Deserialize List<Interface> with jackson

Question

I want to deserialize json to class Foo:

class Foo {
   List<IBar> bars;
}

interface IBar {
   ...
}

class Bar implements IBar {
   ...
}

IBar has two implementations, but when deserializing I always want to use the first implementation. (This should ideally make the problem easier, because there is no runtime type checking required)

I am sure I can write custom deserializers, but felt there must be something easier.

I found this annotation, which works perfectly when there is no list.

@JsonDeserialize(as=Bar.class)
IBar bar;

List<IBar> bars; // Don't know how to use the annotation here.

Answer 1

@JsonDeserialize(contentAs=Bar.class)
List<IBar> bars;