Serialize Sealed class within a data class using Gson in kotlin - json

Question

I have created a sealed class for the json field Value under CustomAttribute data class. This field can return String or Array of Strings.
How can we deserialize this sealed class from json?
data class CustomAttribute (
val attributeCode: String,
val value: Value
)
sealed class Value {
class StringArrayValue(val value: List<String>) : Value()
class StringValue(val value: String) : Value()
}

Answer 1

One solution is to use a RuntimeTypeAdapterFactory as per the instructions in this answer
val valueTypeAdapter = RuntimeTypeAdapter.of(Value::class.java)
.registerSubtype(StringArrayValue::class.java)
.registerSubtype(StringValue::class.java)
val gson = GsonBuilder().registerTypeAdapter(valueTypeAdapter).create()
RuntimeTypeAdapter is included in the source code for Gson but not exposed as a Maven artifact.
It is designed to be copy/pasted into your project from here

Answer 2

I created a TypeAdapterFactory implementation specifically to support sealed classes and their subtypes. This works similarly to the RuntimeTypeAdapterFactory (and I used it as a guide to write my class), but will specifically only support sealed types, and will deserialize using object instances of objects with a sealed class supertype (RuntimeTypeAdapterFactory will create a new instance of object types, which breaks equality checks when a single instance is the expectation).
private class SealedTypeAdapterFactory<T : Any> private constructor(
private val baseType: KClass<T>,
private val typeFieldName: String
) : TypeAdapterFactory {
private val subclasses = baseType.sealedSubclasses
private val nameToSubclass = subclasses.associateBy { it.simpleName!! }
init {
if (!baseType.isSealed) throw IllegalArgumentException("$baseType is not a sealed class")
}
override fun <R : Any> create(gson: Gson, type: TypeToken<R>?): TypeAdapter<R>? {
if (type == null || subclasses.isEmpty() || subclasses.none { type.rawType.isAssignableFrom(it.java) }) return null
val elementTypeAdapter = gson.getAdapter(JsonElement::class.java)
val subclassToDelegate: Map<KClass<*>, TypeAdapter<*>> = subclasses.associateWith {
gson.getDelegateAdapter(this, TypeToken.get(it.java))
}
return object : TypeAdapter<R>() {
override fun write(writer: JsonWriter, value: R) {
val srcType = value::class
val label = srcType.simpleName!!
#Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST") val delegate = subclassToDelegate[srcType] as TypeAdapter<R>
val jsonObject = delegate.toJsonTree(value).asJsonObject
if (jsonObject.has(typeFieldName)) {
throw JsonParseException("cannot serialize $label because it already defines a field named $typeFieldName")
}
val clone = JsonObject()
clone.add(typeFieldName, JsonPrimitive(label))
jsonObject.entrySet().forEach {
clone.add(it.key, it.value)
}
elementTypeAdapter.write(writer, clone)
}
override fun read(reader: JsonReader): R {
val element = elementTypeAdapter.read(reader)
val labelElement = element.asJsonObject.remove(typeFieldName) ?: throw JsonParseException(
"cannot deserialize $baseType because it does not define a field named $typeFieldName"
)
val name = labelElement.asString
val subclass = nameToSubclass[name] ?: throw JsonParseException("cannot find $name subclass of $baseType")
#Suppress("UNCHECKED_CAST")
return (subclass.objectInstance as? R) ?: (subclassToDelegate[subclass]!!.fromJsonTree(element) as R)
}
}
}
companion object {
fun <T : Any> of(clz: KClass<T>) = SealedTypeAdapterFactory(clz, "type")
}
}
Usage:
GsonBuilder().registerTypeAdapter(SealedTypeAdapterFactory.of(Value::class)).create()

Answer 3

I have successfully serialized and de-serialized a sealed class in the past, with a disclaimer of using Jackson, not Gson as my serialization engine.
My sealed class has been defined as:
#JsonTypeInfo(use = JsonTypeInfo.Id.MINIMAL_CLASS, include = JsonTypeInfo.As.PROPERTY, visible = true)
sealed class FlexibleResponseModel
class SnapshotResponse(val collection: List<EntityModel>): FlexibleResponseModel()
class DifferentialResponse(val collection: List<EntityModel>): FlexibleResponseModel()
class EventDrivenResponse(val collection: List<EntityEventModel>): FlexibleResponseModel()
class ErrorResponse(val error: String): FlexibleResponseModel()
With the annotations used, it required no further configuration for the Jackson instance to properly serialize and de-serialize instances of this sealed class granted that both sides of the communication possessed a uniform definition of the sealed class.
While I recognise that JsonTypeInfo is a Jackson-specific annotation, perhaps you might consider switching over from Gson if this feature is a must - or you might be able to find an equivalent configuration for Gson which would also include the class identifier in your serialized data.