How to use JSON in Go

JSON

JSON, short for JavaScript Object Notation, is a format in which data is stored and transferred. It is easy for humans to understand and write and easy for computers to parse. JSON is often used in web applications and socket programming for transmission over networks.

Implementation

To encode a JSON object in Go, the Marshal() method is used. To decode the resulting JSON objects, the Unmarshal() method is used​.

package main
import (
"encoding/json"
"fmt"
)
// Struct defined
type ShotExample struct {
Name string
Shot string
}
func main() {
// Converting Integer to JSON
intJson, err := json.Marshal(22)
if err == nil {
fmt.Println(string(intJson))
} else {
panic(err)
}
// Converting String to JSON
strJson, err := json.Marshal("Educative")
if err == nil {
fmt.Println(string(strJson))
} else {
panic(err)
}
// Declaring a map
mapVar := map[string]int{"num1": 1, "num2": 2}
// Converting map to JSON
mapJson, err := json.Marshal(mapVar)
if err == nil {
fmt.Println(string(mapJson))
} else {
panic(err)
}
// Declaring struct object
structVar := ShotExample{Name: "Educative", Shot: "JSON"}
// Converting map to JSON
structJson, err := json.Marshal(structVar)
if err == nil {
fmt.Println(string(structJson))
} else {
panic(err)
}
}

This example demonstrates some different data types being encoded into JSON objects. As can be seen, JSON can be used to encode individual data items, maps, and structs.

JSON objects need to be decoded before they are used for programming. To decode JSON objects in GO, you need to declare a container variable.

package main
import (
"encoding/json"
"fmt"
)
// Defining struct
type ShotExample struct {
Name string
Shot string
}
func main() {
// Declaring map variable
mapVar := map[string]int{"num1": 1, "num2": 2}
// Converting to JSON
mapJson, err := json.Marshal(mapVar)
// Declaring container variable for decoding
var mapDecode map[string]interface{}
// Converting JSON object to map in container
err = json.Unmarshal(mapJson, &mapDecode)
if err == nil {
fmt.Println(mapDecode)
} else {
panic(err)
}
// Declaring struct object
structVar := ShotExample{Name: "Educative", Shot: "JSON"}
// Converting struct to JSON
structJson, err := json.Marshal(structVar)
// Declaring container variable for decoding
var structDecode ShotExample
// Converting JSON object to struct in container
err = json.Unmarshal(structJson, &structDecode)
if err == nil {
fmt.Println(structDecode)
} else {
panic(err)
}
}

This example shows how a JSON object is decoded for use in Go Language. A map variable, mapDecode, is declared with the value type defined as an interface to allow for different data types to act as values in the key-value pairs.

ShotExample struct type variable structDecode is initialized in a similar way; it stores JSON data of the same type.

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