JavaLite version 3.0 for Java 16 is released.

The release 3.0 is a cornerstone release, because it is the first official release post-Java 11, and is built for Java 16. Many features that were added to the project, were added to this release and were not ported to previous releases for Java 8 and Java 11. Since this release took so long, it will be followed by a new release 3.1 for Java 17 LTS almost unchanged.

Convenience working with JSON

As the Internet development pretty much standardized on JSON as the linqua-franqa of the Internet, JavaLite added a number of conveniences working with JSON, be it reading, writing, validating many other features.

JSONMap class gets a new constructor

Here is a new constructor for the class JSONMap

public class JSONMap extends HashMap<String, Object> {
    public JSONMap(String ... keysAndValues){
        super(map(keysAndValues));
    }
}

It allows writing one-liners to create map objects that are JSON-enabled:

JSONMap person = new JSONMap("first_name", "Marylin", "last_name", "Monroe");

see more: Implement a convenience constructor

JSONHelper gets a new method jsonString(...)

for example, a call:

String person = JSONHelper.toJsonString("first_name", "Marilyn", "last_name", "Monroe");

will generate a string:

{"first_name": "Marilyn","last_name": "Monroe"}

Convenience JSON methods for controllers

If your controller expects a JSON request that can be converted to a map, you can convert the request into a map using the method: getRequestJSONMap():

public class MyController extends AppController {
    @POST
    public void index1(){
        JSONMap request = getRequestJSONMap();
        request.put("last_name", "Doe"); // adding more stuff to the map
        ...  
    }

A corresponding getRequestJSONList() was also added.

Responding with JSON from controllers also got easier:

@POST
    public void index1(){
        respondJSON(request);
    }

The method respondJSON(obj) will try to convert any object to a JSON string and will also set the Content-type header to application/json.

Controller Spec conveniences

The same convenience is also available for sending JSON documents from controller tests:

@Test
public void shouldPostJSONMap(){
    String doc = """
            {
                "first_name" : "John"
            }
            """;
    request().json(doc).post("index1");

Note, that the method json(..) accepts a String and automatically sets the application/json content type.

Additionally, two more methods were added to the controller specs that help parse controller output: responseJSONMap() and responseJSONList(). here is a whole spec example:

public void shouldPostJSONMap(){
    String doc="""
        {
            "first_name" : "John"
        }
        """;
    request().json(doc).post("index1");
    JSONMap response=responseJSONMap();
    the(response).shouldContain("first_name");
}

These methods make controller specs easier to write and to read.

JavaLite HTTP Client

This library also benefited from the added JSON support:

Get p = Http.get("https://www.serice...");
JSONMap map = p.jsonMap();
// or:
JSONList list = p.jsonList();

Of course, watch out for a runtime exception in case the output is not JSON.

Implementation of WebSockets

Documentation coming soon.

In the meantime, you can review the latest Release Notes: