How do I create a complex json object in java?

Question

I'm trying to create this json object in java and struggling:

{
    "notification": {
        "message": "test",
        "sound": "sounds/alarmsound.wav",
        "target": {
            "apps": [
                {
                    "id": "app_id",
                    "platforms": [
                        "ios"
                    ]
                }
            ]
        }
    },
    "access_token": "access_token"
}

Any assistance in how someone would create that in java would be appreciated!

Answer 1

If you really are looking into creating JSON objects, Jackson has all you want:

final JsonNodeFactory factory = JsonNodeFactory.instance;

final ObjectNode node = factory.objectNode();

final ObjectNode child = factory.objectNode(); // the child

child.put("message", "test");

// etc etc

// and then:

node.set("notification", child); // node.put(String, ObjectNode) has been deprecated

The resulting node is an ObjectNode , which inherits JsonNode , which means you get all of JsonNode 's niceties:

• a sensible .toString() representation;
• navigation capabilities ( .get() , .path() -- GSON has no equivalent for that, in particular not .path() , since it cannot model a node that is missing);
• MissingNode to represent a node that isn't there, and NullNode to represent JSON null, all of which inherit JsonNode (GSON has no equivalent for that -- and all of JsonNode 's navigation methods are also available on such nodes);
• and of course .equals() / .hashCode() .

Answer 2

For those who try to use the answers of this thread, note that

JsonNodeFactory nodeFactory = new JsonNodeFactory();

Is not working anymore with the package jackson-databind. Instead you should do

final JsonNodeFactory nodeFactory = JsonNodeFactory.instance;

See this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/16974850/3824918

Answer 3

JSONObject jsonComplex = new JSONObject();
    JSONObject notification = new JSONObject();
    notification.put("message", "test");
    notification.put("sound", "sounds_alarmsound.wav");
    JSONObject targetJsonObject= new JSONObject();
    JSONArray targetJsonArray= new JSONArray();
    JSONObject appsJsonObject= new JSONObject();
    appsJsonObject.put("id","app_id");
    JSONArray platformArray = new JSONArray();
    platformArray.add("ios");
    appsJsonObject.put("platforms",platformArray);
    targetJsonArray.add(appsJsonObject);
    targetJsonObject.put("apps", targetJsonArray);
    notification.put("target", targetJsonObject);
    jsonComplex.put("notification", notification);
    jsonComplex.put("access_token", "access_token");
    System.out.println(jsonComplex);

Answer 4

Thanks go to @fge who provided the necessary information for me to solve this.

Here's what I did to solve this problem!

JsonNodeFactory nodeFactory = new JsonNodeFactory();

        ObjectNode pushContent = nodeFactory.objectNode();
        ObjectNode notification = nodeFactory.objectNode();
        ObjectNode appsObj = nodeFactory.objectNode();
        ObjectNode target = nodeFactory.objectNode();

        ArrayNode apps = nodeFactory.arrayNode();
        ArrayNode platforms = nodeFactory.arrayNode();

        platforms.add("ios");

        appsObj.put("id","app_id");
        appsObj.put("platforms",platforms);

        apps.add(appsObj);

        notification.put("message",filledForm.field("text").value());
        notification.put("sound","sounds/alarmsound.wav");
        notification.put("target", target);

        target.put("apps",apps);

        pushContent.put("notification", notification);
        pushContent.put("access_token","access_token");

        if(!filledForm.field("usage").value().isEmpty()) {
            target.put("usage",filledForm.field("usage").value());
        }

        if(!filledForm.field("latitude").value().isEmpty() && !filledForm.field("longitude").value().isEmpty() && !filledForm.field("radius").value().isEmpty()) {
            target.put("latitude",filledForm.field("latitude").value());
            target.put("longitude",filledForm.field("longitude").value());
            target.put("radius",filledForm.field("radius").value());
        }

Printing pushContent than outputs the exact json object I needed to create!

Hope this helps someone else out there too!

Rich

Answer 5

I'd rather create classes representing that object, and convert it into JSON. I presume you got that JSON interface elsewhere and is lot on how to create it from Java.

class ToJson{
    private Notification notification;
    private String access_token;
}

public class Notification{
    private String message;
    private String sound;
    private Target target;
}

public class Target{
    private Apps apps[];
}

public class Apps{
    private String id;
    private Plataform plataforms[];
}

public class Plataform{
    privte String ios;
}

Then you convert a filled ToJson object to JSON using any lib/framework you like.

Answer 6

There are a variety of libraries that can help you here.

• Google GSON - http://code.google.com/p/google-gson/
• Jackson - http://jackson.codehaus.org/
• Groovy's JsonSlurper - http://groovy.codehaus.org/gapi/groovy/json/JsonSlurper.html

If you run into more specific problems with these libraries, you should post them.