Formatting JSON data in Java

Question

Ive been coding with Java for a few months now, but i have almost zero experience when it comes to web-programming, so excuse me if my question is stupid. Now I wanted to format this JSON data in a way that it looks better : https://apps.runescape.com/runemetrics/profile/profile?user=Gragoyle&activities=20

like this : http://imgur.com/PZffFDc

Ive looked up multiple solutions which all seem pretty confusing and not exactly how I wanted it. It would be very nice if you could explain me how I can format this raw text.

Answer 1

GSON is a Java serialization/deserialization library that can convert Java Objects into JSON and back.

Try this code using GSON:

public static void main(String[] args) {
        Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().setPrettyPrinting().create();
        JsonParser jp = new JsonParser();
        String uglyJSONString = "{\"magic\":7322944,\"questsstarted\":8,\"totalskill\":2051,\"questscomplete\":109,\"questsnotstarted\":107,\"totalxp\":101280135,\"ranged\":14577633,\"activities\":[{\"date\":\"03-Sep-2016 19:45\",\"details\":\"Now that the Piscatoris fishing colony is safe, the Wise Old Man has returned to Draynor to retire from his adventurous life.\",\"text\":\"Quest complete: Swan Song\"},{\"date\":\"31-Aug-2016 21:00\",\"details\":\"I levelled my  Fishing skill, I am now level 66.\",\"text\":\"Levelled up Fishing.\"},{\"date\":\"29-Aug-2016 20:56\",\"details\":\"I levelled my  Fishing skill, I am now level 65.\",\"text\":\"Levelled up Fishing.\"},{\"date\":\"28-Aug-2016 21:17\",\"details\":\"I levelled my  Woodcutting skill, I am now level 77.\",\"text\":\"Levelled up Woodcutting.\"},{\"date\":\"28-Aug-2016 00:27\",\"details\":\"I levelled my  Attack skill, I am now level 96.\",\"text\":\"Levelled up Attack.\"},{\"date\":\"28-Aug-2016 00:13\",\"details\":\"After killing a Dark beast, it dropped a dragon helm.\",\"text\":\"I found a dragon helm\"},{\"date\":\"28-Aug-2016 00:13\",\"details\":\"I levelled my  Slayer skill, I am now level 95.\",\"text\":\"Levelled up Slayer.\"},{\"date\":\"27-Aug-2016 20:50\",\"details\":\"After killing a Gargoyle, it dropped a granite maul.\",\"text\":\"I found a granite maul\"},{\"date\":\"27-Aug-2016 20:46\",\"details\":\"After killing a Gargoyle, it dropped a granite maul.\",\"text\":\"I found a granite maul\"},{\"date\":\"27-Aug-2016 20:17\",\"details\":\"I levelled my  Attack skill, I am now level 95.\",\"text\":\"Levelled up Attack.\"},{\"date\":\"27-Aug-2016 18:51\",\"details\":\"I now have at least 14000000 experience points in the Constitution skill.\",\"text\":\"14000000XP in Constitution\"},{\"date\":\"27-Aug-2016 13:41\",\"details\":\"After killing a Mutated jadinko male, it dropped a whip vine.\",\"text\":\"I found a whip vine\"},{\"date\":\"27-Aug-2016 13:35\",\"details\":\"After killing a Mutated jadinko male, it dropped a whip vine.\",\"text\":\"I found a whip vine\"},{\"date\":\"26-Aug-2016 23:35\",\"details\":\"I levelled my  Slayer skill, I am now level 94.\",\"text\":\"Levelled up Slayer.\"},{\"date\":\"26-Aug-2016 22:47\",\"details\":\"After killing a Dark beast, it dropped a dark bow.\",\"text\":\"I found a dark bow\"},{\"date\":\"26-Aug-2016 22:47\",\"details\":\"I levelled my  Attack skill, I am now level 94.\",\"text\":\"Levelled up Attack.\"},{\"date\":\"26-Aug-2016 22:35\",\"details\":\"I levelled my  Thieving skill, I am now level 67.\",\"text\":\"Levelled up Thieving.\"},{\"date\":\"26-Aug-2016 21:08\",\"details\":\"I levelled my  Firemaking skill, I am now level 76.\",\"text\":\"Levelled up Firemaking.\"},{\"date\":\"25-Aug-2016 16:34\",\"details\":\"I levelled my  Attack skill, I am now level 93.\",\"text\":\"Levelled up Attack.\"},{\"date\":\"24-Aug-2016 20:41\",\"details\":\"After killing a Ice strykewyrm, it dropped a staff of light.\",\"text\":\"I found a staff of light\"}],\"skillvalues\":[{\"level\":99,\"xp\":175680443,\"rank\":88376,\"id\":4},{\"level\":99,\"xp\":145776331,\"rank\":190066,\"id\":3},{\"level\":99,\"xp\":139648694,\"rank\":134410,\"id\":1},{\"level\":96,\"xp\":100774564,\"rank\":200142,\"id\":0},{\"level\":95,\"xp\":90523125,\"rank\":133284,\"id\":18},{\"level\":93,\"xp\":73229446,\"rank\":198748,\"id\":5},{\"level\":89,\"xp\":50699126,\"rank\":157375,\"id\":23},{\"level\":81,\"xp\":23157603,\"rank\":414400,\"id\":6},{\"level\":81,\"xp\":22893105,\"rank\":130514,\"id\":25},{\"level\":81,\"xp\":22126995,\"rank\":192969,\"id\":12},{\"level\":79,\"xp\":19769900,\"rank\":487102,\"id\":2},{\"level\":78,\"xp\":17627591,\"rank\":248295,\"id\":24},{\"level\":77,\"xp\":15277305,\"rank\":199776,\"id\":22},{\"level\":77,\"xp\":14769284,\"rank\":484339,\"id\":8},{\"level\":76,\"xp\":14414476,\"rank\":369076,\"id\":11},{\"level\":76,\"xp\":14293211,\"rank\":213478,\"id\":16},{\"level\":75,\"xp\":13146625,\"rank\":265506,\"id\":15},{\"level\":75,\"xp\":12996081,\"rank\":289349,\"id\":14},{\"level\":73,\"xp\":10076779,\"rank\":408471,\"id\":9},{\"level\":72,\"xp\":9915667,\"rank\":301575,\"id\":13},{\"level\":67,\"xp\":5936573,\"rank\":530243,\"id\":7},{\"level\":67,\"xp\":5905270,\"rank\":268005,\"id\":17},{\"level\":66,\"xp\":5454333,\"rank\":506599,\"id\":10},{\"level\":64,\"xp\":4099952,\"rank\":285374,\"id\":19},{\"level\":60,\"xp\":2843575,\"rank\":383683,\"id\":21},{\"level\":55,\"xp\":1765392,\"rank\":439089,\"id\":20},{\"level\":1,\"xp\":0,\"rank\":0,\"id\":26}],\"name\":\"Gragoyle\",\"rank\":\"238,029\",\"melee\":57622502,\"combatlevel\":136,\"loggedIn\":\"false\"}";
        JsonElement je = jp.parse(uglyJSONString);
        String prettyJsonString = gson.toJson(je);
        System.out.println(prettyJsonString);
}

Output:

For more info, check this

To download GSON, check this

Answer 2

Use GSON with a sample method below:

/**
 * Convert a JSON string to pretty print version
 * @param jsonString
 * @return
 */
public static String toPrettyFormat(String jsonString) 
{
    JsonParser parser = new JsonParser();
    JsonObject json = parser.parse(jsonString).getAsJsonObject();

    Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().setPrettyPrinting().create();
    String prettyJson = gson.toJson(json);

    return prettyJson;
}

Answer 3

From a Java perspective, it goes like this:

1. You learn how to do file IO - to read that JSON data from some file
2. You learn about JSON parser libraries and how to map that to java objects
3. You figure what kind of output formatting you like ... and you write the code to create that; based on the data that you acquired in step 2.

Maybe you find my answer to "generic"; but well, so is your input. You were not saying what exactly you are struggling with; thus I can only help by giving you the recipe that takes you from JSON raw data to formatted text.