Parsing JSONObject having dynamic key

Question

I have following JSON as response from my server. At first, I thought, it was invalid JSON but after validating it, it seems to be correct:

JOSN: {
    "category": {
        "1": "World",
        "2": "Politics",
        "3": "Economy",
        "4": "Sports",
        "5": "Cricket",
        "6": "General",
        "7": "Business",
        "8": "Services",
        "9": "Law & Order",
        "10": "Entertainment"
    }
}

Validation: JSON Validatiion

If it would have been JSONArray, I would have parsed it with this solution from SO: How to parse a JSON without key in android?

But how do I parse the JSON I have here?

Any help appreciated.

Do you need to get all the keys in JSONObject?

Ircover
– Ircover

2015-04-20 10:01:23 +00:00
Commented Apr 20, 2015 at 10:01 — Ircover
– Ircover, Commented Apr 20, 2015 at 10:01
Yes, all the keys with their respective values.

GAMA
– GAMA

2015-04-20 10:02:06 +00:00
Commented Apr 20, 2015 at 10:02 — GAMA
– GAMA, Commented Apr 20, 2015 at 10:02

ρяσѕρєя K · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-20 10:08:41Z

16

But how do I parse the JSON I have here?

if keys inside category JSONObject is dynamic then use JSONObject.keys() to get Iterator for getting values as:

JSONObject mainJSONObj=new JSONObject(<json_string>);
// get category JSONObject from mainJSONObj
JSONObject categoryJSONObj=mainJSONObj.getJSONObject("category");

// get all keys from categoryJSONObj

Iterator<String> iterator = categoryJSONObj.keys();
  while (iterator.hasNext()) {
    String key = iterator.next();
    Log.i("TAG","key:"+key +"--Value::"+categoryJSONObj.optString(key);
  }

answered Apr 20, 2015 at 10:08

ρяσѕρєя K

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6 Comments

Sami Eltamawy Over a year ago

+1 for letting me know about the keys idea. I have edited my answer and considered the iterator solution to the Hashtable

SAndroidD Over a year ago

Hi this is working fine for 5+ versions. On kitkat 4.4 it give wrong sequence.What should I do?

ρяσѕρєя K Over a year ago

@SAndroidD: As you know JSONObject is unordered collection. let me know which issue you are getting currently

SAndroidD Over a year ago

actually My JSONObject collection in proper format. But when I get keys in Iterator these are not in sequence. For android version 5+ working perfect

ρяσѕρєя K Over a year ago

@SAndroidD: Ok Why order is important? please share link if you posted any question

|

rasmeta · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-20 10:09:13Z

12

Try using gson deserialization with an object of such class as a serialization output class:

class MyClass {
    @SerializedName("category")
    private Map<String, String> categories;

    public Map<String, String> getCategories() {
       return categories;
    }

    public void setCategories(Map<String, String> categories) {
        this.categories = categories;
    }
}

answered Apr 20, 2015 at 10:09

rasmeta

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Comments

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:30:06Z

1

If I were you and I'm sure that the keys are a sequence of numbers starting with 1, I would do the following:

Map<Integer, String> results = new Hashtable<>();

    try {
        //The response is your JSON as a string
        JSONObject obj = new JSONObject(response);
        JSONObject categories = obj.getJSONObject("categories");

        int counter = 1;
        //Breakable infinite loop, will be broken when you try to get non existing item
        while(true){
            results.put(counter, categories.getString(counter+""));
        }
    } catch (JSONException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
//Return the map that contain the results
 return results;

Or using Iterator as the following example :

Map<Integer, String> results = new Hashtable<>();

    try {
        //The response is your JSON as a string
        JSONObject obj = new JSONObject(response);
        JSONObject categories = obj.getJSONObject("categories");

        Iterator<String> iter = categories.keys();
        while (iter.hasNext()) {
            String key = iter.next();
            results.put(key, categories.getString(key+""));
        }
    } catch (JSONException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    //Return the map that contain the results
    return results;

You can also create an ArrayList<String> and add the values to it instead of adding them to a HashTable

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:30

CommunityBot

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answered Apr 20, 2015 at 10:10

Sami Eltamawy

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1 Comment

GAMA Over a year ago

Thanks for replying. I'm using custom class(bean) for storing list of categories instead of HashMap

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:26:39Z

0

Try out this code

JSONObject obj = result.getJSONObject("category");
    Iterator keys = obj.keys();

    while (keys.hasNext()) {
        // loop to get the dynamic key
        String dynamicKey = (String) keys.next();

        String value= obj.getString(dynamicKey);
    }

For more information checkout this link. May be this will help you more.

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:26

CommunityBot

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answered Apr 20, 2015 at 10:13

cool Boy

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