Convert JSON String to Pretty Print JSON output using Jackson

Question

This is the JSON string I have:

{"attributes":[{"nm":"ACCOUNT","lv":[{"v":{"Id":null,"State":null},"vt":"java.util.Map","cn":1}],"vt":"java.util.Map","status":"SUCCESS","lmd":13585},{"nm":"PROFILE","lv":[{"v":{"Party":null,"Ads":null},"vt":"java.util.Map","cn":2}],"vt":"java.util.Map","status":"SUCCESS","lmd":41962}]}

I need to convert the above JSON String into Pretty Print JSON Output (using Jackson), like below:

{
    "attributes": [
        {
            "nm": "ACCOUNT",
            "lv": [
                {
                    "v": {
                        "Id": null,
                        "State": null
                    },
                    "vt": "java.util.Map",
                    "cn": 1
                }
            ],
            "vt": "java.util.Map",
            "status": "SUCCESS",
            "lmd": 13585
        },
        {
            "nm": "PROFILE
            "lv": [
                {
                    "v": {
                        "Party": null,
                        "Ads": null
                    },
                    "vt": "java.util.Map",
                    "cn": 2
                }
            ],
            "vt": "java.util.Map",
            "status": "SUCCESS",
            "lmd": 41962
        }
    ]
}

Can anyone provide me an example based on my example above? How to achieve this scenario? I know there are lot of examples, but I am not able to understand those properly. Any help will be appreciated with a simple example.

Updated:

Below is the code I am using:

ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
System.out.println(mapper.defaultPrettyPrintingWriter().writeValueAsString(jsonString));

But this doesn't works with the way I needed the output as mentioned above.

Here's is the POJO I am using for the above JSON:

public class UrlInfo implements Serializable {

    private List<Attributes> attribute;

}

class Attributes {

    private String nm;
    private List<ValueList> lv;
    private String vt;
    private String status;
    private String lmd;

}


class ValueList {
    private String vt;
    private String cn;
    private List<String> v;
}

Can anyone tell me whether I got the right POJO for the JSON or not?

Updated:

String result = restTemplate.getForObject(url.toString(), String.class);

ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
Object json = mapper.readValue(result, Object.class);

String indented = mapper.defaultPrettyPrintingWriter().writeValueAsString(json);

System.out.println(indented);//This print statement show correct way I need

model.addAttribute("response", (indented));

Below line prints out something like this:

System.out.println(indented);


{
  "attributes" : [ {
    "nm" : "ACCOUNT",
    "error" : "null SYS00019CancellationException in CoreImpl fetchAttributes\n java.util.concurrent.CancellationException\n\tat java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(FutureTask.java:231)\n\tat java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.",
    "status" : "ERROR"
  } ]
}

which is the way I needed to be shown. But when I add it to model like this:

model.addAttribute("response", (indented));

And then shows it out in a resultform jsp page like below:

    <fieldset>
        <legend>Response:</legend>
            <strong>${response}</strong><br />

    </fieldset>

I get something like this:

{ "attributes" : [ { "nm" : "ACCOUNT", "error" : "null    
SYS00019CancellationException in CoreImpl fetchAttributes\n 
java.util.concurrent.CancellationException\n\tat 
java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerGet(FutureTask.java:231)\n\tat 
java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.", "status" : "ERROR" } ] }

which I don't need. I needed the way it got printed out above. Can anyone tell me why it happened this way?

Answer 1

To indent any old JSON, just bind it as Object, like:

Object json = mapper.readValue(input, Object.class);

and then write it out with indentation:

String indented = mapper.writerWithDefaultPrettyPrinter().writeValueAsString(json);

this avoids your having to define actual POJO to map data to.

Or you can use JsonNode (JSON Tree) as well.