How to handle Dynamic JSON in Retrofit?
I am using the retrofit efficient networking library, but I am unable to handle Dynamic JSON which contains single prefix responseMessage
which changes to object
randomly, the same prefix ( responseMessage
) changes to String in some cases (dynamically).
Json format Object of responseMessage:
{
"applicationType":"1",
"responseMessage":{
"surname":"Jhon",
"forename":" taylor",
"dob":"17081990",
"refNo":"3394909238490F",
"result":"Received"
}
}
responseMessage
Json format dynamically changes to type string:
{
"applicationType":"4",
"responseMessage":"Success"
}
My problem is since retrofit has built-in JSON
parsing, I have to assign single POJO per request! but the REST-API unfortunately, is built on dynamic JSON
responses. The prefix will change from string to object randomly in both success(...) and failure(...) methods!
void doTrackRef(Map<String, String> paramsref2) {
RestAdapter restAdapter = new RestAdapter.Builder().setEndpoint("http://192.168.100.44/RestDemo").build();
TrackerRefRequest userref = restAdapter.create(TrackerRefRequest.class);
userref.login(paramsref2,
new Callback<TrackerRefResponse>() {
@Override
public void success(
TrackerRefResponse trackdetailresponse,
Response response) {
Toast.makeText(TrackerActivity.this, "Success",
Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
@Override
public void failure(RetrofitError retrofitError) {
Toast.makeText(TrackerActivity.this, "No internet",
Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
});
}
Pojo:
public class TrackerRefResponse {
private String applicationType;
private String responseMessage; //String type
//private ResponseMessage responseMessage; //Object of type ResponseMessage
//Setters and Getters
}
In above code POJO TrackerRefResponse.java prefix responseMessage is set to string or object of type responseMessage , so we can create the POJO with ref variable with same name (java basics :) ) so I'm looking for same solution for dynamic JSON
in Retrofit.
I know this is very easy job in normal http clients with async task, but it's not the best practice in the REST-Api JSON
parsing! looking at the performance Benchmarks always Volley or Retrofit is the best choice, but I'm failed handle dynamic JSON
!
Possible solution I Know
Use old asyc task with http client parsing. :(
Try to convince the RESTapi backend developer.
Create custom Retrofit client :)
Late to the party, but you can use a converter.
RestAdapter restAdapter = new RestAdapter.Builder()
.setEndpoint("https://graph.facebook.com")
.setConverter(new DynamicJsonConverter()) // set your static class as converter here
.build();
api = restAdapter.create(FacebookApi.class);
Then you use a static class which implements retrofit's Converter:
static class DynamicJsonConverter implements Converter {
@Override public Object fromBody(TypedInput typedInput, Type type) throws ConversionException {
try {
InputStream in = typedInput.in(); // convert the typedInput to String
String string = fromStream(in);
in.close(); // we are responsible to close the InputStream after use
if (String.class.equals(type)) {
return string;
} else {
return new Gson().fromJson(string, type); // convert to the supplied type, typically Object, JsonObject or Map<String, Object>
}
} catch (Exception e) { // a lot may happen here, whatever happens
throw new ConversionException(e); // wrap it into ConversionException so retrofit can process it
}
}
@Override public TypedOutput toBody(Object object) { // not required
return null;
}
private static String fromStream(InputStream in) throws IOException {
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(in));
StringBuilder out = new StringBuilder();
String line;
while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
out.append(line);
out.append("\r\n");
}
return out.toString();
}
}
I have written this sample converter so it returns the Json response either as String, Object, JsonObject or Map< String, Object >. Obviously not all return types will work for every Json, and there is sure room for improvement. But it demonstrates how to use a Converter to convert almost any response to dynamic Json.
RestClient.java
import retrofit.client.Response;
public interface RestClient {
@GET("/api/foo") Response getYourJson();
}
YourClass.java
RestClient restClient;
// create your restClient
Response response = restClient.getYourJson();
Gson gson = new Gson();
String json = response.getBody().toString();
if (checkResponseMessage(json)) {
Pojo1 pojo1 = gson.fromJson(json, Pojo1.class);
} else {
Pojo2 pojo2 = gson.fromJson(json, Pojo2.class);
}
You must implement "checkResponseMessage" method.