DEV Community

Cover image for How To Parse JSON In Java?
Gaurav Kukade
Gaurav Kukade

Posted on • Originally published at coderolls.com

How To Parse JSON In Java?

#java #json #codenewbie

In this article we will see, how to parse JSON in java. We will be using the JSON Libraries like JSON-java, GSON and json-simple

JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation. It is easy to use and lightweight open standard file format for storing and transporting data.

As per the json.org,

It is easy for humans to read and write. It is easy for machines to parse and generate.

Example JSON:

{
  "name": "coderolls",
  "type": "blog",
  "address": {
    "street": "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW",
    "city": "Washington",
    "state": "DC"
  },
  "employees": [
    {
      "firstName": "John",
      "lastName": "Doe"
    },
    {
      "firstName": "Anna",
      "lastName": "Smith"
    },
    {
      "firstName": "Peter",
      "lastName": "Jones"
    }
  ]
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

In the above JSON, name is key and coderolls is it's value. For address key, value is another JSON object which contains key and values.

For employees key, it's value is array of JSON objects.

Today we will see three json libraries in java to parse a JSON string. These are listed below,

  1. JSON-Java
  2. GSON
  3. json-simple

Now we will see one by one example of all three libraries for parsing a JSON in java.

How to parse JOSN in Java using JSON-Java

JSON-java is one of the most simple JSON library for Java.

Here, we will be using the JSONObject class of the JSON-java library.

JSONObject has a constructor which accepts string. We will be using ths constructor to parse a JSON string.

public JSONObject(String source) throws JSONException

Construct a JSONObject from a source JSON text string. This is the most commonly used JSONObject constructor.

Parameters:

source  - A string beginning with  `{` (left brace)  and ending with  `}`  (right brace).

Throws:

JSONException  - If there is a syntax error in the source string or a duplicated key.
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

You can refer JSON-java Docs.

Maven:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.json</groupId>
    <artifactId>json</artifactId>
    <version>20201115</version>
</dependency>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Gradle:

compile group: 'org.json', name: 'json', version: '20201115'
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Example:

package com.coderolls.JSONExample;

import org.json.JSONArray;
import org.json.JSONObject;

/**
 * A program to parse JSON strin in Java using JSON-Java
 * @author Gaurav Kukade at coderolls.com
 */

public class ParseJSONUsingJSONJava {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        String jsonString = "{"
                + "  \"name\": \"coderolls\","
                + "  \"type\": \"blog\","
                + "  \"address\": {"
                + "    \"street\": \"1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW\","
                + "    \"city\": \"Washington\","
                + "    \"state\": \"DC\""
                + "  },"
                + "  \"employees\": ["
                + "    {"
                + "      \"firstName\": \"John\","
                + "      \"lastName\": \"Doe\""
                + "    },"
                + "    {"
                + "      \"firstName\": \"Anna\","
                + "      \"lastName\": \"Smith\""
                + "    },"
                + "    {"
                + "      \"firstName\": \"Peter\","
                + "      \"lastName\": \"Jones\""
                + "    }"
                + "  ]"
                + "}";

        System.out.println("Parsing the json string in java using JSON-Java......\n");

        //add jsonString to the constructor
        JSONObject coderollsJSONObject = new JSONObject(jsonString);

        //now we can access the values 
        String name = coderollsJSONObject.getString("name");
        System.out.println("Name: "+name+"\n");

        //we can get the JSON object present as value of any key in the parent JSON
        JSONObject addressJSONObject = coderollsJSONObject.getJSONObject("address");

        //access the values of the addressJSONObject 
        String street = addressJSONObject.getString("street");
        System.out.println("Street: "+street+"\n");


        //we can get the json array present as value of any key in the parent JSON
        JSONArray employeesJSONArray = coderollsJSONObject.getJSONArray("employees");
        System.out.println("Printing the employess json array: \n"+employeesJSONArray.toString()+"\n");

        //we can get individual json object at an index from the employeesJSONArray
        JSONObject employeeJSONObject = employeesJSONArray.getJSONObject(0);
        String firstName = employeeJSONObject.getString("firstName");
        System.out.println("First Name of the employee at index 0: "+firstName);
    }
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Get the code for ParseJSONUsingJSON.Java

Output:

Parsing the json string in java using JSON-Java......

Name: coderolls

Street: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Printing the employess json array: 
[{"firstName":"John","lastName":"Doe"},{"firstName":"Anna","lastName":"Smith"},{"firstName":"Peter","lastName":"Jones"}]

First Name of the employee at index 0: John
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

How to parse JOSN in Java using Gson

Gson is an open-source Java library to serialize and deserialize Java objects to JSON developed at Google.

So we can use it to convert a JSON string to an equivalent Java object.

Here, we will be using the JsonObject class of the Gson library.

You can refer the docs of JsonObject.

Maven:

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
    <artifactId>gson</artifactId>
    <version>2.8.6</version>
</dependency>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Gradle:

compile group: 'com.google.code.gson', name: 'gson', version: '2.8.6'
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Example:

package com.coderolls.JSONExample;

import com.google.gson.Gson;
import com.google.gson.JsonArray;
import com.google.gson.JsonObject;

/**
 * A program to parse JSON strin in Java using Gson
 * @author Gaurav Kukade at coderolls.com
 */

public class ParseJSONUsingGSON {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        //take json as string
        String jsonString = "{"
                + "  \"name\": \"coderolls\","
                + "  \"type\": \"blog\","
                + "  \"address\": {"
                + "    \"street\": \"1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW\","
                + "    \"city\": \"Washington\","
                + "    \"state\": \"DC\""
                + "  },"
                + "  \"employees\": ["
                + "    {"
                + "      \"firstName\": \"John\","
                + "      \"lastName\": \"Doe\""
                + "    },"
                + "    {"
                + "      \"firstName\": \"Anna\","
                + "      \"lastName\": \"Smith\""
                + "    },"
                + "    {"
                + "      \"firstName\": \"Peter\","
                + "      \"lastName\": \"Jones\""
                + "    }"
                + "  ]"
                + "}";
        System.out.println("Parsing the json string in java using Gson......\n");

        Gson gson = new Gson();

        //get json object from the json string
        JsonObject coderollsJsonObject = gson.fromJson(jsonString, JsonObject.class);

        //now we can access the values 
        String name = coderollsJsonObject.get("name").getAsString();
        System.out.println("Name: "+name+"\n");

        //we can get the JSON object present as value of any key in the parent JSON
        JsonObject addressJsonObject = coderollsJsonObject.get("address").getAsJsonObject();

        //access the values of the addressJSONObject 
        String street = addressJsonObject.get("street").getAsString();
        System.out.println("Street: "+street+"\n");


        //we can get the json array present as value of any key in the parent JSON
        JsonArray employeesJsonArray = coderollsJsonObject.get("employees").getAsJsonArray();
        System.out.println("Printing the employess json array: \n"+employeesJsonArray.toString()+"\n");

        //we can get individual json object at an index from the employeesJSONArray
        JsonObject employeeJsonObject = employeesJsonArray.get(0).getAsJsonObject();
        String firstName = employeeJsonObject.get("firstName").getAsString();
        System.out.println("First Name of the employee at index 0: "+firstName);
    }
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Get the code for ParseJSONUsingGSON.java

Output:

Parsing the json string in java using Gson......

Name: coderolls

Street: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Printing the employess json array: 
[{"firstName":"John","lastName":"Doe"},{"firstName":"Anna","lastName":"Smith"},{"firstName":"Peter","lastName":"Jones"}]

First Name of the employee at index 0: John
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

How to parse JOSN in Java using json-simple

JSON.simple is a simple Java toolkit for JSON. You can use JSON.simple to encode or decode JSON text.

Maven:

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.googlecode.json-simple</groupId>
    <artifactId>json-simple</artifactId>
    <version>1.1.1</version>
</dependency>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Gradle:

compile group: 'com.googlecode.json-simple', name: 'json-simple', version: '1.1.1'
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

You can refer the json-simple project page.java.

Example:

package com.coderolls.JSONExample;

import org.json.simple.JSONArray;
import org.json.simple.JSONObject;
import org.json.simple.parser.JSONParser;
import org.json.simple.parser.ParseException;

/**
 * A program to parse JSON strin in Java using json-simple
 * @author Gaurav Kukade at coderolls.com
 */

public class ParseJSONUsingJsonSimple {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        //take json as string
        String jsonString = "{"
                        + "  \"name\": \"coderolls\","
                        + "  \"type\": \"blog\","
                        + "  \"address\": {"
                        + "    \"street\": \"1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW\","
                        + "    \"city\": \"Washington\","
                        + "    \"state\": \"DC\""
                        + "  },"
                        + "  \"employees\": ["
                        + "    {"
                        + "      \"firstName\": \"John\","
                        + "      \"lastName\": \"Doe\""
                        + "    },"
                        + "    {"
                        + "      \"firstName\": \"Anna\","
                        + "      \"lastName\": \"Smith\""
                        + "    },"
                        + "    {"
                        + "      \"firstName\": \"Peter\","
                        + "      \"lastName\": \"Jones\""
                        + "    }"
                        + "  ]"
                        + "}";

        System.out.println("Parsing the json string in java using json-simple......\n");

        JSONParser parser = new JSONParser();
        JSONObject coderollsJSONObject = new JSONObject();
        try {
            coderollsJSONObject = (JSONObject) parser.parse(jsonString);
        } catch (ParseException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

        //now we can access the values 
        String name = (String) coderollsJSONObject.get("name");
        System.out.println("Name: "+name+"\n");

        //we can get the JSON object present as value of any key in the parent JSON
        JSONObject addressJSONObject = (JSONObject) coderollsJSONObject.get("address");

        //access the values of the addressJSONObject 
        String street = (String) addressJSONObject.get("street");
        System.out.println("Street: "+street+"\n");


        //we can get the json array present as value of any key in the parent JSON
        JSONArray employeesJSONArray = (JSONArray) coderollsJSONObject.get("employees");
        System.out.println("Printing the employess json array: \n"+employeesJSONArray.toString()+"\n");

        //we can get individual json object at an index from the employeesJSONArray
        JSONObject employeeJSONObject = (JSONObject) employeesJSONArray.get(0);
        String firstName = (String) employeeJSONObject.get("firstName");
        System.out.println("First Name of the employee at index 0: "+firstName);
    }
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Get the code for ParseJSONUsingJsonSimple.java

Output:

Parsing the json string in java using json-simple......

Name: coderolls

Street: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Printing the employess json array: 
[{"firstName":"John","lastName":"Doe"},{"firstName":"Anna","lastName":"Smith"},{"firstName":"Peter","lastName":"Jones"}]

First Name of the employee at index 0: John
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Conclusion

All three libraries allow you create a JSON object from the json string but I found the JSON-Java is easy to use.

This blogpost is already published at : https://coderolls.com/parse-json-in-java/

You can visit my YouTube channel 'coderolls' to find more video tutorials.

You can support me by giving a cup of Coffee ☕

Related Articles

Top comments (2)

Collapse
 
kabinja profile image
Renaud Rwemalika •

I tend to use Jackson for its flexibility. But i know many people tend to avoid any library using heavily the magic of annotation.

Collapse
 
gauravkukade profile image
Gaurav Kukade •

Agree.

Thanks for the reply Renaud. 🙂

Read next

nikhilxd profile image

Understanding LinkedIn Authwall: How it Works, Benefits, and Implementing it on Your Website

Nikhil Soman Sahu -

agardnerit profile image

Python Feature Flags with a Flat JSON File

Adam Gardner -

ugifractal profile image

Override java version on flutter

sugiarto -

utteshkumar profile image

Java 21 Virtual Threads: Revolutionizing Concurrency!

uttesh -