Handling "Unrecognized token" exception in custom json with Jackson

Question

I'm trying to use the Jackson json parser(v2.5.2) to parse a custom json document that isn't true json and I can't figure out how to make it work. I have a json document that might look like:

{
    "test": {
        "one":"oneThing",
        "two": nonStandardThing(),
        "three": true
    }
}

I want to use the ObjectMapper to map this to a java.util.Map and I would just like the nonStandardThing() to be added as a String value in my map for the key two.

When I run this through the ObjectMapper.readValue(json, Map.class) I get the exception:

com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException: Unrecognized token 'nonStandardThing': was expecting 'null', 'true', 'false' or NaN
 at [Source: { "test":{"test1":nonStandardThing(),"test2":"two"}}; line: 1, column: 35]
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser._constructError(JsonParser.java:1487)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.core.base.ParserMinimalBase._reportError(ParserMinimalBase.java:518)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.core.json.ReaderBasedJsonParser._reportInvalidToken(ReaderBasedJsonParser.java:2300)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.core.json.ReaderBasedJsonParser._reportInvalidToken(ReaderBasedJsonParser.java:2277)

I have tried to register a DeserializationProblemHandler with the ObjectMapper but it is never called when this problem occurs.

Here is sample application that shows what I have tried:

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonDeserializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.DeserializationProblemHandler;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.logging.Level;
import java.util.logging.Logger;

public class JacksonDeserializerTest {
    private Logger log = Logger.getLogger(JacksonDeserializerTest.class.getName());
    public JacksonDeserializerTest() {
        String validJson = "{ \"test\":{\"test1\":\"one\",\"test2\":\"two\"}}";
        String invalidJson = "{ \"test\":{\"test1\":nonStandardThing(),\"test2\":\"two\"}}";

        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
        mapper.addHandler(new DeserializationProblemHandler() {
            @Override
            public boolean handleUnknownProperty(DeserializationContext dc, JsonParser jp, JsonDeserializer<?> jd, Object bean, String property) throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
                System.out.println("Handling unknown property: " + property);
                return false;
            }
        });

        try {
            log.log(Level.INFO, "Valid json looks like: {0}", mapper.readValue( validJson, Map.class).toString());
            log.log(Level.INFO, "Invalid json looks like: {0}", mapper.readValue(invalidJson, Map.class).toString());
        } catch (IOException ex) {
            log.log(Level.SEVERE, "Error parsing json", ex);
        }

    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        JacksonDeserializerTest test = new JacksonDeserializerTest();
    }
}

The output looks like:

Apr 24, 2015 1:40:27 PM net.acesinc.data.json.generator.jackson.JacksonDeserializerTest <init>
INFO: Valid json looks like: {test={test1=one, test2=two}}
Apr 24, 2015 1:40:27 PM net.acesinc.data.json.generator.jackson.JacksonDeserializerTest <init>
SEVERE: Error parsing json
com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException: Unrecognized token 'nonStandardThing': was expecting 'null', 'true', 'false' or NaN
 at [Source: { "test":{"test1":nonStandardThing(),"test2":"two"}}; line: 1, column: 35]
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser._constructError(JsonParser.java:1487)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.core.base.ParserMinimalBase._reportError(ParserMinimalBase.java:518)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.core.json.ReaderBasedJsonParser._reportInvalidToken(ReaderBasedJsonParser.java:2300)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.core.json.ReaderBasedJsonParser._reportInvalidToken(ReaderBasedJsonParser.java:2277)
    at com.fasterxml.jackson.core.json.ReaderBasedJsonParser._matchToken(ReaderBasedJsonParser.java:2129)

Can anyone point out why the Handler never gets called? Or, if there is a better parse this custom json document (jackson or not...), let me know.

Answer 1

The handler is not called because the invalid part is not the property ("two") but the value (nonStandardThing()).

An obvious way to handle this, is to pass nonStandardThing() as a String, i.e. rewrite the JSON document as

{
    "test": {
        "one":"oneThing",
        "two": "nonStandardThing()",
        "three": true
    }
}

If that is not a possibility, there is not much to do. Using a custom Jackson Deserializer is only useful for properties, not values.