JSON

out

JSON

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What is JSON?
Here is a JSON.

{
  "name": "Shuai Wang",
  "id": "1240031",
  "subject": [
    "Algorithm",
    "Internet",
    "Database",
    "Java"
  ],
  "grade": 72.5,
  "has_girlfriend": true,
  "car": null
}

JSON(JavaScript Object Notation) is a light-weight data-interchange format. It is easy for human to read and write. It is also easy for computer to parse and generate. It is just a text format, which is language independent. (JSON official website)

How to write a JSON?
A JSON actually is a collection of key/value pairs. A JSON object starts with { and ends with }. Those key/value pairs are seperated by a comma.

Data Type
There are some types that “value” could have.

String      e.g. "name","Shuai Wang"
number      e.g. 72.5, 100
null        e.g. null
boolean     e.g. true, false
array       e.g. ["Internet","Algorithm","Java","Database"]
object      e.g. {,,,}

All keys should be String type.

How to create a JSON object with Java?

1. Create a maven project.
2. Add JSON dependency.
3. Use JSONObject class to create a JSON object.

Get project code.

I strongly suggest you to create a JSON object using Java bean. The code is here:

Student.java

package com.wangshuai.Json2.bean;

public class Student {
    private String name;
    private String id;
    private double grade;
    private boolean has_girlfriend;
    private Object car;
    private String[] subject;

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }
    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }
    public String getId() {
        return id;
    }
    public void setId(String id) {
        this.id = id;
    }
    public double getGrade() {
        return grade;
    }
    public void setGrade(double grade) {
        this.grade = grade;
    }
    public boolean isHas_girlfriend() {
        return has_girlfriend;
    }
    public void setHas_girlfriend(boolean has_girlfriend) {
        this.has_girlfriend = has_girlfriend;
    }
    public Object getCar() {
        return car;
    }
    public void setCar(Object car) {
        this.car = car;
    }
    public String[] getSubject() {
        return subject;
    }
    public void setSubject(String[] subject) {
        this.subject = subject;
    }   
}

JSONObjectsSample.java

package com.wangshuai.Json2;
import org.json.JSONObject;
import com.wangshuai.Json2.bean.Student;

public class JSONObjectSample {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        createJsonByJavaBean();
    }

    private static void createJsonByJavaBean() {
        Student wangshuai = new Student();
        Object nullObj = null;

        wangshuai.setCar(nullObj);
        wangshuai.setGrade(72.5);
        wangshuai.setHas_girlfriend(true);
        wangshuai.setId("1240031");
        wangshuai.setName("Shuai Wang");
        wangshuai.setSubject(new String[]{"Algorithm", "Internet", "Database", "Java"});

        JSONObject ws = new JSONObject(wangshuai);

        System.out.println(ws.toString());
    }   
}

Ouput

{"has_grilfriend":true,"subject":["Algorithm","Internet","Database","Java"],"grade":72.5,"name":"Shuai Wang","id":"1240031"}

We can also create a JSON object using Map.

package com.wangshuai.Json2;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import org.json.JSONObject;

public class JSONObjectSample {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        createJsonByMap();
    }

    private static void createJsonByMap() {
        Map<String, Object> wangshuai = new HashMap<String, Object>();
        Object nullObj = null;

        wangshuai.put("name","Shuai Wang");
        wangshuai.put("id", "1240031");
        wangshuai.put("grade", 72.5);
        wangshuai.put("has_grilfriend", true);
        wangshuai.put("car", nullObj);
        wangshuai.put("subject", new String[]{"Algorithm", "Internet", "Database", "Java"});

        JSONObject ws = new JSONObject(wangshuai);
        System.out.println(ws.toString());
    }
}

Ouput

{"has_grilfriend":true,"subject":["Algorithm","Internet","Database","Java"],"grade":72.5,"name":"Shuai Wang","id":"1240031"}

We can also directly create a JSON object with JSONObject class.

package com.wangshuai.Json2;
import org.json.JSONObject;

public class JSONObjectSample {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        createJson();
    }

    private static void createJson() {
        JSONObject wangshuai = new JSONObject();
        Object nullObj = null;

        wangshuai.put("name","Shuai Wang");
        wangshuai.put("id", "1240031");
        wangshuai.put("grade", 72.5);
        wangshuai.put("has_grilfriend", true);
        wangshuai.put("car", nullObj);
        wangshuai.put("subject", new String[]{"Algorithm", "Internet", "Database", "Java"});

        System.out.println(wangshuai.toString());
    }
}

Ouput

{"has_grilfriend":true,"subject":["Algorithm","Internet","Database","Java"],"grade":72.5,"name":"Shuai Wang","id":"1240031"}

How to parse a JSON file?
We use a third-party File I/O processing package.
ReadJson.java

package com.wangshuai.Json2;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONObject;

public class ReadJson {

    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        File jsonFile = new File(ReadJson.class.getResource("/com/wangshuai/Json2/jsonfile/wangshuai.json").getFile());
        String content = FileUtils.readFileToString(jsonFile);
        JSONObject ws = new JSONObject(content); 

        System.out.println("name: "+ws.getString("name"));
        System.out.println("id: "+ws.getString("id"));
        System.out.println("grade: "+ws.getDouble("grade"));
        System.out.println("Do you have a girlfriend? "+ws.getBoolean("has_girlfriend"));
        if(!ws.isNull("car")){
            System.out.println("Do you has a car? "+ws.getJSONObject("car"));
        }
        JSONArray subjects = ws.getJSONArray("subject");
        System.out.println("Subjects:");
        for(int i=0;i<subjects.length();i++){
            System.out.println(subjects.get(i));
        }
    }
}

output

name: Shuai Wang
id: 830166
grade: 72.5
Do you have a girlfriend? true
Subjects:
Algorithm
Internet
Database
Java

The resource of all third-party packages
You can find JSON and Commons-io dependencies here.

最后再说两句(PS)
JSON Editor Online and some knowledges about maven. Check it out.

As the org.json doesn’t implement the functionality of generating JSON file, I don’t tell you how to generate a JSON file from a JSON Object. But we can use another better way to implement that, which is GSON. We talk about it later.

Welcome questions always and forever.