Using the JSONSerializer

JSONSerializer can transform any java object to JSON notation and back with a simple and clean interface, leveraging all the builders in JSONObject and JSONArray. To transform a java obect into JSON use JSONSerializer.toJSON(). To transform a valid JSON value (by JSON, I mean an Object implementing that interface), use toJava(). The last method is an instance method because the serializer needs special configuration to transform a JSON value to a bean class, array, List or DynaBean.

Working with arrays and collections

The simplest way to create a JSONArray from a java array or collection is through the static factory methods from JSONArray. JSONArray.fromObject() will inspect its parameter and call the correct factory or constructor.

Examples:

Working with objects

From Beans & Maps to JSON

The simplest way to create a JSONObject from a bean or Map is through the static factory methods from JSONObject. JSONObject.fromObject() will inspect its parameter and call the correct factory or constructor.

Examples:

CAUTION: when parsing, JSONObject and JSONArray will check for cycles in the hierarchy, throwing an exception if one is found. You can change this behavior by registering a CycleDetectionStrategy.

From JSON to Beans

Json-lib can transform JSONObjects to either a DynaBean or an specific bean class.
When using DynaBean all arrays are converted to Lists, when using an specific bean class the transformation will use type conversion if necessary on array properties.

Convert to DynaBean:

Convert to Bean:

There are two special cases when converting to an specific bean, if the target bean has a Map property and it must contain other beans, JSONObject.toBean() will transform the nested beans into DynaBeans. If you need those nested beans transformed into an specific class, you can either postprocess the Map attribute or provide hints on JSONObject's attributes for conversion. JSONObject.toBean() may be passed a third argument, a Map, that will provide thos hints. Every key must be either the name of a property or a regular expression matching the object's properties, and the value must be a Class.

The second case is similar and it happens when the target bean has a Collection (List) as a property and it must contain other beans. In this case there is no way to provide hints for class conversion. The only possible solution is to postprocess the collection transforming each DynaBean into an specific bean.

To ease the postprocessing scenarios, EZMorph provides a Morpher capable of transforming a DynaBean into an specific bean, BeanMorpher
Example:

This yields a MyBean instance that has DynaBeans inside the 'data' attribute', so now comes the part of postprocessing, this can be done with an Iterator
Example:

To learn more about Morphers, please visit EZMorph's project site.