@JsonIdentityInfo selective link serialization?

Question

With @JsonIdentityInfo we can do things like:

{ "@id" : 1, "value" : 13, "next" : { "@id" : 2, "value" : 42, "next" : 1 } } 

A link is a primitive type. Is it possible for this link to be serialized as an object? Example:

  { "@id" : 1, "value" : 13, "next" : { "@id" : 2, "value" : 42, "next" : {"$ref":1} } } 

EDIT

useful links

• Trying to create a JSOG plugin to handle this (by Jeff Schnitzer)
• User list talk jackson

Answer 1

You can use the ObjectIdGenerator "generator" property to provide a custom ObjectIdGenerator that handles the creation and binding of object identifiers.

However, the current implementation assumes that the identifier is always a scalar type; either JSON String or Number. Support for JSON objects has been requested, and at least one developer is working on this (to refer to JSOG, similar to what you are trying to do here). You can join the Jackson dev list to discuss this further.