));
		// prints
		// {"title":"Example","dataset":[{"album_title":"album1"}]}
	}
}

Albums class

package com.studytrails.json.gson;


public class Albums {

	private String title;
	private Dataset[] dataset;

	public void setTitle(String title) {
		this.title = title;
	}

	public void setDataset(Dataset[] dataset) {
		this.dataset = dataset;
	}

	public String getTitle() {
		return title;
	}

	public Dataset[] getDataset() {
		return dataset;
	}
}

Dataset class

package com.studytrails.json.gson;

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

public class Dataset {
	private String album_id;
	private String album_title;

	public String getAlbum_id() {
		return album_id;
	}

	public void setAlbum_id(String album_id) {
		this.album_id = album_id;
	}

	public String getAlbum_title() {
		return album_title;
	}

	public void setAlbum_title(String album_title) {
		this.album_title = album_title;
	}


}

Building a json from Primitive types and String

If you dont want to build json from a java object but want to build it from scratch then look at the example below. In this example we also show some of the features that can be configured using the GsonBuilder class. Chiefly, the class shows the following:

1. Serializing Null– By Default, nulls are not serialized, however that can be changed by setting serializeNulls() in the GsonBuilder.
2. FieldNamingPolicy-Field names can be specified to follow a particular strategy. i.e. UPPER_CAMEL_CASE, UPPER_CAMEL_CASE_WITH_SPACES, LOWER_CASE_WITH_UNDERSCORES, LOWER_CASE_WITH_DASHES.
3. Pretty Printing – For better visual appearance the json can be printed with proper indentation. This should not be used when sending data.

package com.studytrails.json.gson;

import com.google.gson.FieldNamingPolicy;
import com.google.gson.Gson;
import com.google.gson.GsonBuilder;
import com.google.gson.JsonArray;
import com.google.gson.JsonObject;

public class CreateJson {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// create the albums object
		JsonObject albums = new JsonObject();
		// add a property calle title to the albums object
		albums.addProperty("title", "album1");

		// create an array called datasets
		JsonArray datasets = new JsonArray();

		// create a dataset
		JsonObject dataset = new JsonObject();
		// add the property album_id to the dataset
		dataset.addProperty("album_id", 1);
		// add the property album_year to the dataset
		dataset.addProperty("album_year", 1996);

		datasets.add(dataset);

		albums.add("dataset", datasets);

		// create the gson using the GsonBuilder. Set pretty printing on. Allow
		// serializing null and set all fields to the Upper Camel Case
		Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().setPrettyPrinting().serializeNulls().setFieldNamingPolicy(FieldNamingPolicy.UPPER_CAMEL_CASE).create();
		System.out.println(gson.toJson(albums));
		/* prints
		{
			  "title": "album1",
			  "dataset": [
			    {
			      "album_id": 1,
			      "album_year": 1996
			    }
			  ]
		}
		*/
	}
}