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Jackson JSON - Using @JsonAnySetter to deserialize unmapped JSON properties

[Last Updated: Aug 11, 2020]

@JsonAnySetter annotation can be used to define "any setter" mutator. It is used on a non-static two-argument method; first argument is name of property and the second one, is the value of the property. It can also be used on a field (of type Map or POJO). It acts as a "fallback" handler for all otherwise unmapped properties found in input JSON content. It is the counterpart to "any getter" (see @JsonAnyGetter).

Example

POJO

public class ScreenInfo {
    private String id;
    private String title;
    private int width;
    private int height;
    private Map<String, Object> otherInfo;
    ......

    @JsonAnySetter
    public void addOtherInfo(String propertyKey, Object value) {
        if (this.otherInfo == null) {
            this.otherInfo = new HashMap<>();
        }
        this.otherInfo.put(propertyKey, value);
    }
    .....
}

Deserializing JSON

public class MainScreenInfoDeSerialization {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
      String jsonString = "{\"id\":\"TradeDetails\",\"title\":\"Trade Details\","
              + "\"width\":500,\"height\":300,\"xLocation\":400,\"yLocation\":200}";

      System.out.println("-- before deserialization --");
      System.out.println(jsonString);

      ObjectMapper om = new ObjectMapper();
      ScreenInfo screenInfo = om.readValue(jsonString, ScreenInfo.class);
      System.out.println("-- after deserialization --");
      System.out.println(screenInfo);
  }
}
-- before deserialization --
{"id":"TradeDetails","title":"Trade Details","width":500,"height":300,"xLocation":400,"yLocation":200}
-- after deserialization --
ScreenInfo{id='TradeDetails', title='Trade Details', width=500, height=300, otherInfo={xLocation=400, yLocation=200}}

Without @JsonAnySetter

If we remove @JsonAnySetter from ScreenInfo#addOtherInfo() method then output will be:

-- before deserialization --
{"id":"TradeDetails","title":"Trade Details","width":500,"height":300,"xLocation":400,"yLocation":200}
Exception in thread "main" com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.exc.UnrecognizedPropertyException: Unrecognized field "xLocation" (class com.logicbig.example.ScreenInfo), not marked as ignorable (4 known properties: "title", "id", "width", "height"])
....

Example Project

Dependencies and Technologies Used:

  • jackson-databind 2.9.6: General data-binding functionality for Jackson: works on core streaming API.
  • JDK 10
  • Maven 3.5.4

@JsonAnySetter Example Select All Download
  • jackson-json-any-setter-example
    • src
      • main
        • java
          • com
            • logicbig
              • example
                • MainScreenInfoDeSerialization.java

    See Also