Java JSON Processing

last modified January 27, 2024

Java JSON processing tutorial shows how to use JSON-P library to work with JSON. The examples write Java objects into JSON files and read JSON data into Java objects. The code examples are available at the author's Github repository.

JSON-P

Java API for JSON Processing (JSON-P) provides portable APIs to parse, generate, transform, and query JSON using object model and streaming APIs. There are two ways two work with JSON in JSON-P: streaming API and object model API.

JSON-P Streaming API

The streaming API hands over parsing and generation control to the programmer. The streaming API provides an event-based parser and allows an application developer to ask for the next event rather than handling the event in a callback. This is called a pull method.

Name	Description
Json	Contains static methods to create JSON parsers, generators, and their factories.
JsonParser	Represents an event-based parser reads JSON data from a stream.
JsonGenerator	Writes JSON data to a stream one value at a time.

JSON-P Object model API

The object model API creates a tree-like structure that represents the JSON data in memory. The tree can be flexibly navigated and queried. On the other hand, the object model API is often less efficient as the streaming model and requires more memory.

Name	Description
Json	Contains static methods to create JSON parsers, generators, and their factories.
JsonObjectBuilder	Creates an object model in memory by adding values from application code.
JsonArrayBuilder	Creates an array model in memory by adding values from application code.
JsonReader	Reads a JsonObject or a JsonArray from an input source.
JsonWriter	Writes a JsonObject or a JsonArray to an output source.

The JsonValue, JsonObject, JsonArray, JsonString, and JsonNumber are JSON data types.

In our examples, we use JDK 11 and Maven to create our applications.

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.json</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.json-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.1</version>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.glassfish</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.json</artifactId>
        <version>1.1</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>    

In the projects, we use javax.json-api and javax.json dependencies.

JSON-P JsonObjectBuilder example

In the first example, we use an object builder to create a JSON string.

package com.zetcode;

import javax.json.Json;
import java.time.LocalDate;

public class JsonObjectBuilderEx {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var born = LocalDate.of(1992, 3, 2).toString();

        var json = Json.createObjectBuilder()
                .add("name", "John Doe")
                .add("occupation", "gardener")
                .add("born", born).build();

        var result = json.toString();

        System.out.println(result);
    }
}

A JSON string is printed to the console.

var json = Json.createObjectBuilder()
    .add("name", "John Doe")
    .add("occupation", "gardener")
    .add("born", born).build();

A JsonObjectBuilder is created with createObjectBuilder. New pairs are inserted with add. Finally, the string is finished with build.

var result = json.toString();

We transform the JsonObject to a string with toString.

{"name":"John Doe","occupation":"gardener","born":"1992-03-02"}

Pretty printing

With JsonGenerator.PRETTY_PRINTING configuration setting, we can set the writer for pretty printing.

package com.zetcode;

import javax.json.Json;
import javax.json.stream.JsonGenerator;
import java.io.StringWriter;
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.util.HashMap;

public class JsonPrettyPrintEx {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var born = LocalDate.of(1992, 3, 2).toString();

        var json = Json.createObjectBuilder()
                .add("name", "John Doe")
                .add("occupation", "gardener")
                .add("born", born).build();

        var config = new HashMap<String, Boolean>();
        config.put(JsonGenerator.PRETTY_PRINTING, true);

        var jwf = Json.createWriterFactory(config);
        var sw = new StringWriter();

        try (var jsonWriter = jwf.createWriter(sw)) {

            jsonWriter.writeObject(json);
            System.out.println(sw.toString());
        }
    }
}

In the example, we create a JSON object and print it to the console. The output is pretty-printed.

var config = new HashMap<String, Boolean>();
config.put(JsonGenerator.PRETTY_PRINTING, true);

var jwf = Json.createWriterFactory(config);

The configuration file is passed to the JsonWriterFactory.

{
    "name": "John Doe",
    "occupation": "gardener",
    "born": "1992-03-02"
}

JSON-P JsonArrayBuilder

JsonArrayBuilder is a builder for creating and modifying JsonArray objects.

package com.zetcode;

import javax.json.Json;
import javax.json.stream.JsonGenerator;
import java.io.StringWriter;
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;

public class JsonArrayBuilderEx {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var ab = Json.createArrayBuilder();

        var users = createUsers();

        users.forEach(user -> {

            var ob = Json.createObjectBuilder();
            ob.add("name", user.getName());
            ob.add("occupation", user.getOccupation());
            ob.add("born", user.getBorn().toString());

            ab.add(ob);
        });

        var config = new HashMap<String, Boolean>();
        config.put(JsonGenerator.PRETTY_PRINTING, true);

        var jwf = Json.createWriterFactory(config);
        var sw = new StringWriter();

        try (var jsonWriter = jwf.createWriter(sw)) {

            jsonWriter.writeArray(jsonArray);

            System.out.println(sw);
        }
    }

    public static List<User> createUsers() {

        var born1 = LocalDate.of(1992, 3, 2);
        var u1 = new User("John Doe", "gardener", born1);

        var born2 = LocalDate.of(1967, 11, 22);
        var u2 = new User("Brian Flemming", "teacher", born2);

        var born3 = LocalDate.of(1995, 4, 7);
        var u3 = new User("Lucy Black", "accountant", born3);

        var born4 = LocalDate.of(1972, 8, 30);
        var u4 = new User("John Doe", "gardener", born4);

        return List.of(u1, u2, u3, u4);
    }
}

In the example, we create a list of user objects and transform it into a JsonArray.

var ab = Json.createArrayBuilder();

A JsonArrayBuilder is created with createArrayBuilder.

users.forEach(user -> {

    var ob = Json.createObjectBuilder();
    ob.add("name", user.getName());
    ob.add("occupation", user.getOccupation());
    ob.add("born", user.getBorn().toString());

    ab.add(ob);
});

In this for loop, we create JSON objects and add them to the builder.

var jsonArray = ab.build();

The build method creates a JsonArray from the builder.

jsonWriter.writeArray(jsonArray);

The JsonArray is written to the writer.

[
    {
        "name": "John Doe",
        "occupation": "gardener",
        "born": "1992-03-02"
    },
    {
        "name": "Brian Flemming",
        "occupation": "teacher",
        "born": "1967-11-22"
    },
    {
        "name": "Lucy Black",
        "occupation": "accountant",
        "born": "1995-04-07"
    },
    {
        "name": "John Doe",
        "occupation": "gardener",
        "born": "1972-08-30"
    }
]

JSON-P JsonParser

JsonParser parses JSON using the pull parsing programming model. In this model the client code controls the thread and calls the method next to advance the parser to the next state after processing each element.

The parser generates one of the following events: START_OBJECT, END_OBJECT, START_ARRAY, END_ARRAY, KEY_NAME, VALUE_STRING, VALUE_NUMBER, VALUE_TRUE, VALUE_FALSE, and VALUE_NULL.

[
  {
    "name": "John Doe",
    "occupation": "gardener",
    "born": "1992-03-02"
  },
  {
    "name": "Brian Flemming",
    "occupation": "teacher",
    "born": "1967-11-22"
  },
  {
    "name": "Lucy Black",
    "occupation": "accountant",
    "born": "1995-04-07"
  },
  {
    "name": "William Bean",
    "occupation": "pilot",
    "born": "1977-10-31"
  }
]

We are going to parse the users.json file.

package com.zetcode;

import javax.json.Json;
import javax.json.stream.JsonParser;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;

public class JsonParserSimpleEx {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException {

        var is = new FileInputStream("src/main/resources/users.json");

        var factory = Json.createParserFactory(null);
        var parser = factory.createParser(is, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);

        if (!parser.hasNext() && parser.next() != JsonParser.Event.START_ARRAY) {

            return;
        }

        // looping over object attributes
        while (parser.hasNext()) {

            var event = parser.next();

            // starting object
            if (event == JsonParser.Event.START_OBJECT) {

                while (parser.hasNext()) {

                    event = parser.next();

                    if (event == JsonParser.Event.KEY_NAME) {

                        var key = parser.getString();

                        switch (key) {

                            case "name":
                                parser.next();

                                System.out.printf("Name: %s%n", parser.getString());
                                break;

                            case "occupation":
                                parser.next();

                                System.out.printf("Occupation: %s%n", parser.getString());
                                break;

                            case "born":
                                parser.next();

                                System.out.printf("Born: %s%n%n", parser.getString());
                                break;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

In the example, we parse the users.json file using the JSON-P streaming API.

var is = new FileInputStream("src/main/resources/users.json");

var factory = Json.createParserFactory(null);
var parser = factory.createParser(is, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);

A JsonParser is created from JsonParserFactory.

if (!parser.hasNext() && parser.next() != JsonParser.Event.START_ARRAY) {

    return;
}

First, we pass the beginning of the array.

// looping over object attributes
while (parser.hasNext()) {

    var event = parser.next();

    // starting object
    if (event == JsonParser.Event.START_OBJECT) {
...        

Then we go through the array in a while loop. The parser's hasNext method returns false when we reach the end of the array. We pull the next parsing event with next.

while (parser.hasNext()) {

    event = parser.next();

    if (event == JsonParser.Event.KEY_NAME) {
...

In another while loop, we go through the keys of the current object.

var key = parser.getString();

switch (key) {

    case "name":
        parser.next();

        System.out.printf("Name: %s%n", parser.getString());
        break;
...        

In the switch statement we check for the key name and get its value with getString.

Name: John Doe
Occupation: gardener
Born: 1992-03-02

Name: Brian Flemming
Occupation: teacher
Born: 1967-11-22

Name: Lucy Black
Occupation: accountant
Born: 1995-04-07

Name: William Bean
Occupation: pilot
Born: 1977-10-31

In the second example, we connect to a website and fetch JSON data from a path.

package com.zetcode;

import javax.json.Json;
import javax.json.stream.JsonParser;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URL;

public class JsonParserEx {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

        var url = new URL("https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts");

        try (var in = url.openStream(); var parser = Json.createParser(in)) {

            // starting array
            parser.next();

            while (parser.hasNext()) {

                // starting object
                var event1 = parser.next();

                if (event1 == JsonParser.Event.START_OBJECT) {

                    while (parser.hasNext()) {

                        var event = parser.next();

                        if (event == JsonParser.Event.KEY_NAME) {

                            switch (parser.getString()) {

                                case "userId":
                                    parser.next();

                                    System.out.printf("User Id: %d%n", parser.getInt());
                                    break;

                                case "id":
                                    parser.next();

                                    System.out.printf("Post Id: %d%n", parser.getInt());
                                    break;

                                case "title":
                                    parser.next();

                                    System.out.printf("Post title: %s%n", parser.getString());
                                    break;

                                case "body":
                                    parser.next();

                                    System.out.printf("Post body: %s%n%n", parser.getString());
                                    break;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

The example processes one hundred posts from jsonplaceholder.typicode.com website, which is a fake online REST API for testing and prototyping.

JSON-P JsonGenerator

JsonGenerator writes JSON data to an output source in a streaming way. The JsonGeneratorFactory contains methods to create JsonGenerator instances.

package com.zetcode;

import javax.json.Json;
import javax.json.stream.JsonGenerator;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;

public class JsonGeneratorEx {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

        var myPath = Paths.get("src/main/resources/users.json");

        var config = new HashMap<String, Boolean>();
        config.put(JsonGenerator.PRETTY_PRINTING, true);

        var factory = Json.createGeneratorFactory(config);
        var generator = factory.createGenerator(Files.newBufferedWriter(myPath,
                StandardCharsets.UTF_8));

        generator.writeStartArray();

        var users = generateUsers();

        users.forEach(user -> {

            generator.writeStartObject();

            generator.write("name", user.getName());
            generator.write("occupation", user.getOccupation());
            generator.write("born", user.getBorn().toString());

            generator.writeEnd();
        });

        generator.writeEnd();

        generator.flush();
    }

    public static List<User> generateUsers() {

        var born1 = LocalDate.of(1992, 3, 2);
        var u1 = new User("John Doe", "gardener", born1);

        var born2 = LocalDate.of(1967, 11, 22);
        var u2 = new User("Brian Flemming", "teacher", born2);

        var born3 = LocalDate.of(1995, 4, 7);
        var u3 = new User("Lucy Black", "accountant", born3);

        var born4 = LocalDate.of(1977, 10, 31);
        var u4 = new User("William Bean", "pilot", born4);

        return List.of(u1, u2, u3, u4);
    }
}

The example creates a users.json file from a list of users.

var myPath = Paths.get("src/main/resources/users.json");

var config = new HashMap<String, Boolean>();
config.put(JsonGenerator.PRETTY_PRINTING, true);

var factory = Json.createGeneratorFactory(config);
var generator = factory.createGenerator(Files.newBufferedWriter(myPath,
        StandardCharsets.UTF_8));

A JsonGenerator is created with a JsonGeneratorFactory. The factory receives configuration data which enable pretty printing.

generator.writeStartArray();

An array is started with writeStartArray. It is later ended with writeEnd.

users.forEach(user -> {

    generator.writeStartObject();

    generator.write("name", user.getName());
    generator.write("occupation", user.getOccupation());
    generator.write("born", user.getBorn().toString());

    generator.writeEnd();
});

JSON objects are written in a forEach loop. A JSON object is started with writeStartObject and ended with writeEnd. The key/value pairs are written using write.

generator.flush();

The data is flushed to the data source from the buffer with flush.

Source

JSON-P documentation

In this article we have read and written JSON files with Java JSON-P.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar and I am a passionate programmer with many years of programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. So far, I have written over 1400 articles and 8 e-books. I have over eight years of experience in teaching programming.

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