@JsonManagedReferences and JsonBackReferences are used to display objects with parent child relationship. @JsonManagedReferences is used to refer to parent object and @JsonBackReferences is used to mark child objects.
import java.io.IOException; import java.text.ParseException; import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.List; import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonBackReference; import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonManagedReference; import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper; public class JacksonTester { public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException, ParseException { ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper(); Student student = new Student(1, "Mark"); Book book1 = new Book(1,"Learn HTML", student); Book book2 = new Book(1,"Learn JAVA", student); student.addBook(book1); student.addBook(book2); String jsonString = mapper .writerWithDefaultPrettyPrinter() .writeValueAsString(book1); System.out.println(jsonString); } } class Student { public int rollNo; public String name; @JsonBackReference public List<Book> books; Student(int rollNo, String name){ this.rollNo = rollNo; this.name = name; this.books = new ArrayList<Book>(); } public void addBook(Book book){ books.add(book); } } class Book { public int id; public String name; Book(int id, String name, Student owner){ this.id = id; this.name = name; this.owner = owner; } @JsonManagedReference public Student owner; }
{ "id" : 1, "name" : "Learn HTML", "owner" : { "rollNo" : 1, "name" : "Mark" } }