Java convert XML to JSON and determine if array or object

Question

I need to convert XML into JSON and I have the following code which works fine. The problem, however, arises when an XML element should actually be converted into an array. My question is in two parts:

1) What is the proper way to represent an array in xml?

Here is the xml I'm currently using. The contents of elements should actually be an array. So elements[0] should be the element within.

<project id="200">
    <name>test</name>
    <elements>
        <element>
            <id>body</id>
            <width>200</width>
            <height>400</height>
            <children/>
        </element>
    </elements>
</project>

2) How can I convert the xml into JSON containing JSON arrays as well as objects?

private String xmlToJson(String xml) throws IOException {

    JSONObject jsonObject = XML.toJSONObject(xml);

    return jsonObject.toString(4);

} // End of XML to JSON

Many thanks

Please go through the previous answers on SO http://stackoverflow.com/a/1823328/1759128 — ItachiUchiha, Feb 25 '14 at 17:20
unfortunately that solution doesn't answer my question as it doesn't single out arrays — Tom Hadkiss, Feb 25 '14 at 17:30
Your best bet is to use an XML tool to create the array as a List, then a JSON tool to convert the List to JSON. — Hot Licks, Feb 25 '14 at 17:31
@msangel - How to do what? There are multiple tools for both -- just lash two of them together. — Hot Licks, Feb 25 '14 at 17:35

Valentyn Kolesnikov · Answer 1 · 2021-03-16T04:54:48.233

1

There is an underscore-java library with static method U.xmlToJson(xml). It supports a special attribute array="true" which forces the element to be an array.

<project id="200">
    <name>test</name>
    <elements>
        <element array="true">
            <id>body</id>
            <width>200</width>
            <height>400</height>
            <children/>
        </element>
    </elements>
</project>

Output:

{
  "project": {
    "-id": "200",
    "name": "test",
    "elements": [
      {
        "id": "body",
        "width": "200",
        "height": "400",
        "children": {
          "-self-closing": "true"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "#omit-xml-declaration": "yes"
}

edited Mar 16 '21 at 04:54

answered Jan 15 '20 at 08:11

Valentyn Kolesnikov

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I know we have MODE to replace self-closing portion value as null, do we have any MODE to replace with EMPTY – Nagendra Busam Sep 18 '20 at 17:32
1

I can add a new mode REPLACE_SELF_CLOSING_WITH_EMPTY. – Valentyn Kolesnikov Sep 19 '20 at 00:17
It will be available in nearest release. – Valentyn Kolesnikov Sep 26 '20 at 07:03
Is there a config/a way to discard "#omit-xml-declaration" key from response? – Nagendra Busam Nov 16 '20 at 21:14
We may exclude keys with help of method U.remove(map, key). As alternative you may add xml header. – Valentyn Kolesnikov Nov 17 '20 at 01:29

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 25 '14 at 17:36

0

Answering your 1st question: What is the proper way to represent an array in xml?

Please refere to: http://www.w3.org/2005/07/xml-schema-patterns.html#Vector

answered Feb 25 '14 at 17:36

andilabs

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Java convert XML to JSON and determine if array or object

2 Answers2