Gson - Object Data Binding

Object data binding refers to mapping of JSON to any JAVA Object.

//Create a Gson instance 
Gson gson = new Gson();  

//map Student object to JSON content 
String jsonString = gson.toJson(student);   

//map JSON content to Student object 
Student student1 = gson.fromJson(jsonString, Student.class);

Example

Let's see object data binding in action. Here we'll map JAVA Object directly to JSON and vice versa.

Create a Java class file named GsonTester in C:\>GSON_WORKSPACE.

File - GsonTester.java

import com.google.gson.Gson;  

public class GsonTester { 
   public static void main(String args[]) { 
   
      Gson gson = new Gson(); 
      Student student = new Student(); 
      student.setAge(10); 
      student.setName("Mahesh"); 
      
      String jsonString = gson.toJson(student);          
      System.out.println(jsonString); 
      
      Student student1 = gson.fromJson(jsonString, Student.class); 
      System.out.println(student1); 
   }   
} 

class Student { 
   private String name; 
   private int age; 
   public Student(){} 
   
   public String getName() { 
      return name; 
   } 
   
   public void setName(String name) { 
      this.name = name; 
   } 
   
   public int getAge() { 
      return age; 
   } 
   
   public void setAge(int age) { 
      this.age = age; 
   } 
   
   public String toString() { 
      return "Student [ name: "+name+", age: "+ age+ " ]"; 
   }  
}

Verify the result

Compile the classes using javac compiler as follows −

C:\GSON_WORKSPACE>javac GsonTester.java

Now run the GsonTester to see the result −

C:\GSON_WORKSPACE>java GsonTester

Verify the output.

{"name":"Mahesh","age":10} 
Student [ name: Mahesh, age: 10 ]