How to deserialize a JSON array to a singly linked list by using Jackson - jackson

Question

I want to deserialize a JSON array to a singly linked list in Java.
The definition of singly linked list is as the following:
public class SinglyLinkedListNode<T> {
public T value;
public SinglyLinkedListNode next;
public SinglyLinkedListNode(final T value) {
this.value = value;
}
}
How to deserialize a JSON string such as [1,2,3,4,5] in to a singly linked list?
public void typeReferenceTest() throws IOException {
ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
final ArrayList<Integer> intArray = objectMapper.readValue("[1,2,3,4,5]",
new TypeReference<ArrayList<Integer>>() {});
System.out.println(intArray);
// How to achieve this?
final ArrayList<Integer> intList = objectMapper.readValue("[1,2,3,4,5]",
new TypeReference<SinglyLinkedListNode<Integer>>() {});
System.out.println(intList);
}
Moreover, I want the SinglyLinkedListNode to be a first-class citizen the same as ArrayList, which can be used in all kinds of combinations, such as HashSet<SinglyLinkedListNode<Integer>>, SinglyLinkedListNode<HashMap<String, Integer>>.
For example, what happens if I want to deserialize [[1,2,3], [4,5,6]] into a ArrayList<SinglyLinkedListNode<Integer>> ?
As far as I know, a customized deserializer extending JsonDeserializer is not enough to do this.

Answer 1

When you want it to be deserialized to ArrayList<SinglyLinkedListNode<Integer>> for example. Your code specifies that is the type that expected. Therefore it should if a deserializer for SinglyLinkedListNode<Integer> is regeistered it will succeed.

Answer 2

From the jackson-user google group I get the right answer from #Tatu Saloranta.
The answer is simple: just implement the java.util.List interface, and Jackson will automatically serialize/deserialize between JSON array and SinglyLinkedListNode.
So I implement the java.util.List interface for SinglyLinkedListNode, the code is as the following:
import java.util.*;
import java.util.function.Consumer;
/**
* Singly Linked List.
*
* <p>As to singly linked list, a node can be viewed as a single node,
* and it can be viewed as a list too.</p>
*
* #param <E> the type of elements held in this collection
* #see java.util.LinkedList
*/
public class SinglyLinkedListNode<E>
extends AbstractSequentialList<E>
implements Cloneable, java.io.Serializable {
public E value;
public SinglyLinkedListNode<E> next;
/**
* Constructs an empty list.
*/
public SinglyLinkedListNode() {
value = null;
next = null;
}
/**
* Constructs an list with one elment.
*/
public SinglyLinkedListNode(final E value) {
this.value = value;
next = null;
}
/**
* Constructs a list containing the elements of the specified
* collection, in the order they are returned by the collection's
* iterator.
*
* #param c the collection whose elements are to be placed into this list
* #throws NullPointerException if the specified collection is null
*/
public SinglyLinkedListNode(Collection<? extends E> c) {
this();
addAll(c);
}
/**
* Links e as last element.
*/
void linkLast(E e) {
final SinglyLinkedListNode<E> l = last();
final SinglyLinkedListNode<E> newNode = new SinglyLinkedListNode<>(e);
if (l == null)
this.value = e;
else
l.next = newNode;
modCount++;
}
/**
* Inserts element e before non-null Node succ.
*/
void linkBefore(E e, SinglyLinkedListNode<E> succ) {
assert succ != null;
final SinglyLinkedListNode<E> prev = this.previous(succ);
final SinglyLinkedListNode<E> newNode = new SinglyLinkedListNode<>(e);
if (prev == null)
this.value = e;
else
prev.next = newNode;
modCount++;
}
/**
* Return the node before x.
*
* #param x current node
* #return the node before x
*/
private SinglyLinkedListNode<E> previous(final SinglyLinkedListNode<E> x) {
assert (x != null);
if (size() < 2) return null;
if (this == x) return null;
SinglyLinkedListNode<E> prev = new SinglyLinkedListNode<>();
prev.next = this;
SinglyLinkedListNode<E> cur = this;
while (cur != x) {
prev = prev.next;
cur = cur.next;
}
return prev;
}
/**
* Return the last node.
* #return the last node.
*/
private SinglyLinkedListNode<E> last() {
if (size() == 0) return null;
if (size() == 1) return this;
SinglyLinkedListNode<E> prev = new SinglyLinkedListNode<>();
prev.next = this;
SinglyLinkedListNode<E> cur = this;
while (cur != null) {
prev = prev.next;
cur = cur.next;
}
return prev;
}
/**
* Unlinks non-null node x.
*/
E unlink(SinglyLinkedListNode<E> x) {
assert x != null;
final E element = x.value;
final SinglyLinkedListNode<E> next = x.next;
final SinglyLinkedListNode<E> prev = previous(x);
if (prev == null) {
this.value = next.value;
this.next = next.next;
} else {
prev.next = next;
}
x.next = null;
modCount++;
return element;
}
/**
* #inheritDoc
*/
public ListIterator<E> listIterator(int index) {
checkPositionIndex(index);
return new ListItr(index);
}
private class ListItr implements ListIterator<E> {
private SinglyLinkedListNode<E> lastReturned;
private SinglyLinkedListNode<E> next;
private int nextIndex;
private int expectedModCount = modCount;
ListItr(int index) {
assert isPositionIndex(index);
next = (index == size()) ? null : node(index);
nextIndex = index;
}
public boolean hasNext() {
return nextIndex < size();
}
public E next() {
checkForComodification();
if (!hasNext())
throw new NoSuchElementException();
lastReturned = next;
next = next.next;
nextIndex++;
return lastReturned.value;
}
public boolean hasPrevious() {
return nextIndex > 0;
}
public E previous() {
throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
}
public int nextIndex() {
return nextIndex;
}
public int previousIndex() {
return nextIndex - 1;
}
public void remove() {
checkForComodification();
if (lastReturned == null)
throw new IllegalStateException();
unlink(lastReturned);
nextIndex--;
lastReturned = null;
expectedModCount++;
}
public void set(E e) {
if (lastReturned == null)
throw new IllegalStateException();
checkForComodification();
lastReturned.value = e;
}
public void add(E e) {
checkForComodification();
lastReturned = null;
if (next == null)
linkLast(e);
else
linkBefore(e, next);
nextIndex++;
expectedModCount++;
}
public void forEachRemaining(Consumer<? super E> action) {
Objects.requireNonNull(action);
while (modCount == expectedModCount && nextIndex < size()) {
action.accept(next.value);
lastReturned = next;
next = next.next;
nextIndex++;
}
checkForComodification();
}
final void checkForComodification() {
if (modCount != expectedModCount)
throw new ConcurrentModificationException();
}
}
/**
* #inheritDoc
*/
public int size() {
int size = 0;
if (value == null) return size;
SinglyLinkedListNode<E> cur = this;
while (cur != null) {
size++;
cur = cur.next;
}
return size;
}
private void checkPositionIndex(int index) {
if (!isPositionIndex(index))
throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException(outOfBoundsMsg(index));
}
/**
* Returns the (non-null) Node at the specified element index.
*/
SinglyLinkedListNode<E> node(int index) {
assert isElementIndex(index);
SinglyLinkedListNode<E> x = this;
for (int i = 0; i < index; i++)
x = x.next;
return x;
}
/**
* Tells if the argument is the index of an existing element.
*/
private boolean isElementIndex(int index) {
return index >= 0 && index < size();
}
/**
* Tells if the argument is the index of a valid position for an
* iterator or an add operation.
*/
private boolean isPositionIndex(int index) {
return index >= 0 && index <= size();
}
/**
* Constructs an IndexOutOfBoundsException detail message.
* Of the many possible refactorings of the error handling code,
* this "outlining" performs best with both server and client VMs.
*/
private String outOfBoundsMsg(int index) {
return "Index: "+index+", Size: " + size();
}
}
Here is the unit test code:
#Test public void typeReferenceTest() throws IOException {
ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
final SinglyLinkedListNode<Integer> intList = objectMapper.readValue("[1,2,3,4,5]",
new TypeReference<SinglyLinkedListNode<Integer>>() {});
System.out.println(intList);
final ArrayList<SinglyLinkedListNode<Integer>> arrayOfList = objectMapper.readValue("[[1,2,3], [4,5,6]]",
new TypeReference<ArrayList<SinglyLinkedListNode<Integer>>>() {});
System.out.println(arrayOfList);
}
#Tatu Saloranta Thank you very much!
Here is my original blog, Deserialize a JSON Array to a Singly Linked List