Returning JSON in Spring Boot

Converting Json in Spring projects.

Returning JSON in Spring Boot

In Sprint Boot, REST controller returns JSON obect in the response body. Reason is that Spring implicitely uses message converter MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter, which handles the conversion of Object to JSON format if the request’s Accept header specifies JSON should be returned.

This converter is from spring-boot-starter-json package, which nested inspring-boot-starter-web package. Rather to use @ResponseBody annotation in each REST method, @RestController would do the same work.

Returning a customized JSON using Jackson Annotation

1. @JsonAnyGetter
   @JsonAnyGetter allows the returned object has Map fields as properties.

    public class Attribute {
    public String name;
    private Map <String, String> properties;
       
    @JsonAnyGetter
    public Map<String, String> getProperties() {
        return properties;
    }
    }
   

   returns

    {
    "name":"Attribute Name Example",
    "prp2":"val2",
    "prp1":"val1"
    }
   

2. @JsonGetter
   @JsonGetter marks a specified method as a getter method.

    public class Attribute {
    public int id;
    private String name;
       
    @JsonGetter("name")
    public String getTheName() {
        return this.name;
    }
    }
   

3. @JsonPropertyOrder
   @JsonPropertyOrder specifies the order of each properties.

    @JsonPropertyOrder({"type", "name", "id"})
    public class Attribute {
    public int id;
    public String name;
    public String type;
    }
   

   returns

    {
        "type":"You guess",
        "name":"My bean",
        "id":1
    }
   

4. @JsonRootName
   @JsonRootName is used if wrapping is needed. It’s mapped as the root name of current object.

    {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "Moss"
    }
   

   Maps to

    {
        "User": {
            "id": 1,
            "name": "Moss"
        }
    }
   

   See example:

    @JsonRootName(value = "user")
    public class User {
    public int id;
    public String name;
    }
   

5. @JsonAnySetter
   @JsonAnySetter allows a Map properties map to the Map.

6. @JsonSetter
   @JsonSetter marks the method as a setter method.

    public class Attribute {
    public int id;
    private String name;
       
    @JsonSetter("name")
    public String setTheName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }
    }
   

7. @JsonIgnoreProperties
   @JsonIgnoreProperties is used to intentionly ignore a property in class level.

    @JsonIgnoreProperties({ "id" })
    public class Attribute {
    public int id;
    private String name;
    }
   

8. @JsonIgnore
   @JsonIgnore is used to mark a property to be ignored at the field level.

    public class Attribute {
   
    @JsonIgnore
    public int id;
    private String name;
    }
   

9. @JsonProperty
   @JsonProperty is used to indicate the property name in JSON.

    public class Attribute {
   
    public int id;
    private String name;
       
    @JsonProperty("name")
    public void setTheName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }
       
    @JsonProperty("name")
    public String getTheName() {
        return name;
    }
    }
   

Wrap a JSON in a JSON

Given two classes

public class Attribute { 
    private Long id;
    private String name;

    @JsonProperty("options")
    private List<AttributeOption> attributeOptions = new ArrayList<>();
}

public class AttributeOption {
// some properties here
}

Get JSON in front end (Angular, Typescript)

Objects that map to back end

export class Attribute {
    public id: number;
    public name: string;
    public options: AttributeOption[];
}

export class AttributeOption {
    public label: string;
    public value: string;
}

REST Servcie

export class AttributeService {

    constructor(private restService: RESTService) {
    }

    public getAttributeFields(): Observable<Attribute[]> {
        return this.restService.get('/attributes', true)
            .pipe(
                map((attributes: Attribute[]) => {
                    return attributes.map((attribute) => {
                        attribute.options = attribute.options
                            .map((option: AttributeOption) => {
                                return option;
                        });
                        return attribute;
                    });
                })
            );
    }
}

References

• Returning JSON object as response in Spring Boot

• Jackson Annotation Examples