The following example shows how to create an object model from JSON data in a text file:

import java.io.FileReader;
import javax.json.Json;
import javax.json.JsonReader;
import javax.json.JsonStructure;
...
JsonReader reader = Json.createReader(new FileReader("jsondata.txt"));
JsonStructure jsonst = reader.read();

The object reference jsonst can be either of type JsonObject or of type JsonArray, depending on the contents of the file. JsonObject and JsonArray are subtypes of JsonStructure. This reference represents the top of the tree and can be used to navigate the tree or to write it to a stream as JSON data.

The following example shows how to create an object model from application code:

import javax.json.Json;
import javax.json.JsonObject;
...
JsonObject model = Json.createObjectBuilder()
   .add("firstName", "Duke")
   .add("lastName", "Java")
   .add("age", 18)
   .add("streetAddress", "100 Internet Dr")
   .add("city", "JavaTown")
   .add("state", "JA")
   .add("postalCode", "12345")
   .add("phoneNumbers", Json.createArrayBuilder()
      .add(Json.createObjectBuilder()
         .add("type", "mobile")
         .add("number", "111-111-1111"))
      .add(Json.createObjectBuilder()
         .add("type", "home")
         .add("number", "222-222-2222")))
   .build();

The object reference model represents the top of the tree, which is created by nesting invocations to the add methods and is built by invoking the build method. The javax.json.JsonObjectBuilder interface contains the following add methods:

JsonObjectBuilder add(String name, BigDecimal value)
JsonObjectBuilder add(String name, BigInteger value)
JsonObjectBuilder add(String name, boolean value)
JsonObjectBuilder add(String name, double value)
JsonObjectBuilder add(String name, int value)
JsonObjectBuilder add(String name, JsonArrayBuilder builder)
JsonObjectBuilder add(String name, JsonObjectBuilder builder)
JsonObjectBuilder add(String name, JsonValue value)
JsonObjectBuilder add(String name, long value)
JsonObjectBuilder add(String name, String value)
JsonObjectBuilder addNull(String name)

The javax.json.JsonArrayBuilder interface contains similar add methods that do not have a name (key) parameter. You can nest arrays and objects by passing a new JsonArrayBuilder object or a new JsonObjectBuilder object to the corresponding add method, as shown in this example.

The resulting tree represents the JSON data from JSON Syntax.

The following example shows a simple approach to navigating an object model:

import javax.json.JsonValue;
import javax.json.JsonObject;
import javax.json.JsonArray;
import javax.json.JsonNumber;
import javax.json.JsonString;
...
public static void navigateTree(JsonValue tree, String key) {
   if (key != null)
      System.out.print("Key " + key + ": ");
   switch(tree.getValueType()) {
      case OBJECT:
         System.out.println("OBJECT");
         JsonObject object = (JsonObject) tree;
         for (String name : object.keySet())
            navigateTree(object.get(name), name);
         break;
      case ARRAY:
         System.out.println("ARRAY");
         JsonArray array = (JsonArray) tree;
         for (JsonValue val : array)
            navigateTree(val, null);
         break;
      case STRING:
         JsonString st = (JsonString) tree;
         System.out.println("STRING " + st.getString());
         break;
      case NUMBER:
         JsonNumber num = (JsonNumber) tree;
         System.out.println("NUMBER " + num.toString());
         break;
      case TRUE:
      case FALSE:
      case NULL:
         System.out.println(tree.getValueType().toString());
         break;
   }
}

The navigateTree method can be used with the models shown in Creating an Object Model from JSON Data and Creating an Object Model from Application Code as follows:

navigateTree(model, null);

The navigateTree method takes two arguments: a JSON element and a key. The key is used only to help print the key-value pairs inside objects. Elements in a tree are represented by the JsonValue type. If the element is an object or an array, a new invocation to this method is made for every element contained in the object or array. If the element is a value, it is printed to standard output.

The JsonValue.getValueType method identifies the element as an object, an array, or a value. For objects, the JsonObject.keySet method returns a set of strings that contains the keys in the object, and the JsonObject.get(String name) method returns the value of the element whose key is name. For arrays, JsonArray implements the List<JsonValue> interface. You can use enhanced for loops with the Set<String> instance returned by JsonObject.keySet and with instances of JsonArray, as shown in this example.

The navigateTree method for the model shown in Creating an Object Model from Application Code produces the following output:

OBJECT
Key firstName: STRING Duke
Key lastName: STRING Java
Key age: NUMBER 18
Key streetAddress: STRING 100 Internet Dr
Key city: STRING JavaTown
Key state: STRING JA
Key postalCode: STRING 12345
Key phoneNumbers: ARRAY
OBJECT
Key type: STRING mobile
Key number: STRING 111-111-1111
OBJECT
Key type: STRING home
Key number: STRING 222-222-2222

The object models created in Creating an Object Model from JSON Data and Creating an Object Model from Application Code can be written to a stream using the javax.json.JsonWriter interface as follows:

import java.io.StringWriter;
import javax.json.JsonWriter;
...
StringWriter stWriter = new StringWriter();
JsonWriter jsonWriter = Json.createWriter(stWriter);
jsonWriter.writeObject(model);
jsonWriter.close();
 
String jsonData = stWriter.toString();
System.out.println(jsonData);
 
The Json.createWriter method takes an output stream as a parameter. The JsonWriter.writeObject method writes the object to the stream. The JsonWriter.close method closes the underlying output stream.
 
The following example uses try-with-resources to close the JSON writer automatically:
 
StringWriter stWriter = new StringWriter();
try (JsonWriter jsonWriter = Json.createWriter(stWriter)) {
   jsonWriter.writeObject(model);
}
 
String jsonData = stWriter.toString();
System.out.println(jsonData);

The streaming API is the most efficient approach for parsing JSON text. The following example shows how to create a JsonParser object and how to parse JSON data using events:

import javax.json.Json;
import javax.json.stream.JsonParser;
...
JsonParser parser = Json.createParser(new StringReader(jsonData));
while (parser.hasNext()) {
   JsonParser.Event event = parser.next();
   switch(event) {
      case START_ARRAY:
      case END_ARRAY:
      case START_OBJECT:
      case END_OBJECT:
      case VALUE_FALSE:
      case VALUE_NULL:
      case VALUE_TRUE:
         System.out.println(event.toString());
         break;
      case KEY_NAME:
         System.out.print(event.toString() + " " +
                          parser.getString() + " - ");
         break;
      case VALUE_STRING:
      case VALUE_NUMBER:
         System.out.println(event.toString() + " " +
                            parser.getString());
         break;
   }
}

This example consists of three steps:

The example shows the ten possible event types from the parser. The parser's next method advances it to the next event.

For the event types KEY_NAME, VALUE_STRING, and VALUE_NUMBER, you can obtain the content of the element by invoking the JsonParser.getString method.

For VALUE_NUMBER events, you can also use the following methods:

START_OBJECT
KEY_NAME firstName - VALUE_STRING Duke
KEY_NAME lastName - VALUE_STRING Java
KEY_NAME age - VALUE_NUMBER 18
KEY_NAME streetAddress - VALUE_STRING 100 Internet Dr
KEY_NAME city - VALUE_STRING JavaTown
KEY_NAME state - VALUE_STRING JA
KEY_NAME postalCode - VALUE_STRING 12345
KEY_NAME phoneNumbers - START_ARRAY
START_OBJECT
KEY_NAME type - VALUE_STRING mobile
KEY_NAME number - VALUE_STRING 111-111-1111
END_OBJECT
START_OBJECT
KEY_NAME type - VALUE_STRING home
KEY_NAME number - VALUE_STRING 222-222-2222
END_OBJECT
END_ARRAY
END_OBJECT

The following example shows how to write JSON data to a file using the streaming API:

FileWriter writer = new FileWriter("test.txt");
JsonGenerator gen = Json.createGenerator(writer);
gen.writeStartObject()
   .write("firstName", "Duke")
   .write("lastName", "Java")
   .write("age", 18)
   .write("streetAddress", "100 Internet Dr")
   .write("city", "JavaTown")
   .write("state", "JA")
   .write("postalCode", "12345")
   .writeStartArray("phoneNumbers")
      .writeStartObject()
         .write("type", "mobile")
         .write("number", "111-111-1111")
      .writeEnd()
      .writeStartObject()
         .write("type", "home")
         .write("number", "222-222-2222")
      .writeEnd()
   .writeEnd()
.writeEnd();
gen.close();

This example obtains a JSON generator by invoking the Json.createGenerator static method, which takes a writer or an output stream as a parameter. The example writes JSON data to the test.txt file by nesting invocations to the write, writeStartArray, writeStartObject, and writeEnd methods. The JsonGenerator.close method closes the underlying writer or output stream.