Unmarshalling Non-Homogenous JSON Data

This inquiry centers around unmarshalling JSON data efficiently by leveraging a mechanism that allows for selective unmarshalling of specific sections or segments. The objective is to handle JSON structures where the first part serves as a "code" that determines the type of data contained in the latter part.

Imagine a scenario where you have multiple data structures:

type Range struct {
    Start int
    End   int
}

type User struct {
    ID    int
    Pass  int
}

And your JSON message has a "code" field that signals what data is in the "payload" field:

{
    "Code": 4,
    "Payload": {
        "Start": 1,
        "End": 10
    }
}
{
    "Code": 3,
    "Payload": {
        "ID": 1,
        "Pass": 1234
    }
}

You need to unmarshal the "payload" field into the appropriate data structure based on the "code" field.

Solution

The key here is to use the json.RawMessage type to delay the unmarshalling of the "payload" field until after you know its type. For example:

package main

import (
    "encoding/json"
    "fmt"
)

type Message struct {
    Code    int
    Payload json.RawMessage // Delay parsing until we know the code
}

// Unmarshall into appropriate structures based on Code
func unmarshal(m []byte) error {
    var message Message
    err := json.Unmarshal(m, &message)
    if err != nil {
        return err
    }
    switch message.Code {
    case 3:
        var user User
        if err := json.Unmarshal(message.Payload, &user); err != nil {
            return err
        }
        fmt.Printf("Unmarshalled a User: %#v\n", user)
    case 4:
        var range Range
        if err := json.Unmarshal(message.Payload, &range); err != nil {
            return err
        }
        fmt.Printf("Unmarshalled a Range: %#v\n", range)
    default:
        return fmt.Errorf("unknown code: %d", message.Code)
    }
    return nil
}

func main() {
    json1 := []byte(`{"Code": 3, "Payload": {"ID": 1, "Pass": 1234}}`)
    if err := unmarshal(json1); err != nil {
        fmt.Printf("error: %v\n", err)
    }

    json2 := []byte(`{"Code": 4, "Payload": {"Start": 1, "End": 10}}`)
    if err := unmarshal(json2); err != nil {
        fmt.Printf("error: %v\n", err)
    }
}