Is this a valid JSON?

Question

I am successfully parsing a json which looks like this, which in this particular case represents an array with 2 items:

{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "John"
    },
    {
      "id": 2,
      "name": "Mark"
    }
  ]
}

However, I can't figure out how to parse one like this:

{
  "items": {

    "1": {
      "id": 1,
      "name": "John"     
    },
    "2": {
      "id": 2,      
      "name": "Mark"
    }

  }
}

As you can see, the second json is pretty similar to previous one, except after items it begins with "{", which means it is an object not an array, but I need that data to treat like an array.

Is this an invalid json, or I am missing something?

EDIT:
Ok, got it. The json is valid.
Let me please reformulate the question. What I am actually looking for is how could I get the second json into a list of items. Somewhere in the code I am doing this:

ItemsResponse itemsResponse = JsonMarshaller.fromJson(ItemsResponse.class, response);

and the ItemsResponse class:

public class ItemsResponse {
    private List<Item> items;
    // getters and setters
}

but it fails with an exception which says that the beginning of the json is an object, not an array.

SOLUTION:
The correct way is to use a Map instead of the List:

public class ItemsResponse {
    private Map<String, Item> items;
    // getters and setters
}

Both are valid Json. First one is fine if you want to iterate. — Rethinavel, Apr 02 '14 at 10:45
For checking valid josn.. check http://www.jsoneditoronline.org/ — Virag Brahme, Apr 02 '14 at 10:46
Use http://www.jsonlint.org/ to check wether a json is valid or not? — Amit Gupta, Apr 02 '14 at 10:48
pro.jsonlint.com // put your json over here ... it will tell you that you have the valid json or not — Akarsh M, Apr 02 '14 at 10:49
possible duplicate of [Android JSON parsing of multiple JSONObjects inside JSONObject](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22606572/android-json-parsing-of-multiple-jsonobjects-inside-jsonobject) — Pankaj Kumar, Apr 02 '14 at 11:14

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:49

1

Read the answer of Ahmad Dwaik 'Warlock' here You can check your json here

edited May 23 '17 at 11:49

Community

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answered Apr 02 '14 at 10:49

cgr

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Yep, categories and keys, that is what I was missing. Never had a chance to parse a json formatted in this way. Thank you. – Andy Res Apr 02 '14 at 11:08

Is this a valid JSON?

1 Answers1