java - replace string in JSON with json array of objects

Question

I've a JSON:

    {
    "payment_intent": {
        "amount": "Amount",
        "currency_code": "840",
        "invoice_number": "pay-automation-invoice-no-01",
        "payment_intent_id": "pay-automation-return-intent-id-01",
        "intent_reference_id": "pay-automation-intent-reference-id-01"
    },
    "payment_refundable_intents": {
        "transactions": {
            "sales": "pay-automation-sales"
        }
    }
}

Now, when I tried to replace string "pay-automation-sales" with JSONArray using

payloadJson = payloadJson.replaceAll("pay-automation-sales", salesString);

salesString is

[{"amount":"200.0","payment_intent_id":"29518150","tender_type":"cash","reference_id":"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc-cash-6c88-66db","intent_reference_id":"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc7945ce446","id":"000000893275","status":"Approved"},{"amount":"800.0","payment_intent_id":"29518150","tender_type":"cash","reference_id":"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc-cash-1d12-8466","intent_reference_id":"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc7945ce446","id":"000000893282","status":"Approved"}]

Here, payloadJson is of type String. The replaceAll works fine but actually I want to pass "sales" as an array of object in JSON. But it is getting passed like this and it's not a valid JSON format. Double quotes in value of sales key in JSON causes an issue I think.

"sales": "[{"amount":"200.0","payment_intent_id":"29518150","tender_type":"cash","reference_id":"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc-cash-6c88-66db","intent_reference_id":"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc7945ce446","id":"000000893275","status":"Approved"},{"amount":"800.0","payment_intent_id":"29518150","tender_type":"cash","reference_id":"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc-cash-1d12-8466","intent_reference_id":"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc7945ce446","id":"000000893282","status":"Approved"}]"

How do I replace string in JSON with valid JSON array of objects?

Answer 1

Using Java String

public class StringDemo {
    static final String originalJson = "    {\n"
            + "    \"payment_intent\": {\n"
            + "        \"amount\": \"Amount\",\n"
            + "        \"currency_code\": \"840\",\n"
            + "        \"invoice_number\": \"pay-automation-invoice-no-01\",\n"
            + "        \"payment_intent_id\": \"pay-automation-return-intent-id-01\",\n"
            + "        \"intent_reference_id\": \"pay-automation-intent-reference-id-01\"\n"
            + "    },\n"
            + "    \"payment_refundable_intents\": {\n"
            + "        \"transactions\": {\n"
            + "            \"sales\": \"pay-automation-sales\"\n"
            + "        }\n"
            + "    }\n"
            + "}";
    
    static final String originalArray = "[{\"amount\":\"200.0\",\"payment_intent_id\":\"29518150\",\"tender_type\":\"cash\",\"reference_id\":\"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc-cash-6c88-66db\",\"intent_reference_id\":\"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc7945ce446\",\"id\":\"000000893275\",\"status\":\"Approved\"},{\"amount\":\"800.0\",\"payment_intent_id\":\"29518150\",\"tender_type\":\"cash\",\"reference_id\":\"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc-cash-1d12-8466\",\"intent_reference_id\":\"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc7945ce446\",\"id\":\"000000893282\",\"status\":\"Approved\"}]";

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String editedJson = originalJson.replaceAll("\"pay-automation-sales\"", originalArray);
        System.out.println(editedJson);;
    }
}

Using Jackson

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.*;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.*;

public class JacksonDemo {
    static final String originalJson = "    {\n"
            + "    \"payment_intent\": {\n"
            + "        \"amount\": \"Amount\",\n"
            + "        \"currency_code\": \"840\",\n"
            + "        \"invoice_number\": \"pay-automation-invoice-no-01\",\n"
            + "        \"payment_intent_id\": \"pay-automation-return-intent-id-01\",\n"
            + "        \"intent_reference_id\": \"pay-automation-intent-reference-id-01\"\n"
            + "    },\n"
            + "    \"payment_refundable_intents\": {\n"
            + "        \"transactions\": {\n"
            + "            \"sales\": \"pay-automation-sales\"\n"
            + "        }\n"
            + "    }\n"
            + "}";
    
    static final String originalArray = "[{\"amount\":\"200.0\",\"payment_intent_id\":\"29518150\",\"tender_type\":\"cash\",\"reference_id\":\"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc-cash-6c88-66db\",\"intent_reference_id\":\"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc7945ce446\",\"id\":\"000000893275\",\"status\":\"Approved\"},{\"amount\":\"800.0\",\"payment_intent_id\":\"29518150\",\"tender_type\":\"cash\",\"reference_id\":\"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc-cash-1d12-8466\",\"intent_reference_id\":\"db79893a-9fe0-4391-91f8-fbc7945ce446\",\"id\":\"000000893282\",\"status\":\"Approved\"}]";

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
        JsonNode root = mapper.readTree(originalJson);
        
        JsonNode array = mapper.readTree(originalArray);
        
        ObjectNode transactions = (ObjectNode) root.findValue("transactions");
        transactions.set("sales", array);
        
        String editedJson = mapper.writerWithDefaultPrettyPrinter().writeValueAsString(root);
        System.out.println(editedJson);;
    }
}

Answer 2

Since you're working with String objects here and not some form of JSON object model, when you did

payloadJson = payloadJson.replaceAll("pay-automation-sales", salesString);

it found the string

pay-automation-sales

within payloadJson and replaced it verbatin with the contents of salesString. Notice that you did NOT tell it to include the quotes in the original string in the part being replaced.

It should be

payloadJson = payloadJson.replaceAll("\"pay-automation-sales\"", salesString);

You would probably be better off using a real JSON library that understands JSON syntax and can manipulate the JSON as an in-memory document model.