Develop Reference

Jackson, deserialize property based on another property (dependent property)

Using Jackson, is there a way to deserialize a proprty that depends on the value of another property?
if i have this json {"foo":"a","bar":"b"} i'd like to deserialize it to the Test class below as Test [foo=a, bar=b_a], where bar is the value of the json property "bar" and the value of the property "foo".
Of course this is a trivial example, the real deal would be to deserialize a datamodel entity: {"line":"C12", "machine": {"line":"C12", "code":"A"}} machine.line and line are always the same, and i'd like to express it like this: {"line":"C12", "machine": "A"}
import java.io.IOException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.annotation.JsonDeserialize;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.StdDeserializer;
public abstract class Main{
private static class Test {
#JsonProperty
private String foo;
#JsonProperty
#JsonDeserialize(using = CustomDeserializer.class)
private String bar;
// ...other fields to be deserialized with default behaviour
private Test() {
}
public Test(String a, String bar) {
this.foo = a;
this.bar = bar;
}
#Override
public String toString() {
return "Test [foo=" + foo + ", bar=" + bar + "]";
}
}
private static class CustomDeserializer extends StdDeserializer<String> {
protected CustomDeserializer() {
super(String.class);
}
#Override
public String deserialize(JsonParser p, DeserializationContext ctxt)
throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
String foo = //how to get foo property?
String value = p.getValueAsString();
if (!foo.isEmpty()) {
return value + "_" + foo;
} else {
return value;
}
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
Test foo2 = mapper.readValue("{\"foo\":\"a\",\"bar\":\"b\"}", Test.class);
System.out.println(foo2); // Test [foo=a, bar=b_a]
}
}

One way to solve your problem is specify a custom deserializer that involves your Test class instead of your string field because the deserialization of your property is based on the value of another property:
public class CustomDeserializer extends JsonDeserializer<Test> {}
#JsonDeserialize(using = CustomDeserializer.class)
public class Test {}
Then you can deserialize your object reading the JsonNode tree built from your input string:
public class CustomDeserializer extends JsonDeserializer<Test> {
#Override
public Test deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext dc) throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
JsonNode node = jp.getCodec().readTree(jp);
String foo = node.get("foo").asText();
String bar = node.get("bar").asText();
if (!foo.isEmpty()) {
bar = (bar + '_' + foo);
}
return new Test(foo, bar);
}
}
//your example
public class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) throws JsonProcessingException {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
Test foo2 = mapper.readValue("{\"foo\":\"a\",\"bar\":\"b\"}", Test.class);
System.out.println(foo2); // Test [foo=a, bar=b_a]
}
}

I got a similar problem today and I wanted to share my solution. So instead of using a #JsonDeserialize, I use a #JsonCreator on the parent object with a package private constructor to accept the "raw" properties and then I can process this data and return better objects.
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonCreator;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
class Scratch {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
final var testData = "{\"foo\":\"a\",\"bar\":\"b\"}";
final var mapper = new ObjectMapper();
final var testObj = mapper.readValue(testData, Test.class);
System.out.println(testObj); // Test[foo=a, bar=a_b]
}
record Test (
String foo,
String bar
){
#JsonCreator Test(
#JsonProperty("foo") String foo,
#JsonProperty("bar") String bar,
#JsonProperty("_dummy") String _dummy // extra param for the constructor overloading
) {
this(foo, deserializeBar(foo, bar));
}
private static String deserializeBar(String foo, String bar) {
if (foo == null || foo.isEmpty()) {
return bar;
}
return "%s_%s".formatted(foo, bar);
}
}
}

In the end, I've resorted using BeanDeserializerModifier
Please notice that the following code is not fully functioning because it relies on code I'm not allowed to share, but it should suffice to get the idea.
package com.example;
import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;
import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.LinkedList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Map.Entry;
import java.util.Set;
import org.reflections.Reflections;
import org.reflections.scanners.SubTypesScanner;
import org.reflections.scanners.TypeAnnotationsScanner;
import org.slf4j.Logger;
import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.BeanDescription;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationConfig;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonDeserializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializerModifier;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.StdDeserializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.module.SimpleModule;
import com.google.inject.Inject;
import com.google.inject.assistedinject.Assisted;
import com.google.inject.assistedinject.AssistedInject;
public class JsonDelegateDeserializerModule extends SimpleModule {
// !! must be registered as guice factory
public interface JsonDelegateDeserializerFactory {
JsonDelegateDeserializerModule create(String packagePath);
}
#Target(ElementType.TYPE)
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
public #interface JsonDelegateDeserializer {
public Class<? extends StdDeserializer<?>> deserializer();
public Class<?> forType();
}
protected interface JsonDeserializerFactory {
// non metto nessun generic in TagHandler o guice non riesce piu a creare la
// factory!
#SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
public JsonDeserializer create(JsonDeserializer baseDeserializer);
}
private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(JsonDelegateDeserializerModule.class);
#Inject
private FactoryInjector injector;
private final String packagePath;
#AssistedInject
protected JsonDelegateDeserializerModule(#Assisted String packagePath) {
super();
this.packagePath = packagePath;
}
#Override
public String getModuleName() {
return JsonDelegateDeserializerModule.class.getSimpleName() + "[" + packagePath + "]";
}
#Override
public Object getTypeId() {
return JsonDelegateDeserializerModule.class.getSimpleName() + "[" + packagePath + "]";
}
#Override
public void setupModule(SetupContext context) {
Reflections reflectios = new Reflections(packagePath, new SubTypesScanner(), new TypeAnnotationsScanner());
Map<Class<?>, JsonDeserializerFactory> classToDeserializerFactory = new HashMap<>();
Set<Class<?>> classesWithModifier = reflectios.getTypesAnnotatedWith(JsonDelegateDeserializer.class);
for (Class<?> classWithModifier : classesWithModifier) {
JsonDelegateDeserializer annotation = classWithModifier.getAnnotation(JsonDelegateDeserializer.class);
if (annotation != null) {
Class<? extends StdDeserializer<?>> deserializerType = annotation.deserializer();
Class<?> forType = annotation.forType();
try {
JsonDeserializerFactory factory = injector.getFactory(JsonDeserializerFactory.class,
deserializerType);
classToDeserializerFactory.put(forType, factory);
} catch (Exception e) {
LOGGER.error("Exception was thown while creating deserializer {} for type {}:", deserializerType,
forType, e);
throw new RuntimeException(e);
}
}
}
if (!classToDeserializerFactory.isEmpty()) {
setDeserializerModifier(new BeanDeserializerModifier() {
#Override
public JsonDeserializer<?> modifyDeserializer(DeserializationConfig config, BeanDescription beanDesc,
JsonDeserializer<?> deserializer) {
List<Class<?>> possibleTypesList = new LinkedList<>();
if (deserializer instanceof BeanDeserializer) {
for (Entry<Class<?>, JsonDeserializerFactory> entry : classToDeserializerFactory.entrySet()) {
Class<?> type = entry.getKey();
if (type.isAssignableFrom(deserializer.handledType())) {
possibleTypesList.add(type);
}
}
if (possibleTypesList.size() > 1) {
possibleTypesList.sort(new Comparator<Class<?>>() {
#Override
public int compare(Class<?> o1, Class<?> o2) {
if (o1.isAssignableFrom(o2)) {
return 1;
} else {
return -1;
}
}
});
}
Class<?> type = Utils.first(possibleTypesList);
if (type == null) {
return super.modifyDeserializer(config, beanDesc, deserializer);
} else {
JsonDeserializerFactory factory = classToDeserializerFactory.get(type);
JsonDeserializer<?> modifiedDeserializer = factory.create(deserializer);
return super.modifyDeserializer(config, beanDesc, modifiedDeserializer);
}
} else {
// è gia stato impostato un deserializzatore piu specifico, non imposato questo
return super.modifyDeserializer(config, beanDesc, deserializer);
}
}
});
}
super.setupModule(context);
}
}
then you can simply annotate the Mixin to add the custom deserializer
#JsonDelegateDeserializer(deserializer = LoadLineDeserializer.class, forType = Line.class)
public interface LineMixIn {
public static class LoadLineDeserializer extends DelegatingDeserializer {
#AssistedInject
public LoadLineDeserializer(#Assisted JsonDeserializer baseDeserializer, LineService lineService) {
super(baseDeserializer);
}
// ...
}
// ...
}

Jackson Deserializer delegate to next applicable deserializer

I have an external service which I use to query some data. The data will be in one of two formats (first of which is kind of "legacy", but needs to be supported):
{
"foo": "John Smith"
}
or
{
"foo": {
"name": "John Smith",
"bar": "baz"
}
}
which I want to map to the following POJO:
#Data
#AllArgsConstructor
#NoArgsConstructor
public class Outer {
private Foo foo;
#Data
#AllArgsConstructor
#NoArgsConstructor
public static class Foo {
String name;
String bar;
}
}
Data in the second format (foo is an object) should be deserialized just like any other POJO, but given data in the first format (foo is string), to turn it into an instance of Foo, I want to call new Foo(<foo>, null). To do this, I have created a custom deserializer (#JsonComponent means that this deserializer will be registered with a kinda-global ObjectMapper by spring via Jackson Module interface):
#JsonComponent
public class FooDeserializer extends JsonDeserializer<Outer.Foo> {
#Override
public Outer.Foo deserialize(JsonParser parser, DeserializationContext context)
throws IOException {
JsonNode node = parser.getCodec().readTree(parser);
if (node.isTextual()) {
return new Foo(node.asText(), null);
}
return <delegate to next applicable deserializer>;
}
}
I'm having trouble figuring out how to do the "delegate to next applicable deserializer" part, as every solution I've tried (for example parser.getCodec().treeToValue(node, Outer.Foo.class)) ends up using the same custom deserializer again, causing infinite recursion. Is this even possible?

Credit to schummar answer :How do I call the default deserializer from a custom deserializer in Jackson. Following the above answer,
1. #JsonComponent annotation should be removed from the custom serializer as we need to construct the custom serializer using the default serializer, and this is not supported by #JsonComponent.
2. Register a SimpleModule to the ObjectMapper with a BeanDeserializerModifier and modify the serializer with our custom serializer constructed with the default serializer.
3. In the serialize method of the custom serializer, handle the special case, and delegate the serialization to the default serializer for normal case.
The following code demonstrates how to implement above points.
Main class
import java.io.IOException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.BeanDescription;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationConfig;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonDeserializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializerModifier;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.module.SimpleModule;
public class DelegateDeserializer {
public static void main(String[] args) throws JsonParseException, JsonMappingException, IOException {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
SimpleModule simpleModule = new SimpleModule();
simpleModule.setDeserializerModifier(new BeanDeserializerModifier() {
#Override
public JsonDeserializer<?> modifyDeserializer(DeserializationConfig config, BeanDescription beanDesc,
JsonDeserializer<?> deserializer) {
if (Outer.Foo.class.isAssignableFrom(beanDesc.getBeanClass())) {
return new FooDeserializer(deserializer, beanDesc.getBeanClass());
}
return deserializer;
}
});
mapper.registerModule(simpleModule);
Outer outer1 = mapper.readValue(getType1Json(), Outer.class);
Outer outer2 = mapper.readValue(getType2Json(), Outer.class);
System.out.println("deserialize json with object structure:");
System.out.println(outer1.getFoo().getName());
System.out.println(outer1.getFoo().getBar());
System.out.println("deserialize json with string field only:");
System.out.println(outer2.getFoo().getName());
System.out.println(outer2.getFoo().getBar());
}
private static String getType1Json() {
return " { "
+ " \"foo\": { "
+ " \"name\": \"John Smith\", "
+ " \"bar\": \"baz\" "
+ " } "
+ "} ";
}
private static String getType2Json() {
return " { "
+ " \"foo\": \"John Smith\" "
+ "} ";
}
}
FooDeserializer class
import java.io.IOException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonToken;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonDeserializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.ResolvableDeserializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.StdDeserializer;
import jackson.Outer.Foo;
public class FooDeserializer extends StdDeserializer<Outer.Foo> implements ResolvableDeserializer {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
private final JsonDeserializer<?> defaultDeserializer;
public FooDeserializer(JsonDeserializer<?> defaultDeserializer, Class<?> clazz) {
super(clazz);
this.defaultDeserializer = defaultDeserializer;
}
#Override
public Outer.Foo deserialize(JsonParser parser, DeserializationContext context) throws IOException {
if (parser.getCurrentToken() == JsonToken.VALUE_STRING) {
JsonNode node = parser.getCodec().readTree(parser);
if (node.isTextual()) {
return new Foo(node.asText(), null);
}
}
return (Foo) defaultDeserializer.deserialize(parser, context);
}
#Override
public void resolve(DeserializationContext ctxt) throws JsonMappingException {
((ResolvableDeserializer) defaultDeserializer).resolve(ctxt);
}
}
Outer class
public class Outer {
private Foo foo;
public Foo getFoo() {
return foo;
}
public void setFoo(Foo foo) {
this.foo = foo;
}
public static class Foo {
private String bar;
private String name;
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public String getBar() {
return bar;
}
public void setBar(String bar) {
this.bar = bar;
}
public Foo() {
}
public Foo(String name, String bar) {
this.name = name;
this.bar = bar;
}
}
}

Statically defined KeyDeserializer not found but if defined locally everything perfect

I am baffled by how registering a custom KeyDeserializer works.
Here is my code:
Matchday.java
package com.example;
import java.io.Serializable;
import java.util.Objects;
public class Matchday implements Serializable, Comparable<Matchday> {
private static final long serialVersionUID = -8823049187525703664L;
private final int matchdayNumber;
public Matchday(final int matchdayNumber) {
this.matchdayNumber = matchdayNumber;
}
public int getMatchdayNumber() {
return matchdayNumber;
}
#Override
public int compareTo(Matchday o) {
return Integer.compare(matchdayNumber, o.getMatchdayNumber());
}
#Override
public final int hashCode() {
return Objects.hash(matchdayNumber);
}
#Override
public final boolean equals(final Object obj) {
return obj instanceof Matchday && Integer.valueOf(matchdayNumber).equals(((Matchday) obj).matchdayNumber);
}
#Override
public String toString() {
return Integer.toString(matchdayNumber);
}
}
TeamPlayer.java
package com.example;
import java.io.Serializable;
import org.apache.commons.lang3.builder.ToStringBuilder;
public class TeamPlayer implements Serializable {
private static final long serialVersionUID = -6057852081020631549L;
private int id;
private String name;
private String surname;
public int getId() {
return id;
}
public void setId(int id) {
this.id = id;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public String getSurname() {
return surname;
}
public void setSurname(String surname) {
this.surname = surname;
}
#Override
public String toString() {
return new ToStringBuilder(this).append("id", id).append("name", name).append("surname", surname).build()
.toString();
}
}
Now if I define a custom map key deserializer for my class Matchday.java, it works like a charm if I do it like this.
KeyDeserializerTest.java
package com.example;
import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.SortedMap;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.Version;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.type.TypeReference;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.KeyDeserializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.module.SimpleModule;
public class KeyDeserializerTest {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
final ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
final SimpleModule mySimpleModule = new SimpleModule("dummy", new Version(0, 0, 0, "dummy", "dummy", "dummy"));
mySimpleModule.addKeyDeserializer(Matchday.class, new KeyDeserializer() {
#Override
public Object deserializeKey(String arg0, DeserializationContext arg1)
throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
return new Matchday(Integer.valueOf(arg0));
}
});
objectMapper.registerModule(mySimpleModule);
final InputStream inputStream = new ByteArrayInputStream(
"{\"1\":[{\"id\": 1, \"name\": \"Arkadiusz\", \"surname\": \"Malarz\"}]}".getBytes());
SortedMap<Matchday, List<TeamPlayer>> map = objectMapper.readValue(inputStream,
new TypeReference<SortedMap<Matchday, List<TeamPlayer>>>() {
});
System.out.println(map);
}
}
It prints
{1=[com.example.TeamPlayer#3a8624[id=1,name=Arkadiusz,surname=Malarz]]}
But if I define both the object mapper and my deserializer instances as static attributes then I get the following exception!
KeyDeserializerStaticTest.java
package com.example;
import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.SortedMap;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.Version;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.type.TypeReference;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.KeyDeserializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.Module;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.module.SimpleModule;
public class KeyDeserializerStaticTest {
public static final ObjectMapper OBJECT_MAPPER = createObjectMapper();
private static final KeyDeserializer MATCHDAY_KEY_DESERIALIZER = new KeyDeserializer() {
#Override
public Object deserializeKey(String key, DeserializationContext ctxt)
throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
return new Matchday(Integer.valueOf(key));
}
};
private static ObjectMapper createObjectMapper() {
ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
objectMapper.registerModule(createSimpleModule());
return objectMapper;
}
private static Module createSimpleModule() {
SimpleModule simpleModule = new SimpleModule("dummy", new Version(0, 0, 0, "dummy", "dummy", "dummy"));
simpleModule.addKeyDeserializer(Matchday.class, MATCHDAY_KEY_DESERIALIZER);
return simpleModule;
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
final InputStream inputStream = new ByteArrayInputStream(
"{\"1\":[{\"id\": 1, \"name\": \"Arkadiusz\", \"surname\": \"Malarz\"}]}".getBytes());
SortedMap<Matchday, List<TeamPlayer>> map = OBJECT_MAPPER.readValue(inputStream,
new TypeReference<SortedMap<Matchday, List<TeamPlayer>>>() {
});
System.out.println(map);
}
}
Exception in thread "main" com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: Can not find a (Map) Key deserializer for type [simple type, class com.example.Matchday]
at [Source: java.io.ByteArrayInputStream#bbc1e0; line: 1, column: 1]
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException.from(JsonMappingException.java:270)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext.reportMappingException(DeserializationContext.java:1234)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.DeserializerCache._handleUnknownKeyDeserializer(DeserializerCache.java:585)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.DeserializerCache.findKeyDeserializer(DeserializerCache.java:168)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext.findKeyDeserializer(DeserializationContext.java:499)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.MapDeserializer.createContextual(MapDeserializer.java:247)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext.handleSecondaryContextualization(DeserializationContext.java:681)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext.findRootValueDeserializer(DeserializationContext.java:481)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper._findRootDeserializer(ObjectMapper.java:3899)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper._readMapAndClose(ObjectMapper.java:3794)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper.readValue(ObjectMapper.java:2915)
at com.example.KeyDeserializerStaticTest.main(KeyDeserializerStaticTest.java:43)
What is wrong here? Semantically there is no difference between the above presented main methods. Is this a feature that is somewhere documented or is it simply a bug in Jackson?

The root problem here was the order of initialization of static variables.
It is
public static final ObjectMapper OBJECT_MAPPER = createObjectMapper();
private static final KeyDeserializer MATCHDAY_KEY_DESERIALIZER = new KeyDeserializer() {
#Override
public Object deserializeKey(String key, DeserializationContext ctxt)
throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
return new Matchday(Integer.valueOf(key));
}
};
while it should be
private static final KeyDeserializer MATCHDAY_KEY_DESERIALIZER = new KeyDeserializer() {
#Override
public Object deserializeKey(String key, DeserializationContext ctxt)
throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
return new Matchday(Integer.valueOf(key));
}
};
public static final ObjectMapper OBJECT_MAPPER = createObjectMapper();
This was hard to spot because the method addKeyDeserializer(Class<?>, KeyDeserializer) of the class SimpleModule silently adds null references to an internal key deserializers' map. In my opinion it should throw a NullPointerException upon trying adding a key deserializer reference that is null.
The Jackson code for it looks like this.
First addKeKeyDeserializer(Class<?>, KeyDeserializer)
public SimpleModule addKeyDeserializer(Class<?> type, KeyDeserializer deser)
{
if (_keyDeserializers == null) {
_keyDeserializers = new SimpleKeyDeserializers();
}
_keyDeserializers.addDeserializer(type, deser);
return this;
}
there is no check here whether deser is null.
Then it delegates to addDeserializer(Class, KeyDeserializer) of class SimpleKeyDeserializers.
public SimpleKeyDeserializers addDeserializer(Class<?> forClass, KeyDeserializer deser)
{
if (_classMappings == null) {
_classMappings = new HashMap<ClassKey,KeyDeserializer>();
}
_classMappings.put(new ClassKey(forClass), deser);
return this;
}
Here is the null reference also ignored and silently put into _classMappings map.
Here is the issue I posted on GitHub together with the discussion.

How to use both JsonTypeInfo and de/serializers for custom handling of polymorphic subtypes?

I have a situation where I need to customize the serialization/deserialization of some JSON. I have simplified this into a readable example. I have a Container class that holds objects implementing MyInterface. In my example ClassA, ClassB, IntegerHolder and StringHolder implement the interface. By adding the #JsonTypeInfo annotation to my interface (and container):
#JsonTypeInfo(use = JsonTypeInfo.Id.NAME, property = "type")
and registering types names for each class, I can successfully read/write these to/from this JSON:
{"type":"Container","items":
[ {"type":"classA","aValue":"AAA"},
{"type":"classB","bValue":"BBB"},
{"type":"intHolder","value":123},
{"type":"stringHolder","value":"abc"} ] }
That is all very nice :) My problem is that I want to customize the serialization of the intHolder and stringHolder because they are just wrappers around native types. My JSON will be frequently edited by hand and the primitive types will be used a LOT. So I want to simplify the JSON to:
{"type":"Container","items":
[ {"type":"classA","aValue":"AAA"},
{"type":"classB","bValue":"BBB"},
123,
"abc" ] }
I have written a Serializer and Deserializer (extending StdSeralizer and StdDeserializer), put them in a SimpleModule and registered it with the mapper (as illustrated here on SO) and in isolation, it works well. By that, I mean that I can serialize/deserialize the IntegerHolder and StringHolder if they are the only objects in the container, and then only if I remove the #JsonTypeInfo annotation from the interface. If I do not, then I get this failure while writing to JSON:
[main] ERROR MyTests - can't write the Container
com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: Type id handling not implemented for type MyInterface (by serializer of type MyTests$MyInterfaceSerializer) (through reference chain: Container["items"])
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.SerializerProvider.mappingException(SerializerProvider.java:1047)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonSerializer.serializeWithType(JsonSerializer.java:142)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.std.ObjectArraySerializer.serializeTypedContents(ObjectArraySerializer.java:316)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.std.ObjectArraySerializer.serializeContents(ObjectArraySerializer.java:217)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.std.ObjectArraySerializer.serialize(ObjectArraySerializer.java:201)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.std.ObjectArraySerializer.serialize(ObjectArraySerializer.java:25)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.BeanPropertyWriter.serializeAsField(BeanPropertyWriter.java:575)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.std.BeanSerializerBase.serializeFields(BeanSerializerBase.java:666)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.std.BeanSerializerBase.serializeWithType(BeanSerializerBase.java:552)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.impl.TypeWrappedSerializer.serialize(TypeWrappedSerializer.java:32)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.DefaultSerializerProvider.serializeValue(DefaultSerializerProvider.java:129)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper._configAndWriteValue(ObjectMapper.java:3387)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper.writeValue(ObjectMapper.java:2747)
at MyTests.testItemSerializationDeserializationEquality(MyTests.java:51)
at MyTests.testSerialization(MyTests.java:41)
But of course, with the #JsonTypeInfo removed, Jackson doesn't know how to deserialize ClassA and ClassB...so that fails while reading the JSON with:
[main] INFO MyTests - {"type":"Container","items":[{"aValue":"AAA"},{"bValue":"BBB"},123,"abc"]}
[main] ERROR MyTests - can't read the Container
com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException: Can not construct instance of MyInterface, problem: abstract types either need to be mapped to concrete types, have custom deserializer, or be instantiated with additional type information
at [Source: java.io.ByteArrayInputStream#37883b97; line: 1, column: 45] (through reference chain: Container["items"]->Object[][0])
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException.from(JsonMappingException.java:148)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext.instantiationException(DeserializationContext.java:857)
at com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.AbstractDeserializer.deserialize(AbstractDeserializer.java:139)
at MyTests$MyInterfaceDeserializer.deserialize(MyTests.java:163)
at MyTests$MyInterfaceDeserializer.deserialize(MyTests.java:139)
I feel like Jackson can do it and I'm close to getting Jackson configured to serialize/deserialize both sets of classes, but so far my attempts have not been fruitful.
Any pointers to get me going in the right direction would be most appreciated...thanks in advance!
Here are the 7 classes in my test example:
MyInterface.java
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.*;
#JsonTypeInfo(use = JsonTypeInfo.Id.NAME, property = "type")
public interface MyInterface
{
}
Container.java
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.*;
#JsonTypeInfo(use = JsonTypeInfo.Id.NAME, property = "type")
public class Container
{
public Container()
{
}
public Container(MyInterface... items)
{
this.items = items;
}
public MyInterface[] getItems()
{
return items;
}
public void setItems(MyInterface[] items)
{
this.items = items;
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object obj)
{
for (int i = 0; i < items.length; i++)
if (!(items[i].equals(((Container)obj).items[i])))
return false;
return true;
}
private MyInterface[] items;
}
MyTests.java
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.jsontype.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.module.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.std.*;
import org.junit.*;
import org.slf4j.*;
import java.io.*;
public class MyTests
{
#Test
public void testSerialization()
{
ClassA a = new ClassA();
a.setaValue("AAA");
ClassB b = new ClassB();
b.setbValue("BBB");
IntegerHolderClass int_holder = new IntegerHolderClass();
int_holder.setValue(123);
StringHolderClass string_holder = new StringHolderClass();
string_holder.setValue("abc");
// Testing with ONLY the non-customized classes works fine with the #JsonTypeInfo annotation on MyInterface
// if the custom de/serializers are not registered via the module
// testItemSerializationDeserializationEquality(new Container(a, b), Container.class);
// Testing with ONLY the customized classes works fine with the custom de/serializers registered via the module
// if the #JsonTypeInfo annotation on MyInterface is removed
// testItemSerializationDeserializationEquality(new Container(int_holder, string_holder), Container.class);
// This variation tests them all together...doesn't work under either scenario
testItemSerializationDeserializationEquality(new Container(a, b, int_holder, string_holder), Container.class);
}
private void testItemSerializationDeserializationEquality(Object original, Class expected_super_type)
{
ObjectMapper mapper = createMapper();
ByteArrayOutputStream outstream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
try
{
mapper.writeValue(outstream, original);
outstream.flush();
}
catch (IOException e)
{
LOG.error("can't write the " + original.getClass().getSimpleName(), e);
}
LOG.info(outstream.toString());
Object copy = null;
try
{
copy = mapper.readValue(new ByteArrayInputStream(outstream.toByteArray()), expected_super_type);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
LOG.error("can't read the " + original.getClass().getSimpleName(), e);
}
Assert.assertNotNull(copy);
Assert.assertTrue(copy.equals(original));
}
private ObjectMapper createMapper()
{
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
mapper.registerSubtypes(new NamedType(ClassA.class, "classA"));
mapper.registerSubtypes(new NamedType(ClassB.class, "classB"));
mapper.registerSubtypes(new NamedType(IntegerHolderClass.class, "intHolder"));
mapper.registerSubtypes(new NamedType(StringHolderClass.class, "stringHolder"));
SimpleModule module = new SimpleModule();
module.setDeserializerModifier(new BeanDeserializerModifier()
{
#Override
public JsonDeserializer<?> modifyDeserializer(DeserializationConfig config, BeanDescription beanDesc, JsonDeserializer<?> deserializer)
{
if (MyInterface.class.isAssignableFrom(beanDesc.getBeanClass()))
return new MyInterfaceDeserializer(deserializer);
return deserializer;
}
});
module.setSerializerModifier(new BeanSerializerModifier()
{
#Override
public JsonSerializer<?> modifySerializer(SerializationConfig config, BeanDescription beanDesc, JsonSerializer<?> serializer)
{
if (MyInterface.class.isAssignableFrom(beanDesc.getBeanClass()))
return new MyInterfaceSerializer(serializer);
return serializer;
}
});
mapper.registerModule(module);
return mapper;
}
static class MyInterfaceSerializer extends StdSerializer<MyInterface> implements ResolvableSerializer
{
public MyInterfaceSerializer(JsonSerializer<?> def)
{
super(MyInterface.class);
_default = (JsonSerializer<MyInterface>) def;
}
#Override
public void serialize(MyInterface value, JsonGenerator jgen, SerializerProvider provider) throws IOException
{
if (value instanceof IntegerHolderClass)
jgen.writeNumber(((IntegerHolderClass) value).getValue());
else if (value instanceof StringHolderClass)
jgen.writeString(((StringHolderClass) value).getValue());
else
_default.serialize(value, jgen, provider);
}
#Override
public void resolve(SerializerProvider provider) throws JsonMappingException
{
}
private final JsonSerializer<MyInterface> _default;
}
static class MyInterfaceDeserializer extends StdDeserializer<MyInterface> implements ResolvableDeserializer
{
public MyInterfaceDeserializer(JsonDeserializer<?> def)
{
super(MyInterface.class);
_default = def;
}
#Override
public MyInterface deserialize(JsonParser parser, DeserializationContext context) throws IOException
{
TreeNode node = parser.getCodec().readTree(parser);
if (node instanceof TextNode)
{
StringHolderClass holder = new StringHolderClass();
holder.setValue(((TextNode) node).textValue());
return holder;
}
else if (node instanceof IntNode)
{
IntegerHolderClass holder = new IntegerHolderClass();
holder.setValue(((IntNode) node).intValue());
return holder;
}
return (MyInterface) _default.deserialize(parser, context);
}
#Override
public void resolve(DeserializationContext context) throws JsonMappingException
{
// ((ResolvableDeserializer)_default).resolve(context);
}
private final JsonDeserializer<?> _default;
}
final static Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(MyTests.class);
}
ClassA.java
public class ClassA implements MyInterface
{
public String getaValue()
{
return _aValue;
}
public void setaValue(String aValue)
{
_aValue = aValue;
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object obj)
{
return obj instanceof ClassA && _aValue.equals(((ClassA)obj)._aValue);
}
private String _aValue;
}
ClassB.java
public class ClassB implements MyInterface
{
public String getbValue()
{
return _bValue;
}
public void setbValue(String bValue)
{
_bValue = bValue;
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object obj)
{
return obj instanceof ClassB && _bValue.equals(((ClassB)obj)._bValue);
}
private String _bValue;
}
StringHolderClass.java
public class StringHolderClass implements MyInterface
{
public String getValue()
{
return _value;
}
public void setValue(String value)
{
_value = value;
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object obj)
{
return obj instanceof StringHolderClass && _value.equals(((StringHolderClass)obj)._value);
}
private String _value;
}
IntegerHolderClass.java
public class IntegerHolderClass implements MyInterface
{
public int getValue()
{
return _value;
}
public void setValue(int value)
{
_value = value;
}
#Override
public boolean equals(Object obj)
{
return obj instanceof IntegerHolderClass && _value.equals(((IntegerHolderClass)obj)._value);
}
private Integer _value;
}

Two options:
Custom deserializer for MyInterface and then you do not need the JsonTypeInfo - all the logic will be in the deserializer.
You can try and have IntegerHolder and StringHolder implement another interface let's say Holder and change the JsonTypeInfo annotation to:
#JsonTypeInfo(use = JsonTypeInfo.Id.NAME, property = "type", defaultImpl=Holder.class)
And for Holder.class specify a deserializer.

Jackson #JsonUnwrapped behaviour with custom JsonSerializer

I have two classes like this:
public class A {
String aProp = "aProp";
public String getAProp() {
return aProp;
}
}
public class B {
String bProp = "bProp";
A a = new A();
#JsonProperty("bProp")
public String getBProp() {
return bProp;
}
#JsonSerialize(using = CustomSerializer.class)
public A getA() {
return a;
}
}
I'm expecting to get JSON like this:
{
"bProp": "bProp", // just serizlised bProp
"sProp1": "sProp1_aProp", // computed using aProp
"sProp2": "sProp2_aProp" // computed another way
}
So I wrote custom JsonSerializer like this:
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerator;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonSerializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.SerializerProvider;
public class CustomSerializer extends JsonSerializer<A> {
#Override
public void serialize(A a, JsonGenerator json, SerializerProvider provider) throws IOException {
json.writeStringField("sProp1", "sProp1_" + a.getAProp());
json.writeStringField("sProp2", "sProp2_" + a.getAProp());
}
}
But I keep getting an error:
com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerationException: Can not write a field name, expecting a value
Unless I put json.writeStartObject(); and json.writeEndObject(); in serialize method (so it produces wrong JSON).
So I'm looking for a solution like #JsonUnwrapped to use with custom JsonSerializer.

I understand your problem and the thing that you need is UnwrappingBeanSerializer. You can see another related SO post:
Different JSON output when using custom json serializer in Spring Data Rest
The problem is that you cannot have both annotations #JacksonUnwrapped and #JsonSerialize in one field because when you have #JsonSerializer Jackson will always write field name.
Here is the complete solution:
public class CustomSerializer extends UnwrappingBeanSerializer {
public CustomSerializer(BeanSerializerBase src, NameTransformer transformer) {
super(src, transformer);
}
#Override
public JsonSerializer<Object> unwrappingSerializer(NameTransformer transformer) {
return new CustomSerializer(this, transformer);
}
#Override
protected void serializeFields(Object bean, JsonGenerator jgen, SerializerProvider provider) throws IOException, JsonGenerationException {
A a = (A) bean;
jgen.writeStringField("custom", a.getAProp());
jgen.writeStringField("custom3", a.getAProp());
}
#Override
public boolean isUnwrappingSerializer() {
return true;
}
}
Test case, you should redefine your object mapper with custom configuration or research for other method .
#RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
#WebAppConfiguration
#SpringApplicationConfiguration(classes = Application.class)
public class ColorsTest {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
#Before
public void setUp(){
mapper.registerModule(new Module() {
#Override
public String getModuleName() {
return "my.module";
}
#Override
public Version version() {
return Version.unknownVersion();
}
#Override
public void setupModule(SetupContext context) {
context.addBeanSerializerModifier(new BeanSerializerModifier() {
#Override
public JsonSerializer<?> modifySerializer(SerializationConfig config, BeanDescription beanDesc, JsonSerializer<?> serializer) {
if(beanDesc.getBeanClass().equals(A.class)) {
return new CustomSerializer((BeanSerializerBase) serializer, NameTransformer.NOP);
}
return serializer;
}
});
}
});
}
#Test
public void testSerializer() throws JsonProcessingException {
System.out.println(mapper.writeValueAsString(new B()));
}
}
Class B:
public class B {
#JsonProperty("bProp")
public String getBProp() {
return "bProp";
}
#JsonUnwrapped
public A getA() {
return new A();
}
}

I like to add this post and solution to the question asked here: Using custom Serializers with JsonUnwrapperd as the original poster is using JsonSerializer as I am. The suggest approach with the UnwrappingBeanSerializer won't work in this case. My post has a slightly different goal, but the idea from the post should be applicable to your use case easily, as it is just overwriting one more method and not having to add bunch of stuff apart from JsonUnwrapped on the property.
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonUnwrapped;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerator;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonSerializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.SerializationFeature;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.SerializerProvider;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.annotation.JsonSerialize;
import java.io.IOException;
public class Test {
static class A {
String aProp = "aProp";
public String getAProp() {
return aProp;
}
}
static class B {
String bProp = "bProp";
A a = new A();
#JsonProperty("bProp")
public String getBProp() {
return bProp;
}
#JsonSerialize(using = CustomSerializer.class)
#JsonUnwrapped
public A getA() {
return a;
}
}
static class CustomSerializer extends JsonSerializer<A> {
#Override
public boolean isUnwrappingSerializer() {
return true;
}
#Override
public void serialize(A a, JsonGenerator json, SerializerProvider provider) throws IOException {
json.writeStringField("sProp1", "sProp1_" + a.getAProp());
json.writeStringField("sProp2", "sProp2_" + a.getAProp());
}
}
public static void main(String... a) throws Exception {
final ObjectMapper o = new ObjectMapper();
o.enable(SerializationFeature.INDENT_OUTPUT);
System.out.println(o.writeValueAsString(new B()));
}
}