others-how to use gson to convert json string to a java array?

1. Purpose

In this post, I will demonstrate how to use gson to convert json string to a java array.

2. Solution

2.1 What is gson?

Google Gson is a simple Java-based library to serialize Java objects to JSON and vice versa. It is an open-source library developed by Google.

It can be used to convert Java Objects into their JSON representation. It can also be used to convert a JSON string to an equivalent Java object. Gson can work with arbitrary Java objects including pre-existing objects that you do not have source-code of.

Import gson library:

<!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.google.code.gson/gson -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
    <artifactId>gson</artifactId>
    <version>2.8.7</version>
</dependency>

Or using gradle:

// https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.google.code.gson/gson
implementation 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.8.7'

Google’s Gson library is a Java library that can be used to convert Java objects to and from JSON. It provides a straightforward way to serialize (write) and deserialize (read) Java objects to and from JSON strings.

Here’s how you can use Gson to convert a JSON string to a Java array and vice versa:

2.2 Converting JSON String to a Java Array:

To convert a JSON string to a Java array, you first need to define the Java array type that matches the structure of your JSON data.

  1. Add Gson to Your Project: Include the Gson library in your project. If you’re using Maven, add the following dependency to your pom.xml:
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
    <artifactId>gson</artifactId>
    <version>2.8.6</version> <!-- Use the latest version available -->
</dependency>
  1. Create a Gson Instance: Create an instance of Gson which you will use for the conversion.
import com.google.gson.Gson;
import java.lang.reflect.Type;

Gson gson = new Gson();
  1. Define the Java Array Type: If you’re deserializing to a specific array type, you need to define that type using Type. For example, if you have an array of strings:
String[] stringArray = new String[0];
Type type = new TypeToken<String[]>(){}.getType();

Or for an array of objects, you would define a class that represents the structure of your JSON:

class MyObject {
    private String property;
    // getters and setters
}

Type type = new TypeToken<MyObject[]>(){}.getType();
  1. Deserialize the JSON String to an Array: Use the fromJson method to convert the JSON string into the specified array type.
String jsonString = "[\"value1\", \"value2\", \"value3\"]"; // For the string array example
String[] arrayFromString = gson.fromJson(jsonString, type);

2.3 Converting a Java Array to a JSON String:

To convert a Java array to a JSON string, you simply pass the array to the toJson method of the Gson instance.

  1. Create a Gson Instance: As shown above, create an instance of Gson.

  2. Serialize the Array: Use the toJson method to convert the Java array into a JSON string.

String[] stringArray = {"value1", "value2", "value3"};
String jsonString = gson.toJson(stringArray);

For an array of objects, you would do something similar:

MyObject[] myObjects = // ... initialize with data
String jsonString = gson.toJson(myObjects);

2.4 My way to convert json string to array

Here my way:

Gson gson = new Gson();

String jsonArray = "[\"Android\",\"Java\",\"PHP\"]";
String[] strings = gson.fromJson(jsonArray, String[].class);
List<String> stringList = gson.fromJson(jsonArray, new TypeToken<List<String>>()

The syntax for TypeToken is:

new TypeToken<List<XXX>>() // replace XXX with your class type

More about TypeToken:

> public class TypeToken<T> extends ObjectRepresents a generic type T. Java doesn't yet provide a way to represent generic types, so this class does. Forces clients to create a subclass of this class which enables retrieval the type information even at runtime.
>For example, to create a type literal for List String, you can create an empty anonymous inner class:



TypeToken<List<String>> list = new TypeToken<List<String>>() {};

This syntax cannot be used to create type literals that have wildcard parameters, such as

Class<?> or List<? extends CharSequence> .

3. Handling Complex Types

Gson is quite powerful and can handle complex types, including nested objects and arrays. Just ensure that the Java classes have appropriate constructors, as well as getter and setter methods for Gson to work correctly.

  • Gson uses reflection to serialize and deserialize objects, so make sure that the classes you are working with are accessible and have the necessary constructors and methods.
  • Gson also provides options to customize the serialization process, such as versioning, pretty printing, and excluding fields from the JSON.
  • Always ensure that you are using the latest version of Gson to benefit from the latest features and security fixes.

By following these steps, you can easily convert between JSON strings and Java arrays using the Gson library.

4. Summary

In this post, I demonstrated how to do array transform in gson using TypeToken. That’s it, thanks for your reading.