JSON
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JSON - Overview 2
JSON or JavaScript Object Notation is a lightweight text-based open standard
designed for human-readable data interchange.
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JSON - Overview 3
• JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation.
• The format was specified by Douglas Crockford.
• It was designed for human-readable data interchange.
• It has been extended from the JavaScript scripting
language.
• The filename extension is .json.
• JSON Internet Media type is application/json.
• The Uniform Type Identifier is public.json.
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Uses of JSON 4
• It is used while writing JavaScript based applications that
includes browser extensions and websites.
• JSON format is used for serializing and transmitting
structured data over network connection.
• It is primarily used to transmit data between a server and
web applications.
• Web services and APIs use JSON format to provide public
data.
• It can be used with modern programming languages.
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Characteristics of JSON 5
• JSON is easy to read and write.
• It is a lightweight text-based interchange format.
• JSON is language independent.
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Simple Example in JSON 6
• The following example shows
how to use JSON to store
information related to books
based on their topic and
edition.
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JSON - Syntax 9
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JSON - Syntax 10
• JSON syntax is basically considered as a subset of
JavaScript syntax; it includes the following:
• Data is represented in name/value pairs.
• Curly braces hold objects, and each name is followed
by ':'(colon), the name/value pairs are separated by ,
(comma).
• Square brackets hold arrays and values are separated
by ,(comma).
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JSON - Syntax 11
• JSON supports the following two data structures:
• Collection of name/value pairs − This Data Structure
is supported by different programming languages.
• Ordered list of values − It includes array, list, vector
or sequence etc.
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JSON - Data Types 13
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JSON format supports the following data types
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Number 15
• It is a double precision floating-point format in JavaScript and it
depends on implementation.
• Octal and hexadecimal formats are not used.
• No NaN or Infinity is used in Number.
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String 17
• It is a sequence of zero or more double quoted Unicode characters
with backslash escaping.
• Character is a single character string i.e. a string with length 1.
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Boolean 19
• It includes true or false values.
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Array 20
• It is an ordered collection of values.
• These are enclosed in square brackets which means that array
begins with .[. and ends with .]..
• The values are separated by , (comma).
• Array indexing can be started at 0 or 1.
• Arrays should be used when the key names are sequential
integers.
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Object 22
• It is an unordered set of name/value pairs.
• Objects are enclosed in curly braces that is, it starts with '{' and
ends with '}'.
• Each name is followed by ':'(colon) and the key/value pairs are
separated by , (comma).
• The keys must be strings and should be different from each other.
• Objects should be used when the key names are arbitrary strings.
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Whitespace 24
• It can be inserted between any pair of tokens. It can be added to
make a code more readable. Example shows declaration with and
without whitespace
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null 25
• It means empty type.
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JSON Value 26
• It includes −
• number (integer or floating point)
• string
• boolean
• array
• object
• null
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JSON Value
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JSON - Objects 28
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Creating Simple Objects 29
• JSON objects can be created with JavaScript. Let us see the
various ways of creating JSON objects using JavaScript
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This is an example that shows creation of an object in javascript
using JSON, save the below code as json_object.htm −
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Creating Array Objects 32
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JSON - Schema 34
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JSON - Schema 35
• JSON Schema is a specification for JSON based format for
defining the structure of JSON data.
• JSON Schema −
• Describes your existing data format.
• Clear, human- and machine-readable documentation.
• Complete structural validation, useful for automated testing.
• Complete structural validation, validating client-submitted
data.
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JSON Schema Validation Libraries
There are several validators currently available for different
programming languages. Currently the most complete and compliant 36
JSON Schema validator available is JSV.
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JSON Schema Example
Given below is a basic JSON schema, which covers a classical product
catalog description − 37
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You can check a http://json-schema.org for the complete list of
keywords that can be used in defining a JSON schema. The above
schema can be used to test the validity of the following JSON code − 40
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JSON - Comparison with XML 41
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JSON with Java 42
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Mapping between JSON and Java entities
JSON.simple maps entities from the left side to the right side
while decoding or parsing, and maps entities from the right to
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the left while encoding.
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Encoding JSON in Java
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Decoding JSON in Java
The following example makes use of JSONObject and JSONArray where JSONObject
is a java.util.Map and JSONArray is a java.util.List, so you can access them with
standard operations of Map or List.
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