Develop Reference

Enable Jackson Deserialization of Empty Objects to Null

I was asked to change our jackson mapping configuration so that each empty object we deserialize (from JSON) is going to be deserialized as null.
The problem is that I'm struggling to do it, but without any luck. Here is a sample of our ObjectMapper configuration (and example):
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
mapper.disable(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES);
mapper.setSerializationInclusion(JsonInclude.Include.NON_NULL);
mapper.configure(SerializationFeature.FAIL_ON_EMPTY_BEANS, true);
mapper.setVisibility(PropertyAccessor.ALL, JsonAutoDetect.Visibility.ANY);
JavaTimeModule javaTimeModule = new JavaTimeModule();
javaTimeModule.addDeserializer(LocalDateTime.class, new LocalDateTimeDeserializer(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME));
javaTimeModule.addDeserializer(Instant.class, InstantDeserializer.INSTANT);
mapper.registerModule(javaTimeModule);
mapper.configure(SerializationFeature.WRITE_DATES_AS_TIMESTAMPS, false);
mapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES, false);
warmupMapper(mapper);
return mapper;
I thought about something like adding:
mapper.configure(
DeserializationFeature.ACCEPT_EMPTY_STRING_AS_NULL_OBJECT, true);
but it just works on strings.
I'm afraid that using a custom deserializer will not help me, because I'm writing a generic (for all objects) mapper. So I probably need something like a delegator or a post process deserialization method.
So for json like "" or {} I expect to be converted to null in java (and not to empty string or Object instance).

What is a empty object for you? A object with null value fields? A object with no fields? You can create a custom to check the nodes and deserialize how you want. I see no problem to use it in a generic way.
I did a little example:
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.StdDeserializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.module.SimpleModule;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Objects;
public class DeserializerExample<T> extends StdDeserializer<T> {
private final ObjectMapper defaultMapper;
public DeserializerExample(Class<T> clazz) {
super(clazz);
defaultMapper = new ObjectMapper();
}
#Override
public T deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext dc) throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
System.out.println("Deserializing...");
JsonNode node = jp.getCodec().readTree(jp);
for (JsonNode jsonNode : node) {
if (!jsonNode.isNull()) {
return defaultMapper.treeToValue(node, (Class<T>) getValueClass());
}
}
return null;
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
SimpleModule module = new SimpleModule();
module.addDeserializer(Person.class, new DeserializerExample(Person.class));
mapper.registerModule(module);
Person person = mapper.readValue("{\"id\":1, \"name\":\"Joseph\"}", Person.class);
Person nullPerson = mapper.readValue("{\"id\":null, \"name\":null}", Person.class);
System.out.println("Is null: " + Objects.isNull(person));
System.out.println("Is null: " + Objects.isNull(nullPerson));
}
}

The only way to do this is to use a custom deserializer:
class CustomDeserializer extends JsonDeserializer<String> {
#Override
public String deserialize(JsonParser jsonParser, DeserializationContext context) throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
JsonNode node = jsonParser.readValueAsTree();
if (node.asText().isEmpty()) {
return null;
}
return node.toString();
}
}
Then do:
class EventBean {
public Long eventId;
public String title;
#JsonDeserialize(using = CustomDeserializer.class)
public String location;
}
This solution courtesy of Sach141 on this question.

I had the same problem.
I hava a City class and sometimes I recive 'city':{} from a web service request.
So, the standard serializer create a new City with all empty field.
I created a custom deserializer in this way
public class CityJsonDeSerializer extends StdDeserializer<City> {
#Override
public City deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext dc) throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
JsonNode node = jp.getCodec().readTree(jp);
if(node.isNull() || node.asText().isEmpty()|| node.size()==0)
return null;
City city = new City();
... // set all fields
return city;
}
}
The if check the conditions:
'city' : null
'city' : ''
'city' : '{}'
and if it's true, the deserializer returns null.

Another approach is to use a com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.util.Converter<IN,OUT>, which is essentially a postprocessor for deserialization.
Imagine we have a class:
public class Person {
public String id;
public String name;
}
Now imagine we want to deserialize an empty JSON object {} as null, rather than a Person with null values for id and name. We can create the following Converter:
public PersonConverter implements Converter<Person,Person> {
#Override
public Person convert(Person p) {
return isEmpty(p) ? null : value;
}
private static boolean isEmpty(Person p) {
if(p == null) {
return true;
}
if(Optional.ofNullable(p.id).orElse("").isEmpty() &&
Optional.ofNullable(p.name).orElse("").isEmpty()) {
return true;
}
return false;
}
#Override
public JavaType getInputType(TypeFactory typeFactory) {
return typeFactory.constructType(Person.class);
}
#Override
public JavaType getOutputType(TypeFactory typeFactory) {
return typeFactory.constructType(Person.class);
}
}
Note that we have to handle the blank String case because that is (counter-intuitively) the default value assigned to properties not given in JSON, as opposed to null.
Given the converter, we can then annotate our original Person class:
#JsonDeserialize(converter=PersonConverter.class)
public class Person {
public String id;
public String name;
}
The benefit of this approach is that you don't have to think or care about deserialization at all; you're simply deciding what to do with the deserialized object after it's deserialized. And there are many other transformations you can do with a Converter, too. But this works nicely for nullifying "empty" values.

Jackson dynamic property names

I would like serialize an object such that one of the fields will be named differently based on the type of the field. For example:
public class Response {
private Status status;
private String error;
private Object data;
[ getters, setters ]
}
Here, I would like the field data to be serialized to something like data.getClass.getName() instead of always having a field called data which contains a different type depending on the situation.
How might I achieve such a trick using Jackson?

I had a simpler solution using #JsonAnyGetter annotation, and it worked like a charm.
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Map;
public class Response {
private Status status;
private String error;
#JsonIgnore
private Object data;
[getters, setters]
#JsonAnyGetter
public Map<String, Object> any() {
//add the custom name here
//use full HashMap if you need more than one property
return Collections.singletonMap(data.getClass().getName(), data);
}
}
No wrapper needed, no custom serializer needed.

Using a custom JsonSerializer.
public class Response {
private String status;
private String error;
#JsonProperty("p")
#JsonSerialize(using = CustomSerializer.class)
private Object data;
// ...
}
public class CustomSerializer extends JsonSerializer<Object> {
public void serialize(Object value, JsonGenerator jgen, SerializerProvider provider) throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
jgen.writeStartObject();
jgen.writeObjectField(value.getClass().getName(), value);
jgen.writeEndObject();
}
}
And then, suppose you want to serialize the following two objects:
public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
Response r1 = new Response("Error", "Some error", 20);
System.out.println(mapper.writeValueAsString(r1));
Response r2 = new Response("Error", "Some error", "some string");
System.out.println(mapper.writeValueAsString(r2));
}
The first one will print:
{"status":"Error","error":"Some error","p":{"java.lang.Integer":20}}
And the second one:
{"status":"Error","error":"Some error","p":{"java.lang.String":"some string"}}
I have used the name p for the wrapper object since it will merely serve as a placeholder. If you want to remove it, you'd have to write a custom serializer for the entire class, i.e., a JsonSerializer<Response>.

my own solution.
#Data
#EqualsAndHashCode
#ToString
#JsonSerialize(using = ElementsListBean.CustomSerializer.class)
public class ElementsListBean<T> {
public ElementsListBean()
{
}
public ElementsListBean(final String fieldName, final List<T> elements)
{
this.fieldName = fieldName;
this.elements = elements;
}
private String fieldName;
private List<T> elements;
public int length()
{
return (this.elements != null) ? this.elements.size() : 0;
}
private static class CustomSerializer extends JsonSerializer<Object> {
public void serialize(Object value, JsonGenerator jgen, SerializerProvider provider) throws IOException,
JsonProcessingException
{
if (value instanceof ElementsListBean) {
final ElementsListBean<?> o = (ElementsListBean<?>) value;
jgen.writeStartObject();
jgen.writeArrayFieldStart(o.getFieldName());
for (Object e : o.getElements()) {
jgen.writeObject(e);
}
jgen.writeEndArray();
jgen.writeNumberField("length", o.length());
jgen.writeEndObject();
}
}
}
}

You can use the annotation JsonTypeInfo, which tell Jackson exactly that and you don't need to write a custom serializer. There's various way to include this information, but for your specific question you'd use As.WRAPPER_OBJECT and Id.CLASS. For example:
public static class Response {
private Status status;
private String error;
#JsonTypeInfo(include = As.WRAPPER_OBJECT, use = Id.CLASS)
private Object data;
}
This, however, will not work on primitive type, such as a String or Integer. You don't need that information for primitives anyways, since they are natively represented in JSON and Jackson knows how to handle them. The added bonus with using the annotation is that you get deserialization for free, if you ever need it. Here's an example:
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
Response r1 = new Response("Status", "An error", "some data");
Response r2 = new Response("Status", "An error", 10);
Response r3 = new Response("Status", "An error", new MyClass("data"));
System.out.println(mapper.writeValueAsString(r1));
System.out.println(mapper.writeValueAsString(r2));
System.out.println(mapper.writeValueAsString(r3));
}
#JsonAutoDetect(fieldVisibility=Visibility.ANY)
public static class MyClass{
private String data;
public MyClass(String data) {
this.data = data;
}
}
and the result:
{"status":"Status","error":"An error","data":"some data"}
{"status":"Status","error":"An error","data":10}
{"status":"Status","error":"An error","data":{"some.package.MyClass":{"data":"data"}}}

Based on #tlogbon response,
Here is my solution to wrap a List of Items with a specific/dynamic filed name
public class ListResource<T> {
#JsonIgnore
private List<T> items;
#JsonIgnore
private String fieldName;
public ListResource(String fieldName, List<T> items) {
this.items = items;
this.fieldName = fieldName;
}
#JsonAnyGetter
public Map<String, List<T>> getMap() {
return Collections.singletonMap(fieldName, items);
}

Jackson JSON custom serialization for certain fields

Is there a way using Jackson JSON Processor to do custom field level serialization? For example, I'd like to have the class
public class Person {
public String name;
public int age;
public int favoriteNumber;
}
serialized to the follow JSON:
{ "name": "Joe", "age": 25, "favoriteNumber": "123" }
Note that age=25 is encoded as a number while favoriteNumber=123 is encoded as a string. Out of the box Jackson marshalls int to a number. In this case I want favoriteNumber to be encoded as a string.

You can implement a custom serializer as follows:
public class Person {
public String name;
public int age;
#JsonSerialize(using = IntToStringSerializer.class, as=String.class)
public int favoriteNumber:
}
public class IntToStringSerializer extends JsonSerializer<Integer> {
#Override
public void serialize(Integer tmpInt,
JsonGenerator jsonGenerator,
SerializerProvider serializerProvider)
throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
jsonGenerator.writeObject(tmpInt.toString());
}
}
Java should handle the autoboxing from int to Integer for you.

Jackson-databind (at least 2.1.3) provides special ToStringSerializer (com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ser.std.ToStringSerializer)
Example:
public class Person {
public String name;
public int age;
#JsonSerialize(using = ToStringSerializer.class)
public int favoriteNumber:
}

Add a #JsonProperty annotated getter, which returns a String, for the favoriteNumber field:
public class Person {
public String name;
public int age;
private int favoriteNumber;
public Person(String name, int age, int favoriteNumber) {
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
this.favoriteNumber = favoriteNumber;
}
#JsonProperty
public String getFavoriteNumber() {
return String.valueOf(favoriteNumber);
}
public static void main(String... args) throws Exception {
Person p = new Person("Joe", 25, 123);
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
System.out.println(mapper.writeValueAsString(p));
// {"name":"Joe","age":25,"favoriteNumber":"123"}
}
}

jackson-annotations provides #JsonFormat which can handle a lot of customizations without the need to write the custom serializer.
For example, requesting a STRING shape for a field with numeric type will output the numeric value as string
public class Person {
public String name;
public int age;
#JsonFormat(shape = JsonFormat.Shape.STRING)
public int favoriteNumber;
}
will result in the desired output
{"name":"Joe","age":25,"favoriteNumber":"123"}

In case you don't want to pollute your model with annotations and want to perform some custom operations, you could use mixins.
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
SimpleModule simpleModule = new SimpleModule();
simpleModule.setMixInAnnotation(Person.class, PersonMixin.class);
mapper.registerModule(simpleModule);
Override age:
public abstract class PersonMixin {
#JsonSerialize(using = PersonAgeSerializer.class)
public String age;
}
Do whatever you need with the age:
public class PersonAgeSerializer extends JsonSerializer<Integer> {
#Override
public void serialize(Integer integer, JsonGenerator jsonGenerator, SerializerProvider serializerProvider) throws IOException {
jsonGenerator.writeString(String.valueOf(integer * 52) + " months");
}
}

with the help of #JsonView we can decide fields of model classes to serialize which satisfy the minimal criteria ( we have to define the criteria) like we can have one core class with 10 properties but only 5 properties can be serialize which are needful for client only
Define our Views by simply creating following class:
public class Views
{
static class Android{};
static class IOS{};
static class Web{};
}
Annotated model class with views:
public class Demo
{
public Demo()
{
}
#JsonView(Views.IOS.class)
private String iosField;
#JsonView(Views.Android.class)
private String androidField;
#JsonView(Views.Web.class)
private String webField;
// getters/setters
...
..
}
Now we have to write custom json converter by simply extending HttpMessageConverter class from spring as:
public class CustomJacksonConverter implements HttpMessageConverter<Object>
{
public CustomJacksonConverter()
{
super();
//this.delegate.getObjectMapper().setConfig(this.delegate.getObjectMapper().getSerializationConfig().withView(Views.ClientView.class));
this.delegate.getObjectMapper().configure(MapperFeature.DEFAULT_VIEW_INCLUSION, true);
this.delegate.getObjectMapper().setSerializationInclusion(Include.NON_NULL);
}
// a real message converter that will respond to methods and do the actual work
private MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter delegate = new MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter();
#Override
public boolean canRead(Class<?> clazz, MediaType mediaType) {
return delegate.canRead(clazz, mediaType);
}
#Override
public boolean canWrite(Class<?> clazz, MediaType mediaType) {
return delegate.canWrite(clazz, mediaType);
}
#Override
public List<MediaType> getSupportedMediaTypes() {
return delegate.getSupportedMediaTypes();
}
#Override
public Object read(Class<? extends Object> clazz,
HttpInputMessage inputMessage) throws IOException,
HttpMessageNotReadableException {
return delegate.read(clazz, inputMessage);
}
#Override
public void write(Object obj, MediaType contentType, HttpOutputMessage outputMessage) throws IOException, HttpMessageNotWritableException
{
synchronized(this)
{
String userAgent = ((ServletRequestAttributes) RequestContextHolder.getRequestAttributes()).getRequest().getHeader("userAgent");
if ( userAgent != null )
{
switch (userAgent)
{
case "IOS" :
this.delegate.getObjectMapper().setConfig(this.delegate.getObjectMapper().getSerializationConfig().withView(Views.IOS.class));
break;
case "Android" :
this.delegate.getObjectMapper().setConfig(this.delegate.getObjectMapper().getSerializationConfig().withView(Views.Android.class));
break;
case "Web" :
this.delegate.getObjectMapper().setConfig(this.delegate.getObjectMapper().getSerializationConfig().withView( Views.Web.class));
break;
default:
this.delegate.getObjectMapper().setConfig(this.delegate.getObjectMapper().getSerializationConfig().withView( null ));
break;
}
}
else
{
// reset to default view
this.delegate.getObjectMapper().setConfig(this.delegate.getObjectMapper().getSerializationConfig().withView( null ));
}
delegate.write(obj, contentType, outputMessage);
}
}
}
Now there is need to tell spring to use this custom json convert by simply putting this in dispatcher-servlet.xml
<mvc:annotation-driven>
<mvc:message-converters register-defaults="true">
<bean id="jsonConverter" class="com.mactores.org.CustomJacksonConverter" >
</bean>
</mvc:message-converters>
</mvc:annotation-driven>
That's how you will able to decide which fields to get serialize.

You can create a custom serializer inline in the mixin. Then annotate a field with it. See example below that appends " - something else " to lang field. This is kind of hackish - if your serializer requires something like a repository or anything injected by spring, this is going to be a problem. Probably best to use a custom deserializer/serializer instead of a mixin.
package com.test;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonAutoDetect;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonAutoDetect.Visibility;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonPropertyOrder;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerator;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonSerializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.SerializerProvider;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.annotation.JsonSerialize;
import com.test.Argument;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
//Serialize only fields explicitly mentioned by this mixin.
#JsonAutoDetect(
fieldVisibility = Visibility.NONE,
setterVisibility = Visibility.NONE,
getterVisibility = Visibility.NONE,
isGetterVisibility = Visibility.NONE,
creatorVisibility = Visibility.NONE
)
#JsonPropertyOrder({"lang", "name", "value"})
public abstract class V2ArgumentMixin {
#JsonProperty("name")
private String name;
#JsonSerialize(using = LangCustomSerializer.class, as=String.class)
#JsonProperty("lang")
private String lang;
#JsonProperty("value")
private Object value;
public static class LangCustomSerializer extends JsonSerializer<String> {
#Override
public void serialize(String value,
JsonGenerator jsonGenerator,
SerializerProvider serializerProvider)
throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
jsonGenerator.writeObject(value.toString() + " - something else");
}
}
}

Array Json to List<MyObject> with Gson or Xtream

Hello I had this follow json code.
[{"check":{"domain":"qwe.coedu.br"}},{"check":{"domain":"qwe.com.br"}},{"check":{"domain":"qwe.com"}}]"
How do to convert this json in my object
class Check {String domain , String status ...}
It return a List<Check>, but the Check attributes are null. See my code. with Gson.
Gson gson = new Gson();
Type fooType = new TypeToken<Collection<Check>>(){}.getType();
System.out.println(((List<Check>)gson.fromJson("[{\"check\":{\"status\":\"2\",\"domain\":\"william.com.br\"}}]", fooType)).get(0).getDomain());
When I debug my returned list, this contains all objects in list, but all with your attributes null.
What is wrong ?

You need a customized converter, because you have a list of objects that holds a property named check. And this property is of a class that has the properties domain and status.
Two possibilities here:
if you don't want to change the Json format, or you simply can't probably write your own JsonDeserializer, in which you will instanciate your Check object and then set the properties by your own is the best choice;
or you could modify your check class in order to hold a check property of a type that holds a property named domain and another one status.
For the second case is pretty clear what needs to be done, but for the first case you could do something like:
import java.lang.reflect.Type;
import java.util.Collection;
import com.google.gson.Gson;
import com.google.gson.GsonBuilder;
import com.google.gson.JsonDeserializationContext;
import com.google.gson.JsonDeserializer;
import com.google.gson.JsonElement;
import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
import com.google.gson.JsonParseException;
import com.google.gson.reflect.TypeToken;
public class GsonTestClass {
static class MyDeserializer implements JsonDeserializer<Check> {
public Check deserialize(JsonElement arg0, Type arg1,
JsonDeserializationContext arg2) throws JsonParseException {
JsonObject jsonObject = arg0.getAsJsonObject().get("check").getAsJsonObject();
// this code could be improved with null checks and so on...
return new Check( //
jsonObject.get("domain").getAsString(), //
jsonObject.get("status").getAsString() //
);
}
}
public static void main(String args[]) {
Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().registerTypeAdapter(Check.class, new MyDeserializer()).create();
String json = "[{\"check\":{\"status\":\"2\",\"domain\":\"william.com.br\"}}]";
Type fooType = new TypeToken<Collection<Check>>() {}.getType();
System.out.println((gson.fromJson(json, fooType)));
}
static class Check {
private String domain;
private String status;
public Check() {
}
public Check(String domain, String status) {
super();
this.domain = domain;
this.status = status;
}
public String getDomain() {
return domain;
}
public void setDomain(String domain) {
this.domain = domain;
}
public String getStatus() {
return status;
}
public void setStatus(String status) {
this.status = status;
}
#Override
public String toString() {
return "Check: " + domain + " - " + status;
}
}
}

Your Java class Check with its fields domain and status corresponds to
{"status":"2","domain":"william.com.br"}
in JSON, so a JSON "equivalent" of List<Check> would be
[{"status":"1","domain":"qwe.coedu.br"},{"status":"1","domain":"qwe.com.br"}]
Your JSON has another level of object nesting, where each list entry is an object with one property named check. Either restructure you JSON to remove the seemingly unnecessary nesting, or deserialize into e.g.
List<Map<String,Check>>

How can I include raw JSON in an object using Jackson?

I am trying to include raw JSON inside a Java object when the object is (de)serialized using Jackson. In order to test this functionality, I wrote the following test:
public static class Pojo {
public String foo;
#JsonRawValue
public String bar;
}
#Test
public void test() throws JsonGenerationException, JsonMappingException, IOException {
String foo = "one";
String bar = "{\"A\":false}";
Pojo pojo = new Pojo();
pojo.foo = foo;
pojo.bar = bar;
String json = "{\"foo\":\"" + foo + "\",\"bar\":" + bar + "}";
ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
String output = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(pojo);
System.out.println(output);
assertEquals(json, output);
Pojo deserialized = objectMapper.readValue(output, Pojo.class);
assertEquals(foo, deserialized.foo);
assertEquals(bar, deserialized.bar);
}
The code outputs the following line:
{"foo":"one","bar":{"A":false}}
The JSON is exactly how I want things to look. Unfortunately, the code fails with an exception when attempting to read the JSON back in to the object. Here is the exception:
org.codehaus.jackson.map.JsonMappingException: Can not deserialize instance of java.lang.String out of START_OBJECT token
at [Source: java.io.StringReader#d70d7a; line: 1, column: 13] (through reference chain: com.tnal.prism.cobalt.gather.testing.Pojo["bar"])
Why does Jackson function just fine in one direction but fail when going the other direction? It seems like it should be able to take its own output as input again. I know what I'm trying to do is unorthodox (the general advice is to create an inner object for bar that has a property named A), but I don't want to interact with this JSON at all. My code is acting as a pass-through for this code -- I want to take in this JSON and send it back out again without touching a thing, because when the JSON changes I don't want my code to need modifications.
Thanks for the advice.
EDIT: Made Pojo a static class, which was causing a different error.

#JsonRawValue is intended for serialization-side only, since the reverse direction is a bit trickier to handle. In effect it was added to allow injecting pre-encoded content.
I guess it would be possible to add support for reverse, although that would be quite awkward: content will have to be parsed, and then re-written back to "raw" form, which may or may not be the same (since character quoting may differ).
This for general case. But perhaps it would make sense for some subset of problems.
But I think a work-around for your specific case would be to specify type as 'java.lang.Object', since this should work ok: for serialization, String will be output as is, and for deserialization, it will be deserialized as a Map. Actually you might want to have separate getter/setter if so; getter would return String for serialization (and needs #JsonRawValue); and setter would take either Map or Object. You could re-encode it to a String if that makes sense.

Following #StaxMan answer, I've made the following works like a charm:
public class Pojo {
Object json;
#JsonRawValue
public String getJson() {
// default raw value: null or "[]"
return json == null ? null : json.toString();
}
public void setJson(JsonNode node) {
this.json = node;
}
}
And, to be faithful to the initial question, here is the working test:
public class PojoTest {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
#Test
public void test() throws IOException {
Pojo pojo = new Pojo("{\"foo\":18}");
String output = mapper.writeValueAsString(pojo);
assertThat(output).isEqualTo("{\"json\":{\"foo\":18}}");
Pojo deserialized = mapper.readValue(output, Pojo.class);
assertThat(deserialized.json.toString()).isEqualTo("{\"foo\":18}");
// deserialized.json == {"foo":18}
}
}

I was able to do this with a custom deserializer (cut and pasted from here)
package etc;
import java.io.IOException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.TreeNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonDeserializer;
/**
* Keeps json value as json, does not try to deserialize it
* #author roytruelove
*
*/
public class KeepAsJsonDeserializer extends JsonDeserializer<String> {
#Override
public String deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext ctxt)
throws IOException {
TreeNode tree = jp.getCodec().readTree(jp);
return tree.toString();
}
}
Use it by annotating the desired member like this:
#JsonDeserialize(using = KeepAsJsonDeserializer.class)
private String value;

#JsonSetter may help. See my sample ('data' is supposed to contain unparsed JSON):
class Purchase
{
String data;
#JsonProperty("signature")
String signature;
#JsonSetter("data")
void setData(JsonNode data)
{
this.data = data.toString();
}
}

This is a problem with your inner classes. The Pojo class is a non-static inner class of your test class, and Jackson cannot instantiate that class. So it can serialize, but not deserialize.
Redefine your class like this:
public static class Pojo {
public String foo;
#JsonRawValue
public String bar;
}
Note the addition of static

Adding to Roy Truelove's great answer, this is how to inject the custom deserialiser in response to appearance of #JsonRawValue:
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.Module;
#Component
public class ModuleImpl extends Module {
#Override
public void setupModule(SetupContext context) {
context.addBeanDeserializerModifier(new BeanDeserializerModifierImpl());
}
}
import java.util.Iterator;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonRawValue;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.BeanDescription;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationConfig;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializerBuilder;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.BeanDeserializerModifier;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.SettableBeanProperty;
public class BeanDeserializerModifierImpl extends BeanDeserializerModifier {
#Override
public BeanDeserializerBuilder updateBuilder(DeserializationConfig config, BeanDescription beanDesc, BeanDeserializerBuilder builder) {
Iterator<SettableBeanProperty> it = builder.getProperties();
while (it.hasNext()) {
SettableBeanProperty p = it.next();
if (p.getAnnotation(JsonRawValue.class) != null) {
builder.addOrReplaceProperty(p.withValueDeserializer(KeepAsJsonDeserialzier.INSTANCE), true);
}
}
return builder;
}
}

This easy solution worked for me:
public class MyObject {
private Object rawJsonValue;
public Object getRawJsonValue() {
return rawJsonValue;
}
public void setRawJsonValue(Object rawJsonValue) {
this.rawJsonValue = rawJsonValue;
}
}
So I was able to store raw value of JSON in rawJsonValue variable and then it was no problem to deserialize it (as object) with other fields back to JSON and send via my REST. Using #JsonRawValue didnt helped me because stored JSON was deserialized as String, not as object, and that was not what I wanted.

This even works in a JPA entity:
private String json;
#JsonRawValue
public String getJson() {
return json;
}
public void setJson(final String json) {
this.json = json;
}
#JsonProperty(value = "json")
public void setJsonRaw(JsonNode jsonNode) {
// this leads to non-standard json, see discussion:
// setJson(jsonNode.toString());
StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter();
ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
JsonGenerator generator =
new JsonFactory(objectMapper).createGenerator(stringWriter);
generator.writeTree(n);
setJson(stringWriter.toString());
}
Ideally the ObjectMapper and even JsonFactory are from the context and are configured so as to handle your JSON correctly (standard or with non-standard values like 'Infinity' floats for example).

Here is a full working example of how to use Jackson modules to make #JsonRawValue work both ways (serialization and deserialization):
public class JsonRawValueDeserializerModule extends SimpleModule {
public JsonRawValueDeserializerModule() {
setDeserializerModifier(new JsonRawValueDeserializerModifier());
}
private static class JsonRawValueDeserializerModifier extends BeanDeserializerModifier {
#Override
public BeanDeserializerBuilder updateBuilder(DeserializationConfig config, BeanDescription beanDesc, BeanDeserializerBuilder builder) {
builder.getProperties().forEachRemaining(property -> {
if (property.getAnnotation(JsonRawValue.class) != null) {
builder.addOrReplaceProperty(property.withValueDeserializer(JsonRawValueDeserializer.INSTANCE), true);
}
});
return builder;
}
}
private static class JsonRawValueDeserializer extends JsonDeserializer<String> {
private static final JsonDeserializer<String> INSTANCE = new JsonRawValueDeserializer();
#Override
public String deserialize(JsonParser p, DeserializationContext ctxt) throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
return p.readValueAsTree().toString();
}
}
}
Then you can register the module after creating the ObjectMapper:
ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
objectMapper.registerModule(new JsonRawValueDeserializerModule());
String json = "{\"foo\":\"one\",\"bar\":{\"A\":false}}";
Pojo deserialized = objectMapper.readValue(json, Pojo.class);

I had the exact same issue.
I found the solution in this post :
Parse JSON tree to plain class using Jackson or its alternatives
Check out the last answer.
By defining a custom setter for the property that takes a JsonNode as parameter and calls the toString method on the jsonNode to set the String property, it all works out.

Using an object works fine both ways... This method has a bit of overhead deserializing the raw value in two times.
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
RawJsonValue value = new RawJsonValue();
value.setRawValue(new RawHello(){{this.data = "universe...";}});
String json = mapper.writeValueAsString(value);
System.out.println(json);
RawJsonValue result = mapper.readValue(json, RawJsonValue.class);
json = mapper.writeValueAsString(result.getRawValue());
System.out.println(json);
RawHello hello = mapper.readValue(json, RawHello.class);
System.out.println(hello.data);
RawHello.java
public class RawHello {
public String data;
}
RawJsonValue.java
public class RawJsonValue {
private Object rawValue;
public Object getRawValue() {
return rawValue;
}
public void setRawValue(Object value) {
this.rawValue = value;
}
}

I had a similar problem, but using a list with a lot of JSON itens (List<String>).
public class Errors {
private Integer status;
private List<String> jsons;
}
I managed the serialization using the #JsonRawValue annotation. But for deserialization I had to create a custom deserializer based on Roy's suggestion.
public class Errors {
private Integer status;
#JsonRawValue
#JsonDeserialize(using = JsonListPassThroughDeserialzier.class)
private List<String> jsons;
}
Below you can see my "List" deserializer.
public class JsonListPassThroughDeserializer extends JsonDeserializer<List<String>> {
#Override
public List<String> deserialize(JsonParser jp, DeserializationContext cxt) throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
if (jp.getCurrentToken() == JsonToken.START_ARRAY) {
final List<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
while (jp.nextToken() != JsonToken.END_ARRAY) {
list.add(jp.getCodec().readTree(jp).toString());
}
return list;
}
throw cxt.instantiationException(List.class, "Expected Json list");
}
}