Create JSON object in Java

Question

I have to build in Java the following JSON object to send it to the client as a response to Ajax call:

{
 "firms": [
 {
 "name": "firm1",
 "projects": [
 {
 "name": "firm1project1"
 },
 {
 "name": "firm1project2"
 },
 {
 "name": "firm1project3"
 }
 ]
 },
 {
 "name": "firm2",
 "projects": [
 {
 "name": "firm2project1"
 },
 {
 "name": "firm2project2"
 },
 {
 "name": "firm2project3"
 }
 ]
 },
 {
 "name": "firm3",
 "projects": [
 {
 "name": "firm3project1"
 },
 {
 "name": "firm3project2"
 },
 {
 "name": "firm3project3"
 }
 ]
 },
 {
 "name": "firm4",
 "projects": [
 {
 "name": "firm4project1"
 },
 {
 "name": "firm4project2"
 },
 {
 "name": "firm4project3"
 }
 ]
 }
 ]
}

The big problem I have here is that the pairs: "name": "firm1", "name": "firm2", "name": "firm3", "name": "firm4" are sent to the client as object, so this object is considered as a key the the "projects":[...] part: enter image description here

Here is my Java code (for each client I try to connect its projects):

while(i<aClients.size()){ //aClients - an array of clients
 query="select"+ 
 " PROJECT_NAME"+
 " from PROJECTS"+ 
 " inner join CLIENTS"+ 
 " on CLIENTS.CLIENT_ID=PROJECTS.CLIENT_ID"+
 " where CLIENTS.CLIENT_ID="+"'"+aClients.get(i)+"'";
 result = statement.executeQuery(query);
 ArrayList<JSONObject> aProjects = new ArrayList<JSONObject>();
 while(result.next()){
 JSONObject oJsonInner = new JSONObject();
 oJsonInner.put("name",result.getString("project_name"));
 aProjects.add(oJsonInner);
 }
 //this is a problematic part -------------
 JSONObject oJsonClient = new JSONObject();
 oJsonClient.put("name", aClients.get(i));
 //end of problematic part ----------------
 JSONObject oJsonProjects = new JSONObject();
 oJsonProjects.put("projects", aProjects.toArray());
 JSONObject oJsonOuter = new JSONObject();
 oJsonOuter.put(oJsonClient.toString(),oJsonProjects);
 aJSONData.add(oJsonOuter);
 i++; // to cycle through clients array
}
jsonOutputObject.put("clients", aJSONData);
PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
String json = new Gson().toJson(jsonOutputObject);
response.setContentType("application/json");
response.setCharacterEncoding("UTF-8");
out.write(json);

How do I build the above JSON object? What do I miss in my code?

Thank you.

EDIT:

Instead of this block:

JSONObject oJsonClient = new JSONObject();
oJsonClient.put("name", aClients.get(i));
JSONObject oJsonProjects = new JSONObject();
oJsonProjects.put("projects", aProjects.toArray());
JSONObject oJsonOuter = new JSONObject();
oJsonOuter.put(oJsonClient.toString(),oJsonProjects);

I used this:

JSONObject oJsonOuter = new JSONObject();
oJsonOuter.put("name", aClients.get(i));
oJsonOuter.put("projects", aProjects.toArray());

Now I get this object:

enter image description here

and I this is still isn't working. When I set the object that is in the first post as data source - everything works fine, but switching the data source to Ajax call response messes things up.

Further help is needed.

Thank you.

Answer 1

As per the JSON String you have posted name and projects should be attributes to the same object.

 JSONObject oJsonOuter = new JSONObject();
 oJsonOuter.put("name", aClients.get(i));
 oJsonOuter.put("projects", aProjects.toArray());

Explanation:

 JSONObject oJsonClient = new JSONObject(); -- First Object
 oJsonClient.put("name", aClients.get(i)); 
 JSONObject oJsonProjects = new JSONObject(); -- Second Object
 oJsonProjects.put("projects", aProjects.toArray());
 JSONObject oJsonOuter = new JSONObject();
 oJsonOuter.put(oJsonClient.toString(),oJsonProjects); -- You are making first object as key and second object as value here.