Question

In my GWT project I need to process json data retrieved from a database via PHP. I have seen the Google examples using JavaScriptObject overlay classes. What I don’t understand is why this seems to be the prefered method of processing the json data. Why shouldn’t I use all native Java code to pull in the data?

Answer 1

Think about it the other way around: what does it mean to use POJOs? (or native Java classes as you name them)

You have to:

1. parse the JSON into some Java-accessible structure (e.g. com.google.gwt.json.client.JSONObject, or elemental.json.JsonObject)
2. create POJOs
3. fill the POJOs with the data from the parsed JSON structure
4. now you can forget the parsed JSON structure from step 1

On the other hand, with JavaScriptObject, you use JsonUtil.safeEval and TA-DA! you get your JSON parsed right into a typed Java object!

Now, to deal with JSON, there’s also AutoBeans.

Choose your poison.