Question

I’m trying to convert a very complex array structure to a JSON object, but I’m not sure how to work with the conversion. The structure is as follows:

String[] foo = new String[10];
String[][] bar = new String[10][8];
String[][] blargh = new String[8][2];
// Populate foo
foo[0] = "foo1";
// ... and so on
bar[0][0] = "bar1";
// ... and so on
blargh[0][0] = "blargh1;"
// ... and so on

Then:

public JSONObject createJSONObject() {
/* Now, I would like to create an object with the structue:
   [{
    foo[0] : {
        bar[0][0] : {
            // more key-pair values, including blargh[0][0] and blargh[0][1]
        },
        bar[0][1] : {
            // values of blargh[1][0] and blargh[1][1]
        },
        // etc...
    },
    foo[1] : {
        bar[1][0] : {
            /* primary index of bar will always match index of foo, as will the primary index of blargh */
        },
        // etc..
    },
    // etc..
    }]
    // return the JSON encoded object
}

This seems reasonably complex to me, so please tell me if my question/code/structure is confusing or not clear.

Answer 1

Break it down into manageable chunks. Create methods that understand how to construct each nested object individually, and then call them at the appropriate times. For instance, something like:

public JSONObject createJSONObject() {
    JSONObject result = new JSONObject();
    for (int fooIndex = 0; fooIndex < foo.length; fooIndex++) {
        result.put(foo[fooIndex], createBarJsonObject(fooIndex));
    }

    return result;
}

private JSONObject createBarJsonObject(int index) {
    JSONObject result = new JSONObject();
    String[] keys = bar[index];
    for (int barIndex = 0; barIndex < keys.length; barIndex++) {
        result.put(keys[barIndex], createBlarghJsonObject(fooIndex));
    }

    return result;
}

private JSONObject createBlarghJsonObject(int index) {
    JSONObject result = new JSONObject();
    String[] keyValue = blargh[index];
    result.put(keyValue[0], keyValue[1]);

    return result;
}