com.fasterxml.jackson.databind
Class JsonSerializer<T>

java.lang.Object
  com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonSerializer<T>

All Implemented Interfaces:

JsonFormatVisitable

Direct Known Subclasses:

JsonSerializer.None, StdSerializer, TypeWrappedSerializer

public abstract class JsonSerializer<T>
extends Object
implements JsonFormatVisitable

Abstract class that defines API used by ObjectMapper (and other chained JsonSerializers too) to serialize Objects of arbitrary types into JSON, using provided JsonGenerator.

NOTE: it is recommended that custom serializers extend StdSerializer instead of this class, since it will implement many of optional methods of this class.

If serializer is an aggregate one -- meaning it delegates handling of some of its contents by using other serializer(s) -- it typically also needs to implement ResolvableSerializer, which can locate secondary serializers needed. This is important to allow dynamic overrides of serializers; separate call interface is needed to separate resolution of secondary serializers (which may have cyclic link back to serializer itself, directly or indirectly).

In addition, to support per-property annotations (to configure aspects of serialization on per-property basis), serializers may want to implement ContextualSerializer, which allows specialization of serializers: call to ContextualSerializer.createContextual(com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.SerializerProvider, com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.BeanProperty) is passed information on property, and can create a newly configured serializer for handling that particular property.

If both ResolvableSerializer and ContextualSerializer are implemented, resolution of serializers occurs before contextualization.

Nested Class Summary

static class

JsonSerializer.None This marker class is only to be used with annotations, to indicate that no serializer is configured.

Constructor Summary

JsonSerializer()

Method Summary

void	acceptJsonFormatVisitor(JsonFormatVisitorWrapper visitor, JavaType type) Default implementation simply calls JsonFormatVisitorWrapper.expectAnyFormat(JavaType).
JsonSerializer<?>	getDelegatee() Accessor that can be used to determine if this serializer uses another serializer for actual serialization, by delegating calls.
Class<T>	handledType() Method for accessing type of Objects this serializer can handle.
boolean	isEmpty(T value) Method called to check whether given serializable value is considered "empty" value (for purposes of suppressing serialization of empty values).
boolean	isUnwrappingSerializer() Accessor for checking whether this serializer is an "unwrapping" serializer; this is necessary to know since it may also require caller to suppress writing of the leading property name.
JsonSerializer<T>	replaceDelegatee(JsonSerializer<?> delegatee) Method that can be called to try to replace serializer this serializer delegates calls to.
abstract void	serialize(T value, JsonGenerator jgen, SerializerProvider provider) Method that can be called to ask implementation to serialize values of type this serializer handles.
void	serializeWithType(T value, JsonGenerator jgen, SerializerProvider provider, TypeSerializer typeSer) Method that can be called to ask implementation to serialize values of type this serializer handles, using specified type serializer for embedding necessary type information.
JsonSerializer<T>	unwrappingSerializer(NameTransformer unwrapper) Method that will return serializer instance that produces "unwrapped" serialization, if applicable for type being serialized (which is the case for some serializers that produce JSON Objects as output).
boolean	usesObjectId() Method that can be called to see whether this serializer instance will use Object Id to handle cyclic references.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

JsonSerializer

public JsonSerializer()

Method Detail

unwrappingSerializer

public JsonSerializer<T> unwrappingSerializer(NameTransformer unwrapper)

Method that will return serializer instance that produces "unwrapped" serialization, if applicable for type being serialized (which is the case for some serializers that produce JSON Objects as output). If no unwrapped serializer can be constructed, will simply return serializer as-is.

Default implementation just returns serializer as-is, indicating that no unwrapped variant exists

Parameters:

unwrapper - Name transformation to use to convert between names of unwrapper properties

replaceDelegatee

public JsonSerializer<T> replaceDelegatee(JsonSerializer<?> delegatee)

Method that can be called to try to replace serializer this serializer delegates calls to. If not supported (either this serializer does not delegate anything; or it does not want any changes), should either throw UnsupportedOperationException (if operation does not make sense or is not allowed); or return this serializer as is.

Since:

2.1

serialize

public abstract void serialize(T value,
                               JsonGenerator jgen,
                               SerializerProvider provider)
                        throws IOException,
                               JsonProcessingException

Method that can be called to ask implementation to serialize values of type this serializer handles.

Parameters:

value - Value to serialize; can not be null.

jgen - Generator used to output resulting Json content

provider - Provider that can be used to get serializers for serializing Objects value contains, if any.

Throws:

IOException

JsonProcessingException

serializeWithType

public void serializeWithType(T value,
                              JsonGenerator jgen,
                              SerializerProvider provider,
                              TypeSerializer typeSer)
                       throws IOException,
                              JsonProcessingException

Method that can be called to ask implementation to serialize values of type this serializer handles, using specified type serializer for embedding necessary type information.

Default implementation will throw UnsupportedOperationException to indicate that proper type handling needs to be implemented.

For simple datatypes written as a single scalar value (JSON String, Number, Boolean), implementation would look like:

  // note: method to call depends on whether this type is serialized as JSON scalar, object or Array!
  typeSer.writeTypePrefixForScalar(value, jgen);
  serialize(value, jgen, provider);
  typeSer.writeTypeSuffixForScalar(value, jgen);

and implementations for type serialized as JSON Arrays or Objects would differ slightly, as START-ARRAY>/END-ARRAY and START-OBJECT>/END-OBJECT pairs need to be properly handled with respect to serializing of contents.

Parameters:

value - Value to serialize; can not be null.

jgen - Generator used to output resulting Json content

provider - Provider that can be used to get serializers for serializing Objects value contains, if any.

typeSer - Type serializer to use for including type information

Throws:

IOException

JsonProcessingException

handledType

public Class<T> handledType()

Method for accessing type of Objects this serializer can handle. Note that this information is not guaranteed to be exact -- it may be a more generic (super-type) -- but it should not be incorrect (return a non-related type).

Default implementation will return null, which essentially means same as returning Object.class would; that is, that nothing is known about handled type.

isEmpty

public boolean isEmpty(T value)

Method called to check whether given serializable value is considered "empty" value (for purposes of suppressing serialization of empty values).

Default implementation will consider only null values to be empty.

Since:

2.0

usesObjectId

public boolean usesObjectId()

Method that can be called to see whether this serializer instance will use Object Id to handle cyclic references.

isUnwrappingSerializer

public boolean isUnwrappingSerializer()

Accessor for checking whether this serializer is an "unwrapping" serializer; this is necessary to know since it may also require caller to suppress writing of the leading property name.

getDelegatee

public JsonSerializer<?> getDelegatee()

Accessor that can be used to determine if this serializer uses another serializer for actual serialization, by delegating calls. If so, will return immediate delegate (which itself may delegate to further serializers); otherwise will return null.

Returns:

Serializer this serializer delegates calls to, if null; null otherwise.

Since:

2.1

acceptJsonFormatVisitor

public void acceptJsonFormatVisitor(JsonFormatVisitorWrapper visitor,
                                    JavaType type)
                             throws JsonMappingException

Default implementation simply calls JsonFormatVisitorWrapper.expectAnyFormat(JavaType).

Specified by:

acceptJsonFormatVisitor in interface JsonFormatVisitable

type - Type of element (entity like property) being visited

Throws:

JsonMappingException

Since:

2.1