java - How parse json array with multiple objects by gson?

Question

How can I parse json using gson? I have a json array with multiple object types, and I don't know, what kind of object I need to create to save this structure. I cannot change the json data format (I don't control the server). Can I use gson or other library parse this json array, how should I do?

This is the json code block:

[
  {
    "type": 1,
    "object": {
      "title1": "title1",
      "title2": "title2"
    }
  },
  {
    "type": 2,
    "object": [
      "string",
      "string",
      "string"
    ]
  },
  {
    "type": 3,
    "object": [
      {
        "url": "url",
        "text": "text",
        "width": 600,
        "height": 600
      },
      {
        "url": "url",
        "text": "text",
        "width": 600,
        "height": 600
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "type": 4,
    "object": {
      "id": 337203,
      "type": 1,
      "city": "1"
    }
  }
]

Answer 1

This json structure is inherently gson-unfriendly. i.e You cannot model this cleanly in java because the "object" key refers to a dynamic type. The best you can do with this structure is model it like so:

    public class Models extends ArrayList<Models.Container> {

    public class Container {
        public int type;
        public Object object;
    }

    public class Type1Object {
        public String title1;
        public String title2;
    }

    public class Type3Object {
        public String url;
        public String text;
        public int width;
        public int height;
    }

    public class Type4Object {
        public int id;
        public int type;
        public int city;
    }

}

Then do some awkward switch on type and the object field:

String json = "{ ... json string ... }";
Gson gson = new Gson();
Models model = gson.fromJson(json, Models.class);


for (Models.Container container : model) {

    String innerJson = gson.toJson(container.object);

    switch(container.type){
        case 1:
            Models.Type1Object type1Object = gson.fromJson(innerJson, Models.Type1Object.class);
            // do something with type 1 object...                                
            break;
        case 2:
            String[] type2Object = gson.fromJson(innerJson, String[].class);
            // do something with type 2 object...
            break;
        case 3:
            Models.Type3Object[] type3Object = gson.fromJson(innerJson, Models.Type3Object[].class);
            // do something with type 3 object...
            break;
        case 4:
            Models.Type4Object type4Object = gson.fromJson(innerJson, Models.Type4Object.class);
            // do something with type 4 object...
            break;

    }
}

Ultimately the best solution is to get the json structure changed to something more compatible with java.

E.g:

[
  {
    "type": 1,
    "type1Object": {
      "title1": "title1",
      "title2": "title2"
    }
  },
  {
    "type": 2,
    "type2Object": [
      "string",
      "string",
      "string"
    ]
  },
  {
    "type": 3,
    "type3Object": [
      {
        "url": "url",
        "text": "text",
        "width": 600,
        "height": 600
      },
      {
        "url": "url",
        "text": "text",
        "width": 600,
        "height": 600
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "type": 4,
    "type4Object": {
      "id": 337203,
      "type": 1,
      "city": "1"
    }
  }
]