In this tutorial, we show you how to use Jackson 1.x data binding to convert Java object to / from JSON.

Note
Jackson 1.x is a maintenance project, please use Jackson 2.x instead.
Note
This tutorial is obsolete, no more update, please refer to the latest Jackson 2 tutorial – Object to / from JSON.

1. Quick Reference

1.1 Convert Java object to JSON, writeValue(...)

ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
User user = new User();

//Object to JSON in file
mapper.writeValue(new File("c:\user.json"), user);

//Object to JSON in String
String jsonInString = mapper.writeValueAsString(user);

1.2 Convert JSON to Java object, readValue(...)

ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
String jsonInString = "{'name' : 'mkyong'}";

//JSON from file to Object
User user = mapper.readValue(new File("c:\user.json"), User.class);

//JSON from String to Object
User user = mapper.readValue(jsonInString, User.class);

P.S All examples are tested with Jackson 1.9.13

2. Jackson Dependency

For Jackson 1.x, it contains 6 separate jars for different purpose, in most cases, you just need jackson-mapper-asl.

pom.xml
<dependency>
	<groupId>org.codehaus.jackson</groupId>
	<artifactId>jackson-mapper-asl</artifactId>
	<version>1.9.13</version>
</dependency>

3. POJO (Plain Old Java Object)

An User object for testing.

User.java
package com.mkyong.json;

import java.util.List;

public class User {

	private String name;
	private int age;
	private List<String> messages;

	//getters and setters
}

4. Java Object to JSON

Convert an user object into a JSON formatted string.

JacksonExample.java
package com.mkyong.json;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import org.codehaus.jackson.JsonGenerationException;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.JsonMappingException;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.ObjectMapper;

public class JacksonExample {
	public static void main(String[] args) {

		ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

		//For testing
		User user = createDummyUser();

		try {
			//Convert object to JSON string and save into file directly
			mapper.writeValue(new File("D:\user.json"), user);

			//Convert object to JSON string
			String jsonInString = mapper.writeValueAsString(user);
			System.out.println(jsonInString);

			//Convert object to JSON string and pretty print
			jsonInString = mapper.writerWithDefaultPrettyPrinter().writeValueAsString(user);
			System.out.println(jsonInString);


		} catch (JsonGenerationException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (JsonMappingException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (IOException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}

	}

	private static User createDummyUser(){

		User user = new User();

		user.setName("mkyong");
		user.setAge(33);

		List<String> msg = new ArrayList<>();
		msg.add("hello jackson 1");
		msg.add("hello jackson 2");
		msg.add("hello jackson 3");

		user.setMessages(msg);

		return user;

	}
}

Output

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//new json file is created in D:\user.json"

{"name":"mkyong","age":33,"messages":["hello jackson 1","hello jackson 2","hello jackson 3"]}

{
  "name" : "mkyong",
  "age" : 33,
  "messages" : [ "hello jackson 1", "hello jackson 2", "hello jackson 3" ]
}

5. JSON to Java Object

Read JSON string and convert it back to a Java object.

JacksonExample.java
package com.mkyong.json;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import org.codehaus.jackson.JsonGenerationException;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.JsonMappingException;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.ObjectMapper;

public class JacksonExample {
	public static void main(String[] args) {

		ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

		try {

			// Convert JSON string from file to Object
			User user = mapper.readValue(new File("G:\user.json"), User.class);
			System.out.println(user);

			// Convert JSON string to Object
			String jsonInString = "{\"age\":33,\"messages\":[\"msg 1\",\"msg 2\"],\"name\":\"mkyong\"}";
			User user1 = mapper.readValue(jsonInString, User.class);
			System.out.println(user1);

		} catch (JsonGenerationException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (JsonMappingException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (IOException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}

	}

}

Output

User [name=mkyong, age=33, messages=[hello jackson 1, hello jackson 2, hello jackson 3]]

User [name=mkyong, age=33, messages=[msg 1, msg 2]]

6. @JsonView

@JsonView has been supported in Jackson since version 1.4, it lets you control what fields to display.

6.1 A simple class.

Views.java
package com.mkyong.json;

public class Views {

	public static class NameOnly{};
	public static class AgeAndName extends NameOnly{};

}

6.2 Annotate on the fields you want to display.

User.java
package com.mkyong.json;

import java.util.List;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.annotate.JsonView;

public class User {

	@JsonView(Views.NameOnly.class)
	private String name;

	@JsonView(Views.AgeAndName.class)
	private int age;

	private List<String> messages;

	//getter and setters
}

6.3 Enable the @JsonView via writerWithView().

JacksonExample.java
package com.mkyong.json;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import org.codehaus.jackson.JsonGenerationException;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.JsonMappingException;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.ObjectMapper;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.SerializationConfig;

public class JacksonExample {
	public static void main(String[] args) {

		ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
		//By default all fields without explicit view definition are included, disable this
		mapper.configure(SerializationConfig.Feature.DEFAULT_VIEW_INCLUSION, false);

		//For testing
		User user = createDummyUser();

		try {
			//display name only
			String jsonInString = mapper.writerWithView(Views.NameOnly.class).writeValueAsString(user);
			System.out.println(jsonInString);

			//display namd ana age
			jsonInString = mapper.writerWithView(Views.AgeAndName.class).writeValueAsString(user);
			System.out.println(jsonInString);


		} catch (JsonGenerationException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (JsonMappingException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (IOException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}

	}

	private static User createDummyUser(){

		User user = new User();

		user.setName("mkyong");
		user.setAge(33);

		List<String> msg = new ArrayList<>();
		msg.add("hello jackson 1");
		msg.add("hello jackson 2");
		msg.add("hello jackson 3");

		user.setMessages(msg);

		return user;

	}
}

Output

{"name":"mkyong"}
{"name":"mkyong","age":33}

References

  1. Jackson Project Home @github
  2. Gson – Convert Java object to / from JSON

[출처] https://www.mkyong.com/java/how-to-convert-java-object-to-from-json-jackson/