How do I convert collections into JSON?

By Wayan Saryada in Google Gson 0 Comment

This example show you how to convert Java collections object into JSON string. For Student class use in this example you can find it the previous example on How do I convert object into JSON?.

package org.kodejava.example.google.gson;

import com.google.gson.Gson;
import com.google.gson.reflect.TypeToken;

import java.lang.reflect.Type;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Calendar;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.List;

public class CollectionToJson {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        //
        // Converts a collection of string object into JSON string.
        //
        List<String> names = new ArrayList<String>();
        names.add("Alice");
        names.add("Bob");
        names.add("Carol");
        names.add("Mallory");

        Gson gson = new Gson();
        String jsonNames = gson.toJson(names);
        System.out.println("jsonNames = " + jsonNames);

        //
        // Converts a collection Student object into JSON string
        //
        Student a = new Student("Alice", "Apple St", getDOB(2000, 10, 1));
        Student b = new Student("Bob", "Banana St", null);
        Student c = new Student("Carol", "Grape St", getDOB(2000, 5, 21));
        Student d = new Student("Mallory", "Mango St", null);

        List<Student> students = new ArrayList<Student>();
        students.add(a);
        students.add(b);
        students.add(c);
        students.add(d);

        gson = new Gson();
        String jsonStudents = gson.toJson(students);
        System.out.println("jsonStudents = " + jsonStudents);

        //
        // Converts JSON string into a collection of Student object.
        //
        Type type = new TypeToken<List<Student>>() {
        }.getType();
        List<Student> studentList = gson.fromJson(jsonStudents, type);

        for (Student student : studentList) {
            System.out.println("student.getName() = " + student.getName());
        }
    }

    private static Date getDOB(int year, int month, int date) {
        Calendar calendar = Calendar.getInstance();
        calendar.set(Calendar.YEAR, year);
        calendar.set(Calendar.MONTH, month - 1);
        calendar.set(Calendar.DATE, date);
        calendar.set(Calendar.HOUR, 0);
        calendar.set(Calendar.MINUTE, 0);
        calendar.set(Calendar.SECOND, 0);
        return calendar.getTime();
    }
}

Here is the result of our program:

jsonNames = ["Alice","Bob","Carol","Mallory"]
jsonStudents = [{"name":"Alice","address":"Apple St","dateOfBirth":"Nov 1, 3900 12:00:00 AM"},{"name":"Bob","address":"Banana St"},{"name":"Carol","address":"Grape St","dateOfBirth":"Jun 21, 3900 12:00:00 AM"},{"name":"Mallory","address":"Mango St"}]
student.getName() = Alice
student.getName() = Bob
student.getName() = Carol
student.getName() = Mallory

Maven Dependencies

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
    <artifactId>gson</artifactId>
    <version>2.2.2</version>
</dependency>

How do I create type specific collections?

By Wayan Saryada in Java Basic 0 Comment 
package org.kodejava.example.fundamental;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;

public class TypeSpecificCollection {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Using a Generic can enable us to create a type specific collection
        // object. In the example below we create a Map whose key is an Integer
        // a have the value of a String.
        Map<Integer, String> grades = new HashMap<Integer, String>();
        grades.put(1, "A");
        grades.put(2, "B");
        grades.put(3, "C");
        grades.put(4, "D");
        grades.put(5, "E");

        // A value obtained from type specific collection doesn't not need to
        // be casted, it knows the type returned.
        String value = grades.get(1);
        System.out.println("value = " + value);

        // Creating a List that will contains a String only values.
        List<String> dayNames = new ArrayList<String>();
        dayNames.add("Sunday");
        dayNames.add("Monday");
        dayNames.add("Tuesday");
        dayNames.add("Wednesday");

        // We also don't need to cast the retrieved value because it knows the
        // returned type object.
        String firstDay = dayNames.get(0);
        System.out.println("firstDay = " + firstDay);
    }
}