finding json diff fails using JSONAssert

Question

I was hoping to use Jackson to find JSON diff but it does not give detailed error messages.

So I tried using JSOnAssert to find the diff between two JSON strings.

JSONAssert.assertEquals(expectedJsonResponse, actualJsonResponse, false);

Sadly, it does not appear to match correctly and give the detailed error messages as in the examples. If you have used it, Can you please clarify?

java.lang.AssertionError: data[0] Could not find match for element {"errors":[{"httpStatus":"BAD_REQUEST","personId":null,"details":"User ID [UNKNOWN]. Invalid ID: NONSENSE"}],"successfulIds":["A0","B1","C3"]}
at org.skyscreamer.jsonassert.JSONAssert.assertEquals(JSONAssert.java:222)

Actual JSON:

{"_links":{"self":{"href":"https://myserver.com:1000/api/person/upload? myCsvFile={myCsvFile}","templated":true}},"data":[{"successfulIds":["A0","XYZ","C3"],"errors":[{"personId":null,"httpStatus":"BAD_REQUEST","details":"User ID [UNKNOWN]. Invalid ID: NONSENSE"}]}]}

Expected JSON:

{
    "_links": {
        "self": {
            "href": "https://myserver.com:1000/api/person/upload?myCsvFile={myCsvFile}",
            "templated": true
        }
    },
    "data": [
        {
            "successfulIds": [
                "A0",
                "B1",
                "C3"
            ],
            "errors": [
                {
                    "personId": null,
                    "httpStatus": "BAD_REQUEST",
                    "details": "User ID [UNKNOWN]. Invalid ID: NONSENSE"
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Answer 1

I tried to email the address at http://jsonassert.skyscreamer.org/ but got a

The following message to [email protected] was undeliverable. The reason for the problem: 5.1.0 - Unknown address error 550-"5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist

So I tried ZJsonPatch. I like the fact that using Jackson with it, the ordering of the members does not matter. In other words, I first try to check for equality using Jackson. Jackson is ordering independent. Then if it fails, I use ZJsonPatch to tell me what the diff is.

{"op":"replace","path":"/data/0/successfulIds/1","value":"B9"}

which handles nested JSON well.

ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
JsonNode expected = mapper.readTree(expectedJsonResponse);
JsonNode actual = mapper.readTree(actualJsonResponse);

try {
    assertEquals(expected, actual);
} catch (AssertionError ae) {
    JsonNode patch = JsonDiff.asJson(actual, expected);
    throw new Exception(patch.toString(), ae);
}