How to deserialize a list using GSON or another JSON library in Java?

Question

I can serialize a List<Video> in my servlet on GAE, but I can't deserialize it. What am I doing wrong?

This is my class Video in GAE, which is serialized:

package legiontube;

import java.util.Date;

import javax.jdo.annotations.IdGeneratorStrategy;
import javax.jdo.annotations.IdentityType;
import javax.jdo.annotations.PersistenceCapable;
import javax.jdo.annotations.Persistent;
import javax.jdo.annotations.PrimaryKey;

@PersistenceCapable(identityType = IdentityType.APPLICATION)
public class Video {

    @PrimaryKey
    private String id;

    @Persistent
    private String titulo;

    @Persistent
    private String descricao;

    @Persistent
    private Date date;

    public Video(){};

 public Video(String id, String titulo, String descricao, Date date) {
  //super();
  this.id = id;
  this.titulo = titulo;
  this.descricao = descricao;
  this.date = date;
 }

 public String getId() {
  return id;
 }

 public void setId(String id) {
  this.id = id;
 }

 public String getTitulo() {
  return titulo;
 }

 public void setTitulo(String titulo) {
  this.titulo = titulo;
 }

 public String getDescricao() {
  return descricao;
 }

 public void setDescricao(String descricao) {
  this.descricao = descricao;
 }

 public Date getDate() {
  return date;
 }

 public void setDate(Date date) {
  this.date = date;
 }

}

This is my class Video in my other application, where I try to deserialize:

package classes;

import java.util.Date;

public class Video {
 private String id;
 private String titulo;
 private String descricao;
 private Date date;

 public Video(String id, String titulo, String descricao, Date date) {
  //super();
  this.id = id;
  this.titulo = titulo;
  this.descricao = descricao;
  this.date = date;
 }

 public String getId() {
  return id;
 }
 public void setId(String id) {
  this.id = id;
 }
 public String getTitulo() {
  return titulo;
 }
 public void setTitulo(String titulo) {
  this.titulo = titulo;
 }
 public String getDescricao() {
  return descricao;
 }
 public void setDescricao(String descricao) {
  this.descricao = descricao;
 }
 public Date getDate() {
  return date;
 }
 public void setDate(Date date) {
  this.date = date;
 }

}

Answer 1

With Gson, you'd just need to do something like:

List<Video> videos = gson.fromJson(json, new TypeToken<List<Video>>(){}.getType());

You might also need to provide a no-arg constructor on the Video class you're deserializing to.

Answer 2

Another way is to use an array as a type, e.g.:

Video[] videoArray = gson.fromJson(json, Video[].class);

This way you avoid all the hassle with the Type object, and if you really need a list you can always convert the array to a list, e.g.:

List<Video> videoList = Arrays.asList(videoArray);

IMHO this is much more readable.

Answer 3

Try this one-liner

List<Video> videos = Arrays.asList(new Gson().fromJson(json, Video[].class));

Warning: the list of videos, returned by Arrays.asList is immutable - you can't insert new values.

---

Reference:

1. Method Arrays#asList
2. Constructor Gson
3. Method Gson#fromJson (source json may be of type JsonElement, Reader, or String)
4. Interface List
5. JLS - Arrays
6. JLS - Generic Interfaces

Answer 4

Be careful using the answer provide by @DevNG. Arrays.asList() returns internal implementation of ArrayList that doesn't implement some useful methods like add(), delete(), etc. If you call them an UnsupportedOperationException will be thrown. In order to get real ArrayList instance you need to write something like this:

List<Video> = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(videoArray));

Answer 5

Jackson JSON Java Parser is very popular and used in Spring framework

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

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerationException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.type.TypeReference;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationFeature;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.SerializationFeature;

public static <T> T jsonStringToObjectArray(String jsonString, Class<T> clazz) throws JsonParseException, JsonMappingException, IOException {
        T obj = null;
        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
        mapper = new ObjectMapper().configure(DeserializationFeature.ACCEPT_SINGLE_VALUE_AS_ARRAY, true);
        obj = mapper.readValue(jsonString, mapper.getTypeFactory().constructCollectionType(List.class, clazz));
        return obj;
    }