Generate Java class from JSON?

Question

In a Java Maven project, how do you generate java source files from JSON? For example we have

{
  "firstName": "John",  
  "lastName": "Smith",  
  "address": {  
    "streetAddress": "21 2nd Street",  
     "city": "New York"
  }
}

When we run mvn generate-sources we want it to generate something like this:

class Address  {
    JSONObject mInternalJSONObject;
     
    Address (JSONObject json){
        mInternalJSONObject = json;
    }
     
    String  getStreetAddress () {
        return mInternalJSONObject.getString("streetAddress");
    }
    
    String  getCity (){
        return mInternalJSONObject.getString("city");
    }
}

class Person {        
    JSONObject mInternalJSONObject;
    
    Person (JSONObject json){
        mInternalJSONObject = json;
    }
    
    String  getFirstName () {
        return mInternalJSONObject.getString("firstName");
    }
    
    String  getLastName (){
        return mInternalJSONObject.getString("lastName");
    }
    
    Address getAddress (){
        return Address(mInternalJSONObject.getString("address"));
    }
}

As a Java developer, what lines of XML do I need to write in my pom.xml in order to make this happen?

Answer 1

Try http://www.jsonschema2pojo.org

Or the jsonschema2pojo plug-in for Maven:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.jsonschema2pojo</groupId>
    <artifactId>jsonschema2pojo-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.2</version>
    <configuration>
        <sourceDirectory>${basedir}/src/main/resources/schemas</sourceDirectory>
        <targetPackage>com.myproject.jsonschemas</targetPackage>
        <sourceType>json</sourceType>
    </configuration>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <goals>
                <goal>generate</goal>
            </goals>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>

The <sourceType>json</sourceType> covers the case where the sources are json (like the OP). If you have actual json schemas, remove this line.

Updated in 2014: Two things have happened since Dec '09 when this question was asked:

• The JSON Schema spec has moved on a lot. It's still in draft (not finalised) but it's close to completion and is now a viable tool specifying your structural rules

• I've recently started a new open source project specifically intended to solve your problem: jsonschema2pojo. The jsonschema2pojo tool takes a json schema document and generates DTO-style Java classes (in the form of .java source files). The project is not yet mature but already provides coverage of the most useful parts of json schema. I'm looking for more feedback from users to help drive the development. Right now you can use the tool from the command line or as a Maven plugin.

Hope this helps!