A Look at Jackson Serialization in Spring Boot

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Introduction

Jackson is a popular JSON library for Java. It is a suite of data-processing tools for Java, including a JSON parser, generator, and more. One of the most common uses of Jackson is in Spring Boot applications, where it is often used to serialize and deserialize Java objects to and from JSON. Let’s take a look into Jackson Serialization in the Spring Boot framework.

Basics of Jackson Serialization

Jackson serialization refers to the process of converting Java objects into a JSON string representation. It’s crucial when you want to send your object data over a network or save it to a file. Jackson is particularly important in the world of microservices where communication is key. Here’s a simple example of serialization with Jackson.

ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
Student student = new Student(1, "John Doe");
String jsonString = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(student);

In this example, a Student object is serialized into a JSON string by calling writeValueAsString().

Customizing Serialization with Annotations

What makes Jackson powerful is its annotations for customizing the serialization process. Let’s explore some of them.