Introduction to JSON

Roger Lacroix
[email protected]
http://www.capitalware.com
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What is JSON?
 JSON: JavaScript Object Notation.
 JSON is a simple, text-based way to store and
transmit structured data. By using a simple syntax,
the user can easily store anything from a single
number through to strings, arrays, and objects
using nothing but a string of plain text. You can also
nest arrays and objects, allowing you to create
complex data structures.

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What is JSON?
 JSON is a syntax for storing and exchanging data.
 JSON is text (no binary data).
 JSON is a lightweight data-interchange format
 JSON is "self-describing" and easy to understand
 JSON is language independent.

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Why use JSON?
 Since the JSON format is text only, it can easily be
sent to and from a server, and used as a data
format by any programming language.
 For IBM MQ, setting the message's Format attribute
to 'MQSTR' (String) then when the receiving
application performs an 'MQGET with Convert', MQ
will convert the text from one CCSID to another
CCSID. i.e. ASCII to EBCDIC

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JSON is NOT
 Overly Complex
 A 'document' format
 A markup language
 A programming language

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JSON Syntax

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JSON Syntax Rules
 Data is in name/value pairs
 Data is separated by commas
 Curly braces hold objects i.e. { }
 Square brackets hold arrays i.e. [ ]

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JSON Object Syntax
 Unordered sets of name/value pairs
 Starts with { (left brace)
 Ends with } (right brace)
 Each name is followed by : (colon) and then its value
 Name/value pairs are separated by , (comma)

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JSON Data - A Name and a Value
 JSON data is written as name/value pairs.
 A name/value pair consists of a field name (in
double quotes), followed by a colon, followed by a
value:
 Example
{ "name" : "John" }

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JSON Arrays
 An ordered collection of values
 Starts with [ (left bracket)
 Ends with ] (right bracket)
 Name/value pairs are separated by , (comma)

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JSON Array Example

{
"name" : "John",
"cars" : [ "Ford", "BMW", "Fiat" ]
}

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JSON Data Types

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JSON Values
 In JSON, values must be one of the following data types:

a string

a number

an object (JSON object)

an array

a boolean

null
 JSON values cannot be one of the following data types:

a function

a date

undefined

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JSON Strings
 Strings in JSON must be written in double quotes.
 Example
{ "name" : "John" }

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JSON Numbers
 Numbers in JSON must be an integer or a floating
point.
 Example
{ "age" : 30 }

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JSON Objects
 Values in JSON can be objects.
 Example
{
"employee" : { "name" : "John", "age" : 30, "city" : "New York" }
}

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JSON Arrays
 Values in JSON can be arrays.
 Example
{
"employees" : [ "John", "Anna", "Peter" ]
}

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JSON Booleans
 Values in JSON can be true or false.
 Example
{ "sale" : true }

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JSON null
 Values in JSON can be null.
 Example
{ "middlename" : null }

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Nested JSON Objects
 Values in a JSON object can be another JSON object.
 Example
myObj = {
"name":"John",
"age":30,
"cars" : {
"car1" : "Ford",
"car2" : "BMW",
"car3" : "Fiat"
}
}
x = myObj.cars["cars2"];

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Arrays in JSON Objects
 Arrays can be values of an object property:
 Example
myObj = {
"name" : "John",
"age" : 30,
"cars" : [ "Ford", "BMW", "Fiat" ]
}
x = myObj.cars[0];

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Nested Arrays in JSON Objects
Values in an array can also be another array, or even another JSON object:
Example
myObj = {
"name" : "John",
"age" : 30,
"cars" : [
{ "name" : "Ford", "models":[ "Fiesta", "Focus", "Mustang" ] },
{ "name" : "BMW", "models" : [ "320", "X3", "X5" ] },
{ "name" : "Fiat", "models" : [ "500", "Panda" ] }
]
}
To access arrays inside arrays, use a for-in loop for each array:
for (i in myObj.cars) {
x += "<h1>" + myObj.cars[i].name + "</h1>";
for (j in myObj.cars[i].models) {
x += myObj.cars[i].models[j];
}
}
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JSON Data Example

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JSON vs XML
 Both JSON and XML can be used as a data format
when sending/receiving data between servers.
 The following JSON and XML examples both defines
an employees object, with an array of 3 employees:

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JSON vs XML
{"employees": [
{ "firstName":"John", "lastName":"Doe" },
{ "firstName":"Anna", "lastName":"Smith" },
{ "firstName":"Peter", "lastName":"Jones" }
]
}
<employees>
<employee>
<firstName>John</firstName> <lastName>Doe</lastName>
</employee>
<employee>
<firstName>Anna</firstName> <lastName>Smith</lastName>
</employee>
<employee>
<firstName>Peter</firstName> <lastName>Jones</lastName>
</employee>
</employees>

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JSON vs XML
 JSON is like XML because:

Both JSON and XML are "self describing"
(human readable)

Both JSON and XML are hierarchical (values
within values)

Both JSON and XML can be parsed and used by
lots of programming languages

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JSON vs XML
 JSON is unlike XML because:

JSON doesn't use end tag

JSON is shorter

JSON is quicker to read and write

JSON can use arrays

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JSON vs XML
 Since XML is widely used as data interchange
format, we will try to draw a comparison between
them. The purpose of the comparison is not to
determine which is better but rather we will try to
understand which one is suitable for storing specific
kind of data.

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JSON vs XML
 XML is more expressive than JSON. XML
sometimes also suffers from using tags repeatedly,
where as JSON is much more concise.
 XML is more complex than JSON.
 JSON lacks namespaces
 There are several specifications to define
schema(metadata) for XML, for example DTD and
XSD. JSON schema is available but is not as
widely used as XML schemas.

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JSON vs XML
 XML and JSON can be used with most of the programming
languages. The problem comes when matching XML tags used by
one system may be different in another system, hence, XML data
will require transformation. i.e. <FirstName> vs <first_name>. In
the case of JSON, since objects and arrays are basic data
structures used, it is easy to work with them in programs.
 For selecting specific parts of an XML document, there is standard
specification called XPath. This is widely used. In JSON, we have
JSONPath to do the same, but it is not widely used.
 XML has Xquery specification for querying XML data. JSON does
have JAQL, JSONiq etc, but they are not in use widely.
 XML has XSLT specification which may be used to apply a style to
an XML document. JSON does not have any such thing.

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JSON vs XML
 Favor XML over JSON when any of these is true:

You need message validation

You're using XSLT

Your messages include a lot of marked-up text

You need to inter-operate with environments that
don't support JSON
 Favor JSON over XML when all of these are true:

Messages don't need to be validated

You're not transforming messages

Your messages are mostly data, not marked-up text

The messaging endpoints have good JSON tools

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Java and JSON
 JEE (Java Enterprise Edition) includes a JSON parser.
https://docs.oracle.com/javaee/7/tutorial/jsonp001.htm
 JSE (Java Standard Edition) does not include a JSON
parser.
 I suggest you use the Google-Gson parser for JSE
projects.
https://github.com/google/gson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gson
https://github.com/google/gson/blob/master/UserGuide.md

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Questions & Answers

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