1. Using @JsonView annotation
Jackson library has @JsonView annotation which allows to provide different views of the serialized class.
You need to create a class describing different views like this:
public class Views {
public interface Base {} // view of Base class properties
public interface Child {} // view of Child class properties (i.e. User)
}
Then you mark up the fields/getters in the base Body class with @JsonView(Views.Base.class):
public class Body {
@JsonView(Views.Base.class)
private int foo;
@JsonView(Views.Base.class)
public String getBar() {
return "bar";
}
// other getters/setters
}
The User class can be marked at class level:
@JsonView(Views.Child.class)
public class User extends Body {
private Integer userId;
private String userName;
private String email;
// getters/setters
}
And when serializing with ObjectMapper you set its writer up to use specific view writerWithView:
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();//
User user = new User(1, "Jack", "jack@company.com");
String json = mapper.writerWithView(Views.Child.class).writeValueAsString(user);
System.out.println("custom view: " + json);
System.out.println("full view: " + mapper.writeValueAsString(user));
Output:
custom view: {"userId":1,"name":"Jack","email":"jack@company.com"}
full view: {"foo":0,"userId":1,"name":"Jack","email":"jack@company.com","bar":"bar"}
2. Using @JsonIgnoreProperties annotation
It is also possible to customize the view of the child class by ignoring its parent class' properties:
@JsonIgnoreProperties({"foo", "bar"})
public class User extends Body {
private Integer userId;
private String name;
private String email;
}
Then there's no need to configure the writer ObjectMapper instance:
System.out.println("base class fields ignored: " + mapper.writeValueAsString(user));
Output:
base class fields ignored: {"userId":1,"name":"Jack","email":"jack@company.com"}
3. Configure ObjectMapper to set custom JacksonAnnotationIntrospector
It is also possible to configure the ObjectMapper instance to set a custom annotation introspector to completely ignore properties belonging to the parent Body class:
// imports for Jackson v.2.x
// import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.introspect.AnnotatedMember;
// import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.introspect.JacksonAnnotationIntrospector;
// imports for Jackson v.1.9
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.introspect.AnnotatedMember;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.introspect.JacksonAnnotationIntrospector;
class IgnoreBodyClassIntrospector extends JacksonAnnotationIntrospector {
@Override
public boolean hasIgnoreMarker(final AnnotatedMember member) {
return member.getDeclaringClass() == Body.class || super.hasIgnoreMarker(member);
}
}
Configure ObjectMapper and serialize User without any code changes to Body and User:
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper()
.setAnnotationIntrospector(new IgnoreBodyClassIntrospector());
User user = new User(3, "Nobody", "nobody@company.com");
System.out.println("no base class fields: " + mapper.writeValueAsString(user));
Output:
no base class fields: {"userId":3,"name":"Nobody","email":"nobody@company.com"}