How to make a @JSONProperty with a dynamic value?

Question

I have the following JSON output that I want to generate.

**JSON Output:**
{
  "ingredients": {
    "main": ["flour", "water", "egg"],
    "optional": ["olives", "salami"]
  }
}

I tried to create the following classes but I am having some difficulty to do the following:

1. How to create a dynamic JSONProperty, as in "main" and "optional" can be dynamic values.
2. How to return an array of Strings?

3. Am I even doing it the right way??

     public class Pizza { private Ingredients[] fIngredients; @JsonProperty("ingredients") public Ingredients[] getIngredients() { return fIngredients; } public void setIngredients(Ingredients ingredients) { fIngredients = ingredients; } } public class Ingredients { private String[] fFoods; @JsonProperty("????") // how do i put a dynamic name here? public String[] getFoods() { return fFoods; } public void addFoods(List<String> foodsList) { String[] array = foodsList.toArray(foodsList.size()); fFoods = ArrayUtils.addAll(fFoods, array); } } 

Answer 1

In order to have dynamic properties, you can use Map type for your properties. So you can have your code like this:

public class Pizza {
    private Map<String, List<String>> ingredients = new HashMap();

    public Map<String, List<String>> getIngredients() {
        return ingredients;
    }

    public void addIngredient(String name, List<String> values) {
        ingredients.put(name, values);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Pizza pizza = new Pizza();
        pizza.addIngredient("main", Arrays.asList("flour", "water", "egg"));
        pizza.addIngredient("optional", Arrays.asList("olives", "salami"));

        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
        System.out.println(mapper.writeValueAsString(pizza));
    }
}