Alternative to parsing json with option [ either [A,B ] ] in scala - json

Question

For example, here payload is optional and it has 3 variants:
How can I parse the json with types like option[either[A,B,C]] but to use abstract data type using things sealed trait or sum type?
Below is a minimal example with some boiler plate:
https://scalafiddle.io/sf/K6RUWqk/1
// Start writing your ScalaFiddle code here
val json =
"""[
{
"id": 1,
"payload" : "data"
},
{
"id": 2.1,
"payload" : {
"field1" : "field1",
"field2" : 5,
"field3" : true
}
},
{
"id": 2.2,
"payload" : {
"field1" : "field1",
}
},
{
"id": 3,
payload" : 4
},
{
"id":4,
"
}
]"""
final case class Data(field1: String, field2: Option[Int])
type Payload = Either[String, Data]
final case class Record(id: Int, payload: Option[Payload])
import io.circe.Decoder
import io.circe.generic.semiauto.deriveDecoder
implicit final val dataDecoder: Decoder[Data] = deriveDecoder
implicit final val payloadDecoder: Decoder[Payload] = Decoder[String] either Decoder[Data]
implicit final val recordDecoder: Decoder[Record] = deriveDecoder
val result = io.circe.parser.decode[List[Record]](json)
println(result)

Answer 1

Your code is almost fine, you have just syntax issues in your json and Record.id should be Double instead of Int - because it is how this field present in your json ("id": 2.1). Please, find fixed version below:
val json =
s"""[
{
"id": 1,
"payload" : "data"
},
{
"id": 2.1,
"payload" : {
"field1" : "field1",
"field2" : 5,
"field3" : true
}
},
{
"id": 2.2,
"payload" : {
"field1" : "field1"
}
},
{
"id": 3,
"payload" : 4
},
{
"id": 4
}
]"""
type Payload = Either[String, Data]
final case class Data(field1: String, field2: Option[Int])
final case class Record(id: Double, payload: Option[Payload]) // id is a Double in your json in some cases
import io.circe.Decoder
import io.circe.generic.semiauto.deriveDecoder
implicit val dataDecoder: Decoder[Data] = deriveDecoder
implicit val payloadDecoder: Decoder[Payload] = Decoder[String] either Decoder[Data]
implicit val recordDecoder: Decoder[Record] = deriveDecoder
val result = io.circe.parser.decode[List[Record]](json)
println(result)
Which produced in my case:
Right(List(Record(1.0,Some(Left(data))), Record(2.1,Some(Right(Data(field1,Some(5))))), Record(2.2,Some(Right(Data(field1,None)))), Record(3.0,Some(Left(4))), Record(4.0,None)))
UPDATE:
The more general approach would be to use so-called Sum Types or in simple words - general sealed trait with several different implementations. Please, see for more details next Circe doc page : https://circe.github.io/circe/codecs/adt.html
In your case it can be achieved something like this:
import cats.syntax.functor._
import io.circe.Decoder
import io.circe.generic.semiauto.deriveDecoder
sealed trait Payload
object Payload {
implicit val decoder: Decoder[Payload] = {
List[Decoder[Payload]](
Decoder[StringPayload].widen,
Decoder[IntPayload].widen,
Decoder[ObjectPayload].widen
).reduce(_ or _)
}
}
case class StringPayload(value: String) extends Payload
object StringPayload {
implicit val decoder: Decoder[StringPayload] = Decoder[String].map(StringPayload.apply)
}
case class IntPayload(value: Int) extends Payload
object IntPayload {
implicit val decoder: Decoder[IntPayload] = Decoder[Int].map(IntPayload.apply)
}
case class ObjectPayload(field1: String, field2: Option[Int]) extends Payload
object ObjectPayload {
implicit val decoder: Decoder[ObjectPayload] = deriveDecoder
}
final case class Record(id: Double, payload: Option[Payload])
object Record {
implicit val decoder: Decoder[Record] = deriveDecoder
}
def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
val json =
s"""[
{
"id": 1,
"payload" : "data"
},
{
"id": 2.1,
"payload" : {
"field1" : "field1",
"field2" : 5,
"field3" : true
}
},
{
"id": 2.2,
"payload" : {
"field1" : "field1"
}
},
{
"id": 3,
"payload" : "4"
},
{
"id": 4
}
]"""
val result = io.circe.parser.decode[List[Record]](json)
println(result)
}
which produced in my case next output:
Right(List(Record(1.0,Some(StringPayload(data))), Record(2.1,Some(ObjectPayload(field1,Some(5)))), Record(2.2,Some(ObjectPayload(field1,None))), Record(3.0,Some(StringPayload(4))), Record(4.0,None)))
Hope this helps!