Jackson deserialize “” as an empty list

Question

I have a JSON string that marks empty lists as \"\" instead of []. So for example, if I have an object with no children, I\'ll receive a string lik

Answer 1

Couple of options; first, you want to enable `ACCEPT_EMPTY_STRING_AS_NULL_OBJECT':

mapper.enable(DeserializationFeature.ACCEPT_EMPTY_STRING_AS_NULL_OBJECT);

so that empty String becomes null. And if you want it to get converted to actual empty List, override setter:

public void setChildren(List<Child> c) {
    if (c == null) {
       children = Collections.emptyList();
    } else {
       chidlren = c;
    }
}