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Android Room - error: Cannot figure out how to save this field into database

Detailed log
error: Cannot figure out how to save this field into database. You can
consider adding a type converter for it.
private final java.util.Date mTime = null;
I have an entity with a field as
var mStartTime : Date = Date() // java.util.Date
Why cant Room persist Date objects? What can be best converter for Date?

Date is exactly the example given in https://developer.android.com/training/data-storage/room/referencing-data.
For example, if we want to persist instances of Date, we can write the following TypeConverter to store the equivalent Unix timestamp in the database:
public class Converters {
#TypeConverter
public static Date fromTimestamp(Long value) {
return value == null ? null : new Date(value);
}
#TypeConverter
public static Long dateToTimestamp(Date date) {
return date == null ? null : date.getTime();
}
}
The preceding example defines 2 functions, one that converts a Date object to a Long object and another that performs the inverse conversion, from Long to Date. Since Room already knows how to persist Long objects, it can use this converter to persist values of type Date.
Next, you add the #TypeConverters annotation to the AppDatabase class so that Room can use the converter that you've defined for each entity and DAO in that AppDatabase:
AppDatabase.java
#Database(entities = {User.class}, version = 1)
#TypeConverters({Converters.class})
public abstract class AppDatabase extends RoomDatabase {
public abstract UserDao userDao();
}
A side note: java.util.Date is considered to be badly designed (and java.util.Calendar is much worse). If you have any non-trivial date-time logic and can get away with API level 26 (Java 8 on desktop), it's generally better to use java.time package. And if you can't, see https://github.com/JakeWharton/ThreeTenABP for a backport.

// Java code will not convert to Kotlin very
// well so here is the Kotlin: Converter
// class
public class Converters {
#TypeConverter
fun fromTimestamp( value: Long?) :
java.sql.Date {
return java.sql.Date(value ?: 0)
}
#TypeConverter
fun dateToTimestamp(date :java.sql.Date?)
:Long {
return date?.getTime() ?: 0
}
// Here is the type converters example in
// Kotlin
#Database(entities = [DbNasaPictures::class],
version = 2)
#TypeConverters(Converters::class)
abstract class PicturesDatabase:
RoomDatabase() {

All above answers is for list of strings.But below helps you to find converter for list of your objects.
Just in place of "YourClassName" ,add your Object class.
#TypeConverter
public String fromValuesToList(ArrayList<**YourClassName**> value) {
if (value== null) {
return (null);
}
Gson gson = new Gson();
Type type = new TypeToken<ArrayList<**YourClassName**>>() {}.getType();
return gson.toJson(value, type);
}
#TypeConverter
public ArrayList<**YourClassName**> toOptionValuesList(String value) {
if (value== null) {
return (null);
}
Gson gson = new Gson();
Type type = new TypeToken<List<**YourClassName**>>() {
}.getType();
return gson.fromJson(value, type);
}

In Kotlin, Need to add #TypeConverters in Two files
Database class in which extend by RoomDatabase
#Database(entities = [ToDo::class], version = 1, exportSchema = false)
#TypeConverters(DateConverter::class)
abstract class AppDatabase : RoomDatabase() {
abstract fun todoDao(): ToDoDao
companion object {
#Volatile private var instance: AppDatabase? = null
fun getDatabase(context: Context): AppDatabase =
instance ?: synchronized(this) { instance ?: buildDatabase(context).also { instance = it } }
private fun buildDatabase(appContext: Context) =
Room.databaseBuilder(appContext, AppDatabase::class.java, "todo")
.fallbackToDestructiveMigration()
.build()
}
}
Data class in which #Entity declared and need to add DateConverter class for Date
#Entity(tableName = "todo")
data class ToDo(
#PrimaryKey
val id: Int,
val title: String,
val description: String,
val time: String,
val date: String,
val types: Int,
#TypeConverters(DateConverter::class)
val date_time: Date,
val created: String
)
DateConverter class
import androidx.room.TypeConverter
import java.util.*
class DateConverter {
#TypeConverter
fun toDate(timestamp: Long): Date {
return Date(timestamp)
}
#TypeConverter
fun toTimestamp(date: Date): Long {
return date.time
}
}

How to store a List<String> from spring JPA to text[] array in database

I am trying to write an Java- Array List into postgres database.　But i am not able to DO, i don't get error as well. I am trying to post data
"skill":["java,dotnet"]
using postman tool but on Post nothing happens and i don't see any data in db.I also don't get any error in my console.please help me out on this i m wondering how to do this
I am able to read Array data from database but cannot write
/*
* Spring Entity:
*/
#Column(name="skill" , columnDefinition = "text[]")
#Convert(converter =ListToStringConverter.class)
private List<String> skill=new ArrayList<>();
ublic List<String> getSkill() {
return skill;
}
public void setSkill(List<String> skill) {
this.skill= skill;
}
#Converter
public class ListToStringConverter implements AttributeConverter<List<String>, String> {
#Override
public String convertToDatabaseColumn(List<String> attribute) {
if (attribute == null || attribute.isEmpty()) {
return "";
}
return StringUtils.join(attribute, ",");
}
#Override
public List<String> convertToEntityAttribute(String dbData) {
if (dbData == null || dbData.trim().length() == 0) {
return new ArrayList<String>();
}
String[] data = dbData.split(",");
return Arrays.asList(data);
}
}
Controller Code:
This is my Controller code to create a object in database and i use a interface service that is call from controller to Save to db-Postgres which is a JPA repo
#RequestMapping(value = "/reqCreate", method = RequestMethod.POST)
public ResponseEntity<Requirement> addRequirement(#RequestBody Requirement requirement) {
reqService.save(requirement);
return new ResponseEntity<Requirement>(requirement, HttpStatus.CREATED);
}
Service:
public void save(Requirement r) {
reqRepo.save(r);
}

The columnDefinition seems to be wrong.
You want to convert Collection into String, but you still declare column of array type.
Replace "text[]" with "text" and check if it works?

Read-only field in GSON serialization [duplicate]

I'm trying to learn Gson and I'm struggling with field exclusion. Here are my classes
public class Student {
private Long id;
private String firstName = "Philip";
private String middleName = "J.";
private String initials = "P.F";
private String lastName = "Fry";
private Country country;
private Country countryOfBirth;
}
public class Country {
private Long id;
private String name;
private Object other;
}
I can use the GsonBuilder and add an ExclusionStrategy for a field name like firstName or country but I can't seem to manage to exclude properties of certain fields like country.name.
Using the method public boolean shouldSkipField(FieldAttributes fa), FieldAttributes doesn't contain enough information to match the field with a filter like country.name.
P.S: I want to avoid annotations since I want to improve on this and use RegEx to filter fields out.
Edit: I'm trying to see if it's possible to emulate the behavior of Struts2 JSON plugin
using Gson
<interceptor-ref name="json">
<param name="enableSMD">true</param>
<param name="excludeProperties">
login.password,
studentList.*\.sin
</param>
</interceptor-ref>
Edit:
I reopened the question with the following addition:
I added a second field with the same type to futher clarify this problem. Basically I want to exclude country.name but not countrOfBirth.name. I also don't want to exclude Country as a type.
So the types are the same it's the actual place in the object graph that I want to pinpoint and exclude.

Any fields you don't want serialized in general you should use the "transient" modifier, and this also applies to json serializers (at least it does to a few that I have used, including gson).
If you don't want name to show up in the serialized json give it a transient keyword, eg:
private transient String name;
More details in the Gson documentation

Nishant provided a good solution, but there's an easier way. Simply mark the desired fields with the #Expose annotation, such as:
#Expose private Long id;
Leave out any fields that you do not want to serialize. Then just create your Gson object this way:
Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().excludeFieldsWithoutExposeAnnotation().create();

So, you want to exclude firstName and country.name. Here is what your ExclusionStrategy should look like
public class TestExclStrat implements ExclusionStrategy {
public boolean shouldSkipClass(Class<?> arg0) {
return false;
}
public boolean shouldSkipField(FieldAttributes f) {
return (f.getDeclaringClass() == Student.class && f.getName().equals("firstName"))||
(f.getDeclaringClass() == Country.class && f.getName().equals("name"));
}
}
If you see closely it returns true for Student.firstName and Country.name, which is what you want to exclude.
You need to apply this ExclusionStrategy like this,
Gson gson = new GsonBuilder()
.setExclusionStrategies(new TestExclStrat())
//.serializeNulls() <-- uncomment to serialize NULL fields as well
.create();
Student src = new Student();
String json = gson.toJson(src);
System.out.println(json);
This returns:
{ "middleName": "J.", "initials": "P.F", "lastName": "Fry", "country": { "id": 91}}
I assume the country object is initialized with id = 91L in student class.
You may get fancy. For example, you do not want to serialize any field that contains "name" string in its name. Do this:
public boolean shouldSkipField(FieldAttributes f) {
return f.getName().toLowerCase().contains("name");
}
This will return:
{ "initials": "P.F", "country": { "id": 91 }}
EDIT: Added more info as requested.
This ExclusionStrategy will do the thing, but you need to pass "Fully Qualified Field Name". See below:
public class TestExclStrat implements ExclusionStrategy {
private Class<?> c;
private String fieldName;
public TestExclStrat(String fqfn) throws SecurityException, NoSuchFieldException, ClassNotFoundException
{
this.c = Class.forName(fqfn.substring(0, fqfn.lastIndexOf(".")));
this.fieldName = fqfn.substring(fqfn.lastIndexOf(".")+1);
}
public boolean shouldSkipClass(Class<?> arg0) {
return false;
}
public boolean shouldSkipField(FieldAttributes f) {
return (f.getDeclaringClass() == c && f.getName().equals(fieldName));
}
}
Here is how we can use it generically.
Gson gson = new GsonBuilder()
.setExclusionStrategies(new TestExclStrat("in.naishe.test.Country.name"))
//.serializeNulls()
.create();
Student src = new Student();
String json = gson.toJson(src);
System.out.println(json);
It returns:
{ "firstName": "Philip" , "middleName": "J.", "initials": "P.F", "lastName": "Fry", "country": { "id": 91 }}

After reading all available answers I found out, that most flexible, in my case, was to use custom #Exclude annotation. So, I implemented simple strategy for this (I didn't want to mark all fields using #Expose nor I wanted to use transient which conflicted with in app Serializable serialization) :
Annotation:
#Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
#Target(ElementType.FIELD)
public #interface Exclude {
}
Strategy:
public class AnnotationExclusionStrategy implements ExclusionStrategy {
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipField(FieldAttributes f) {
return f.getAnnotation(Exclude.class) != null;
}
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipClass(Class<?> clazz) {
return false;
}
}
Usage:
new GsonBuilder().setExclusionStrategies(new AnnotationExclusionStrategy()).create();

I ran into this issue, in which I had a small number of fields I wanted to exclude only from serialization, so I developed a fairly simple solution that uses Gson's #Expose annotation with custom exclusion strategies.
The only built-in way to use #Expose is by setting GsonBuilder.excludeFieldsWithoutExposeAnnotation(), but as the name indicates, fields without an explicit #Expose are ignored. As I only had a few fields I wanted to exclude, I found the prospect of adding the annotation to every field very cumbersome.
I effectively wanted the inverse, in which everything was included unless I explicitly used #Expose to exclude it. I used the following exclusion strategies to accomplish this:
new GsonBuilder()
.addSerializationExclusionStrategy(new ExclusionStrategy() {
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipField(FieldAttributes fieldAttributes) {
final Expose expose = fieldAttributes.getAnnotation(Expose.class);
return expose != null && !expose.serialize();
}
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipClass(Class<?> aClass) {
return false;
}
})
.addDeserializationExclusionStrategy(new ExclusionStrategy() {
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipField(FieldAttributes fieldAttributes) {
final Expose expose = fieldAttributes.getAnnotation(Expose.class);
return expose != null && !expose.deserialize();
}
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipClass(Class<?> aClass) {
return false;
}
})
.create();
Now I can easily exclude a few fields with #Expose(serialize = false) or #Expose(deserialize = false) annotations (note that the default value for both #Expose attributes is true). You can of course use #Expose(serialize = false, deserialize = false), but that is more concisely accomplished by declaring the field transient instead (which does still take effect with these custom exclusion strategies).

You can explore the json tree with gson.
Try something like this :
gson.toJsonTree(student).getAsJsonObject()
.get("country").getAsJsonObject().remove("name");
You can add some properties also :
gson.toJsonTree(student).getAsJsonObject().addProperty("isGoodStudent", false);
Tested with gson 2.2.4.

I came up with a class factory to support this functionality. Pass in any combination of either fields or classes you want to exclude.
public class GsonFactory {
public static Gson build(final List<String> fieldExclusions, final List<Class<?>> classExclusions) {
GsonBuilder b = new GsonBuilder();
b.addSerializationExclusionStrategy(new ExclusionStrategy() {
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipField(FieldAttributes f) {
return fieldExclusions == null ? false : fieldExclusions.contains(f.getName());
}
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipClass(Class<?> clazz) {
return classExclusions == null ? false : classExclusions.contains(clazz);
}
});
return b.create();
}
}
To use, create two lists (each is optional), and create your GSON object:
static {
List<String> fieldExclusions = new ArrayList<String>();
fieldExclusions.add("id");
fieldExclusions.add("provider");
fieldExclusions.add("products");
List<Class<?>> classExclusions = new ArrayList<Class<?>>();
classExclusions.add(Product.class);
GSON = GsonFactory.build(null, classExclusions);
}
private static final Gson GSON;
public String getSomeJson(){
List<Provider> list = getEntitiesFromDatabase();
return GSON.toJson(list);
}

I solved this problem with custom annotations.
This is my "SkipSerialisation" Annotation class:
#Target (ElementType.FIELD)
public #interface SkipSerialisation {
}
and this is my GsonBuilder:
gsonBuilder.addSerializationExclusionStrategy(new ExclusionStrategy() {
#Override public boolean shouldSkipField (FieldAttributes f) {
return f.getAnnotation(SkipSerialisation.class) != null;
}
#Override public boolean shouldSkipClass (Class<?> clazz) {
return false;
}
});
Example :
public class User implements Serializable {
public String firstName;
public String lastName;
#SkipSerialisation
public String email;
}

Kotlin's #Transientannotation also does the trick apparently.
data class Json(
#field:SerializedName("serialized_field_1") val field1: String,
#field:SerializedName("serialized_field_2") val field2: String,
#Transient val field3: String
)
Output:
{"serialized_field_1":"VALUE1","serialized_field_2":"VALUE2"}

Or can say whats fields not will expose with:
Gson gson = gsonBuilder.excludeFieldsWithModifiers(Modifier.TRANSIENT).create();
on your class on attribute:
private **transient** boolean nameAttribute;

I used this strategy:
i excluded every field which is not marked with #SerializedName annotation, i.e.:
public class Dummy {
#SerializedName("VisibleValue")
final String visibleValue;
final String hiddenValue;
public Dummy(String visibleValue, String hiddenValue) {
this.visibleValue = visibleValue;
this.hiddenValue = hiddenValue;
}
}
public class SerializedNameOnlyStrategy implements ExclusionStrategy {
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipField(FieldAttributes f) {
return f.getAnnotation(SerializedName.class) == null;
}
#Override
public boolean shouldSkipClass(Class<?> clazz) {
return false;
}
}
Gson gson = new GsonBuilder()
.setExclusionStrategies(new SerializedNameOnlyStrategy())
.create();
Dummy dummy = new Dummy("I will see this","I will not see this");
String json = gson.toJson(dummy);
It returns
{"VisibleValue":"I will see this"}

Another approach (especially useful if you need to make a decision to exclude a field at runtime) is to register a TypeAdapter with your gson instance. Example below:
Gson gson = new GsonBuilder()
.registerTypeAdapter(BloodPressurePost.class, new BloodPressurePostSerializer())
In the case below, the server would expect one of two values but since they were both ints then gson would serialize them both. My goal was to omit any value that is zero (or less) from the json that is posted to the server.
public class BloodPressurePostSerializer implements JsonSerializer<BloodPressurePost> {
#Override
public JsonElement serialize(BloodPressurePost src, Type typeOfSrc, JsonSerializationContext context) {
final JsonObject jsonObject = new JsonObject();
if (src.systolic > 0) {
jsonObject.addProperty("systolic", src.systolic);
}
if (src.diastolic > 0) {
jsonObject.addProperty("diastolic", src.diastolic);
}
jsonObject.addProperty("units", src.units);
return jsonObject;
}
}

I'm working just by putting the #Expose annotation, here my version that I use
compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:retrofit:2.0.2'
compile 'com.squareup.retrofit2:converter-gson:2.0.2'
In Model class:
#Expose
int number;
public class AdapterRestApi {
In the Adapter class:
public EndPointsApi connectRestApi() {
OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient.Builder()
.connectTimeout(90000, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
.readTimeout(90000,TimeUnit.SECONDS).build();
Retrofit retrofit = new Retrofit.Builder()
.baseUrl(ConstantRestApi.ROOT_URL)
.addConverterFactory(GsonConverterFactory.create())
.client(client)
.build();
return retrofit.create (EndPointsApi.class);
}

I have Kotlin version
#Retention(AnnotationRetention.RUNTIME)
#Target(AnnotationTarget.FIELD)
internal annotation class JsonSkip
class SkipFieldsStrategy : ExclusionStrategy {
override fun shouldSkipClass(clazz: Class<*>): Boolean {
return false
}
override fun shouldSkipField(f: FieldAttributes): Boolean {
return f.getAnnotation(JsonSkip::class.java) != null
}
}
and how You can add this to Retrofit GSONConverterFactory:
val gson = GsonBuilder()
.setExclusionStrategies(SkipFieldsStrategy())
//.serializeNulls()
//.setDateFormat(DateFormat.LONG)
//.setFieldNamingPolicy(FieldNamingPolicy.UPPER_CAMEL_CASE)
//.setPrettyPrinting()
//.registerTypeAdapter(Id.class, IdTypeAdapter())
.create()
return GsonConverterFactory.create(gson)

This what I always use:
The default behaviour implemented in Gson is that null object fields are ignored.
Means Gson object does not serialize fields with null values to JSON. If a field in a Java object is null, Gson excludes it.
You can use this function to convert some object to null or well set by your own
/**
* convert object to json
*/
public String toJson(Object obj) {
// Convert emtpy string and objects to null so we don't serialze them
setEmtpyStringsAndObjectsToNull(obj);
return gson.toJson(obj);
}
/**
* Sets all empty strings and objects (all fields null) including sets to null.
*
* #param obj any object
*/
public void setEmtpyStringsAndObjectsToNull(Object obj) {
for (Field field : obj.getClass().getDeclaredFields()) {
field.setAccessible(true);
try {
Object fieldObj = field.get(obj);
if (fieldObj != null) {
Class fieldType = field.getType();
if (fieldType.isAssignableFrom(String.class)) {
if(fieldObj.equals("")) {
field.set(obj, null);
}
} else if (fieldType.isAssignableFrom(Set.class)) {
for (Object item : (Set) fieldObj) {
setEmtpyStringsAndObjectsToNull(item);
}
boolean setFielToNull = true;
for (Object item : (Set) field.get(obj)) {
if(item != null) {
setFielToNull = false;
break;
}
}
if(setFielToNull) {
setFieldToNull(obj, field);
}
} else if (!isPrimitiveOrWrapper(fieldType)) {
setEmtpyStringsAndObjectsToNull(fieldObj);
boolean setFielToNull = true;
for (Field f : fieldObj.getClass().getDeclaredFields()) {
f.setAccessible(true);
if(f.get(fieldObj) != null) {
setFielToNull = false;
break;
}
}
if(setFielToNull) {
setFieldToNull(obj, field);
}
}
}
} catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
System.err.println("Error while setting empty string or object to null: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
}
private void setFieldToNull(Object obj, Field field) throws IllegalAccessException {
if(!Modifier.isFinal(field.getModifiers())) {
field.set(obj, null);
}
}
private boolean isPrimitiveOrWrapper(Class fieldType) {
return fieldType.isPrimitive()
|| fieldType.isAssignableFrom(Integer.class)
|| fieldType.isAssignableFrom(Boolean.class)
|| fieldType.isAssignableFrom(Byte.class)
|| fieldType.isAssignableFrom(Character.class)
|| fieldType.isAssignableFrom(Float.class)
|| fieldType.isAssignableFrom(Long.class)
|| fieldType.isAssignableFrom(Double.class)
|| fieldType.isAssignableFrom(Short.class);
}

in kotlin can use #Transient to ignore the field... eg.
data class MyClass{
#Transient var myVar: Boolean
//....
}

Use different DTO for cached object.
For example, you can create UserCached class and keep there only fields you need.
After that, create mapper to map objects back & forth. Mapstruct is good for that.
Such approach solves the problem, decouples your application, and makes changes in your primary DTO more safe to make.

Setting Default value to a variable when deserializing using gson

I am trying to convert JSON to Java object. When a certain value of a pair is null, it should be set with some default value.
Here is my POJO:
public class Student {
String rollNo;
String name;
String contact;
String school;
public String getRollNo() {
return rollNo;
}
public void setRollNo(String rollNo) {
this.rollNo = rollNo;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public String getSchool() {
return school;
}
public void setSchool(String school) {
this.school = school;
}
}
Example JSON object:
{
"rollNo":"123", "name":"Tony", "school":null
}
So if school is null, I should make this into a default value, such as "school":"XXX". How can I configure this with Gson while deserializing the objects?

If the null is in the JSON, Gson is going to override any defaults you might set in the POJO. You could go to the trouble of creating a custom deserializer, but that might be overkill in this case.
I think the easiest (and, arguably best given your use case) thing to do is the equivalent of Lazy Loading. For example:
private static final String DEFAULT_SCHOOL = "ABC Elementary";
public String getSchool() {
if (school == null) school == DEFAULT_SCHOOL;
return school;
}
public void setSchool(String school) {
if (school == null) this.school = DEFAULT_SCHOOL;
else this.school = school;
}
Note: The big problem with this solution is that in order to change the Defaults, you have to change the code. If you want the default value to be customizable, you should go with the custom deserializer as linked above.

I think that the way to do this is to either write your no-args constructor to fill in default values, or use a custom instance creator. The deserializer should then replace the default values for all attributes in the JSON object being deserialized.

I was having the same issue, until I found this great solution.
For reference, you can create a post-processing class:
interface PostProcessable {
fun gsonPostProcess()
}
class PostProcessingEnabler : TypeAdapterFactory {
fun <T> create(gson: Gson, type: TypeToken<T>): TypeAdapter<T> {
val delegate = gson.getDelegateAdapter(this, type)
return object : TypeAdapter<T>() {
#Throws(IOException::class)
fun write(out: JsonWriter, value: T) {
delegate.write(out, value)
}
#Throws(IOException::class)
fun read(`in`: JsonReader): T {
val obj = delegate.read(`in`)
if (obj is PostProcessable) {
(obj as PostProcessable).gsonPostProcess()
}
return obj
}
}
}
}
Register it like this:
GsonBuilder().registerTypeAdapterFactory(PostProcessingEnabler())
Implement it on your model:
class MyClass : Serializable, PostProcessable {
// All your variable data
override fun gsonPostProcess() {
// All your post processing logic you like on your object
// set default value for example
}
}
And finally use it when converting json string:
var myObject = myGson.fromJson(myObjectJson, MyClass::class)
Or using retrofit2:
val api = Retrofit.Builder()
.baseUrl(BASE_URL)
.addConverterFactory(
GsonConverterFactory.create(
GsonBuilder().registerTypeAdapterFactory(
GsonPostProcessingEnabler()
).create()
)
)
.client(OkHttpClient.Builder().build())
.build()
.create(AccountApi::class.java)

You can simply make a universal function that checks for null
model.SchoolName= stringNullChecker(model.SchoolName);
public static String stringNullChecker(String val) {
if (null == val) val = "";
return val;
}

jackson delay deserializing field

I have a class like this:
public class DeserializedHeader
int typeToClassId;
Object obj
I know what type of object obj is based on the typeToClassId, which is unfortunately only known at runtime.
I want to parse obj out based on typeToClassId - what's the best approach here? Annotations seem like they're out, and something based on ObjectMapper seems right, but I'm having trouble figuring out what the best approach is likely to be.
Something along the lines of
Class clazz = lookUpClassBasedOnId(typeToClassId)
objectMapper.readValue(obj, clazz)
Obviously, this doesn't work since obj is already deserialized... but could I do this in 2 steps somehow, perhaps with convertValue?

This is really complex and painful problem. I do not know any sophisticated and elegant solution, but I can share with you my idea which I developed. I have created example program which help me to show you how you can solve your problem. At the beginning I have created two simple POJO classes:
class Product {
private String name;
// getters/setters/toString
}
and
class Entity {
private long id;
// getters/setters/toString
}
Example input JSON for those classes could look like this. For Product class:
{
"typeToClassId" : 33,
"obj" : {
"name" : "Computer"
}
}
and for Entity class:
{
"typeToClassId" : 45,
"obj" : {
"id" : 10
}
}
The main functionality which we want to use is "partial serializing/deserializing". To do this we will enable FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES feature on ObjectMapper. Now we have to create two classes which define typeToClassId and obj properties.
class HeaderType {
private int typeToClassId;
public int getTypeToClassId() {
return typeToClassId;
}
public void setTypeToClassId(int typeToClassId) {
this.typeToClassId = typeToClassId;
}
#Override
public String toString() {
return "HeaderType [typeToClassId=" + typeToClassId + "]";
}
}
class HeaderObject<T> {
private T obj;
public T getObj() {
return obj;
}
public void setObj(T obj) {
this.obj = obj;
}
#Override
public String toString() {
return "HeaderObject [obj=" + obj + "]";
}
}
And, finally source code which can parse JSON:
// Simple binding
Map<Integer, Class<?>> classResolverMap = new HashMap<Integer, Class<?>>();
classResolverMap.put(33, Product.class);
classResolverMap.put(45, Entity.class);
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
mapper.disable(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES);
String json = "{...}";
// Parse type
HeaderType headerType = mapper.readValue(json, HeaderType.class);
// Retrieve class by integer value
Class<?> clazz = classResolverMap.get(headerType.getTypeToClassId());
// Create dynamic type
JavaType type = mapper.getTypeFactory().constructParametricType(HeaderObject.class, clazz);
// Parse object
HeaderObject<?> headerObject = (HeaderObject<?>) mapper.readValue(json, type);
// Get the object
Object result = headerObject.getObj();
System.out.println(result);
Helpful links:
How To Convert Java Map To / From JSON (Jackson).
java jackson parse object containing a generic type object.