Json deserialization into other class hierarchy using Jackson

How I solved this problem. Here is a class diagram for an example project:

So i want to get the ConcreteAAdapter form ConcreteA after deserialization.

My solution is to extend ClassNameIdResolver to add functionality to deserialize base class objects into subtype class objects (subtype classes adds no extra functionality and additional fields).

Here is a code which creates ObjectMapper for deserialization:

protected ObjectMapper getObjectMapperForDeserialization() {
        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

        StdTypeResolverBuilder typeResolverBuilder = new ObjectMapper.DefaultTypeResolverBuilder(ObjectMapper.DefaultTyping.OBJECT_AND_NON_CONCRETE);
        typeResolverBuilder = typeResolverBuilder.inclusion(JsonTypeInfo.As.PROPERTY);
        typeResolverBuilder.init(JsonTypeInfo.Id.CLASS, new ClassNameIdResolver(SimpleType.construct(Base.class), TypeFactory.defaultInstance()) {
            private HashMap<Class, Class> classes = new HashMap<Class, Class>() {
                {
                    put(ConcreteA.class, ConcreteAAdapter.class);
                    put(ConcreteB.class, ConcreteBAdapter.class);
                    put(ConcreteC.class, ConcreteCAdapter.class);
                }
            };

            @Override
            public String idFromValue(Object value) {
                return (classes.containsKey(value.getClass())) ? value.getClass().getName() : null;
            }

            @Override
            public JavaType typeFromId(String id) {
                try {
                    return classes.get(Class.forName(id)) == null ? super.typeFromId(id) : _typeFactory.constructSpecializedType(_baseType, classes.get(Class.forName(id)));
                } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
                    // todo catch the e
                }
                return super.typeFromId(id);
            }
        });
        mapper.setDefaultTyping(typeResolverBuilder);
        return mapper;
    }

And here is a code which create ObjectMapper for serialization:

protected ObjectMapper getObjectMapperForSerialization() {
    ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

    StdTypeResolverBuilder typeResolverBuilder = new ObjectMapper.DefaultTypeResolverBuilder(ObjectMapper.DefaultTyping.OBJECT_AND_NON_CONCRETE);
    typeResolverBuilder = typeResolverBuilder.inclusion(JsonTypeInfo.As.PROPERTY);
    typeResolverBuilder.init(JsonTypeInfo.Id.CLASS, new ClassNameIdResolver(SimpleType.construct(Base.class), TypeFactory.defaultInstance()));
    mapper.setDefaultTyping(typeResolverBuilder);

    return mapper;
}

Test code:

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
    JacksonUtils JacksonUtils = new JacksonUtilsImpl();

    Collection<Base> data = new LinkedBlockingQueue<Base>();
    data.add(new ConcreteA());
    data.add(new ConcreteB());
    data.add(new ConcreteC());

    String json = JacksonUtils.marshallIntoString(data);

    System.out.println(json);

    Collection<? extends Adapter> adapters = JacksonUtils.unmarshall(json, new TypeReference<ArrayList<Adapter>>() {});

    for (Adapter adapter : adapters) {
        System.out.println(adapter.getClass().getName());
    }
}

Full code of JacksonUtils class:

public class JacksonUtilsImpl implements JacksonUtils {

    @Override
    public byte[] marshall(Collection<Base> data) throws IOException {
        ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream() {
            @Override
            public byte[] toByteArray() {
                return buf;
            }
        };

        getObjectMapperForSerialization().writerWithType(new TypeReference<Collection<Base>>() {}).writeValue(out, data);
        return out.toByteArray();
    }

    @Override
    public String marshallIntoString(Collection<Base> data) throws IOException {
        return getObjectMapperForSerialization().writeValueAsString(data);
    }

    protected ObjectMapper getObjectMapperForSerialization() {
        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

        StdTypeResolverBuilder typeResolverBuilder = new ObjectMapper.DefaultTypeResolverBuilder(ObjectMapper.DefaultTyping.OBJECT_AND_NON_CONCRETE);
        typeResolverBuilder = typeResolverBuilder.inclusion(JsonTypeInfo.As.PROPERTY);
        typeResolverBuilder.init(JsonTypeInfo.Id.CLASS, new ClassNameIdResolver(SimpleType.construct(Base.class), TypeFactory.defaultInstance()));
        mapper.setDefaultTyping(typeResolverBuilder);

        return mapper;
    }

    protected ObjectMapper getObjectMapperForDeserialization() {
        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();

        StdTypeResolverBuilder typeResolverBuilder = new ObjectMapper.DefaultTypeResolverBuilder(ObjectMapper.DefaultTyping.OBJECT_AND_NON_CONCRETE);
        typeResolverBuilder = typeResolverBuilder.inclusion(JsonTypeInfo.As.PROPERTY);
        typeResolverBuilder.init(JsonTypeInfo.Id.CLASS, new ClassNameIdResolver(SimpleType.construct(Base.class), TypeFactory.defaultInstance()) {
            private HashMap<Class, Class> classes = new HashMap<Class, Class>() {
                {
                    put(ConcreteA.class, ConcreteAAdapter.class);
                    put(ConcreteB.class, ConcreteBAdapter.class);
                    put(ConcreteC.class, ConcreteCAdapter.class);
                }
            };

            @Override
            public String idFromValue(Object value) {
                return (classes.containsKey(value.getClass())) ? value.getClass().getName() : null;
            }

            @Override
            public JavaType typeFromId(String id) {
                try {
                    return classes.get(Class.forName(id)) == null ? super.typeFromId(id) : _typeFactory.constructSpecializedType(_baseType, classes.get(Class.forName(id)));
                } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
                    // todo catch the e
                }
                return super.typeFromId(id);
            }
        });
        mapper.setDefaultTyping(typeResolverBuilder);
        return mapper;
    }

    @Override
    public Object unmarshall(byte[] json) throws IOException {
        return getObjectMapperForDeserialization().readValue(json, Object.class);
    }

    @Override
    public <T> T unmarshall(InputStream source, TypeReference<T> typeReference) throws IOException {
        return getObjectMapperForDeserialization().readValue(source, typeReference);
    }

    @Override
    public <T> T unmarshall(byte[] json, TypeReference<T> typeReference) throws IOException {
        return getObjectMapperForDeserialization().readValue(json, typeReference);
    }

    @Override
    public <T> Collection<? extends T> unmarshall(String json, Class<? extends Collection<? extends T>> klass) throws IOException {
        return getObjectMapperForDeserialization().readValue(json, klass);
    }


    @Override
    public <T> Collection<? extends T> unmarshall(String json, TypeReference typeReference) throws IOException {
        return getObjectMapperForDeserialization().readValue(json, typeReference);
    }
}

For this purpose you need to pass additional info in JSON:

@JsonTypeInfo(use=JsonTypeInfo.Id.NAME, 
      include=JsonTypeInfo.As.PROPERTY, property="@type")
class Base {
...
}

Then on serialization it will add @type field:

objectMapper.registerSubtypes(
            new NamedType(ConcreteAAdapter.class, "ConcreteA"),
            new NamedType(ConcreteBAdapter.class, "ConcreteB"),
            new NamedType(ConcreteCAdapter.class, "ConcreteC")
            );

// note, that for lists you need to pass TypeReference explicitly
objectMapper.writerWithType(new TypeReference<List<Base>>() {})
     .writeValueAsString(someList);


    {
      "@type" : "ConcreteA",
      ...
    }

on deserialization it will be:

    objectMapper.registerSubtypes(
            new NamedType(ConcreteA.class, "ConcreteA"),
            new NamedType(ConcreteB.class, "ConcreteB"),
            new NamedType(ConcreteC.class, "ConcreteC")
            );
    objectMapper.readValue(....)

More info here