Class level `@JsonInclude(JsonInclude.Include.NON_EMPTY)` is ignored

[elruwen]

Hi!

I am upgrading from Jackson 2.4.6 to 2.8.1 and I have an issue with a class level @JsonInclude annotation.

The following class runs perfectly with 2.4.6:

import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonInclude;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class JacksonBug {

    @JsonInclude(JsonInclude.Include.NON_EMPTY)
    public static class MyObject {

        private String myString;
        private List<String> myList = new ArrayList<>();

        public String getMyString() {
            return myString;
        }

        public void setMyString(String myString) {
            this.myString = myString;
        }

        public List<String> getMyList() {
            return myList;
        }

        public void setMyList(List<String> myList) {
            this.myList = myList;
        }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) throws JsonProcessingException {
        ObjectMapper om = new ObjectMapper();
        om.setSerializationInclusion(JsonInclude.Include.NON_NULL);

        final MyObject myObject = new MyObject();
        myObject.setMyString("hehe");

        final String jsonString = om.writeValueAsString(myObject);
        System.out.println(jsonString);

        if (jsonString.contains("myList")) {
            throw new RuntimeException("JsonString contains myList");
        }
    }
}

When I switch to 2.8.1, it does not worker anymore. The list myList is serialised as an empty list: {"myString":"hehe","myList":[]}

I can work around that issue by moving the exclude to the field level.

I guess this is a bug? Or was the behaviour change intended?

Cheers
Ruwen

[cowtowncoder]

That would appear like a bug, at first glance. Per-class @JsonInclude should override the default settings.

[richturner]

Similarly if configure(SerializationFeature.WRITE_EMPTY_JSON_ARRAYS, false) is set on the mapper then you try and use @JsonInclude(JsonInclude.Include.ALWAYS) annotation on a property that contains an empty array then it is not included. The JsonInclude annotation should take precedence over the global mapper configuration.

[cowtowncoder]

@richturner I agree, per-property annotation should have precedence over global defaults. I assume it's easy to reproduce, if not I'll ask for repro.

[richturner]

@cowtowncoder Indeed this is easy to reproduce: -

ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
mapper.setSerializationInclusion(JsonInclude.Include.NON_NULL)
.configure(SerializationFeature.WRITE_NULL_MAP_VALUES, false)
.configure(SerializationFeature.WRITE_EMPTY_JSON_ARRAYS, false)
.disable(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES)
.setVisibility(PropertyAccessor.FIELD, JsonAutoDetect.Visibility.ANY)
.setVisibility(PropertyAccessor.GETTER, JsonAutoDetect.Visibility.NONE)
.setVisibility(PropertyAccessor.SETTER, JsonAutoDetect.Visibility.NONE)
.setVisibility(PropertyAccessor.IS_GETTER, JsonAutoDetect.Visibility.NONE)
.setVisibility(PropertyAccessor.CREATOR, JsonAutoDetect.Visibility.NONE)

Simple POJO: -

public class Test {
   @JsonInclude(JsonInclude.Include.ALWAYS)
   protected List<String> strings = new ArrayList<String>();

   public List<String> getStrings() {
      return strings;
   }
}

Output serialised POJO: -

try {
   Test test = new Test();
   String str = mapper.writeValueAsString(test);
   System.out.print(str);
} catch (JsonProcessingException e) {
   e.printStackTrace();
}

[richturner]

I see that WRITE_EMPTY_JSON_ARRAYS is deprecated from 2.8 onwards, is there an alternative global config for this?

[cowtowncoder]

@richturner This should be documented better, but 2.8 introduced a way to apply @JsonFormat and @JsonInclude defaults for specific types. In this case @JsonInclude is what you want (javadocs incorrectly refer to @JsonFormat).

From JsonIncludeTest:

    mapper = new ObjectMapper();
    mapper.configOverride(List.class)
        .setInclude(JsonInclude.Value.construct(JsonInclude.Include.NON_EMPTY, null));

which should have similar effect for List valued properties, further overridable on per-property basis if necessary. For arrays type must be specified (String[].class and so on).

[cowtowncoder]

As to the problem(s) here: looks like 2.7.x still works as expected, so this looks like a regression in 2.8.
No idea yet why, but wanted to verify version(s) affected, and add failing test. Due to backlog of issues fix may take a while.

[cowtowncoder]

Problem was with handling of multi-level defaulting: there are no fewer than 6 levels (!) of potential inclusion settings for POJO properties now:

1. Global defaults
2. Class annotation on containing POJO (one that encloses property in question)
3. Per-type overrides for containing POJO
4. Class annotation on type of property
5. Per-type overrides for type of property
6. Property annotations on property itself

and care must be taken when applying overrides... turns out (1) was applied multiple times, effectively overriding later settings inappropriately.
I managed to fix reported issue, but it is trick to test all kinds of combinations.