Building JSON Web Token using JSONObject and JSONArray

Question

I am building JSON Web Token (JWT) using JSONObject and JSONArray. When creating a payload I need to match the following part (array that contains an array)

"Taxes":
[{
   "VAT": [{ "TaxRate": "A", "Amount": 100 }, { "TaxRate": "B", "Amount": 300 }]
]}

I've tried to implement it with the following code

JSONArray taxes= new JSONArray();
JSONArray vat = new JSONArray();
vat.add(new JSONObject()
        .put("TaxRate", "A")
        .put("Amount", 100).toString());
vat.add(new JSONObject()
        .put("TaxRate", "B")
        .put("Amount", 300).toString());
taxes.add(new JSONObject()
         .put("VAT", vat).toString());

Problems

If toString() methods are not called at all the result is [{}]. If they are not called when adding to vat array the result is ["{\"VAT\":\"[{},{}]\"}"].

The final result of the taxes array string when printed to the console is ["{\"VAT\":\"[\\\"{\\\\\\\"Amount\\\\\\\":100,\\\\\\\"TaxRate\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"A\\\\\\\"}\\\",\\\"{\\\\\\\"Amount\\\\\\\":300,\\\\\\\"TaxRate\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"B\\\\\\\"}\\\"]\"}"].

However, the vat array contains elements without backslashes, eg. {"Amount":100,"TaxRate":"A"}. The taxes array has one entry and it looks like {"VAT":"[\"{\\\"Amount\\\":100,\\\"TaxRate\\\":\\\"A\\\"}\",\"{\\\"Amount\\\":300,\\\"TaxRate\\\":\\\"B\\\"}\"]"}

Question

What is the correct way to build the structure I am trying to create?

It looks like the toString() method is escaping the quotes and adding the slashes. That kind of payload cannot be used in a request as the server side appliaction cannot parse it.

What kind of framework do you use for serializing objects to json? — Ernest Sadykov
– Ernest Sadykov, Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 8:59
Maybe try to create each JSONobject separately (instead of adding it directly) and log the object to the console. Using .toString() with adding the objects is not good and basically destroys the inner objects. — Niki van Stein
– Niki van Stein, Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 9:01
@ErnestSadykov: JSONObject is json-jena 1.0 and the JSONArray is nimbus-jose-jwt 3.4. — CAPS LOCK
– CAPS LOCK, Commented Sep 17, 2015 at 9:02

Ernest Sadykov · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-17 09:23:15Z

1

Nimbus Jose uses json-smart internally. Therefore, import statements should look like this:

import net.minidev.json.JSONArray;
import net.minidev.json.JSONObject;

The code for creating json structure:

JSONArray taxes= new JSONArray();
JSONArray vat = new JSONArray();
JSONObject a = new JSONObject();
a.put("TaxRate", "A");
a.put("Amount", 100);
vat.add(a);

JSONObject b = new JSONObject();
b.put("TaxRate", "B");
b.put("Amount", 300);
vat.add(b);

JSONObject vatObject = new JSONObject();
vatObject.put("VAT", vat);
taxes.add(vatObject);

JSONObject taxesObject = new JSONObject();
taxesObject.put("Taxes", taxes);

// generate string:
System.out.println(taxesObject.toJSONString());

// or create JWT:
new JWSObject(new JWSHeader(...), new Payload(taxesObject))

Output:

{"Taxes":[{"VAT":[{"Amount":100,"TaxRate":"A"},{"Amount":300,"TaxRate":"B"}]}]}

edited Sep 17, 2015 at 9:23

answered Sep 17, 2015 at 9:18

Ernest Sadykov

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1 Comment

CAPS LOCK Over a year ago

Bummer, I was using mixed imports. However, I decided to use everything from org.json package as I like the chaining option.

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