java - deserializing a JSON object with multiple items inside it

Question

I'm trying to deserialize (using gson) a JSON object that looks like this:

        "attachments": {
            "40": {
                "ID": 40,
                "URL": "http://drewmore4.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/wreckit.jpg",
                "guid": "http://drewmore4.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/wreckit.jpg",
                "mime_type": "image/jpeg",
                "width": 287,
                "height": 400
            },
            "3": {
                "ID": 3,
                "URL": "http://drewmore4.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/frankenweenie2bposter.jpg",
                "guid": "http://drewmore4.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/frankenweenie2bposter.jpg",
                "mime_type": "image/jpeg",
                "width": 273,
                "height": 400
            }
    },

How do I handle it? I don't even know what to call this - There are multiple "items" represented here, but it's not an array. When I try to deserialize it as an array, the program crashes on a "Expected Begin_Array but found Begin_Object" exception. When I try to deserialize it as a Strong object (see class below), the program runs but the fields all return null.

Here is the class I've tried to map it to:

class Attachment {
int ID;
String URL;
}

the full JSON file can be seen here:

EDIT: SOLVED.

@Perception's solution basically worked. It was complicated by the fact that this "element" (still would like to know what this multiple-entry/non-array json element) is embedded in a larger json object that does contain an array. Again, this JSON is not my design - it comes from the Wordpress REST API, and (as @Perception alluded to), I think the issue I've had illustrates a design flaw in it - namely that the attachments element should be an array, rather than a single object. Nonetheless,

Nonetheless, if anyone else ever needs to deserialize the result of a query for all posts on a given site using this API, and further needs access to the attachments on each post, here's how you do it:

  private class getAll extends AsyncTask <Void, Void, JSONObject> {
    private static final String url = "https://public-api.wordpress.com/rest/v1/sites/drewmore4.wordpress.com/posts/";
    @Override
    protected JSONObject doInBackground(Void... params) {

        HttpClient httpclient = new DefaultHttpClient();
        HttpGet httpget = new HttpGet(url);
        httpget.addHeader("accept", "application/json");
        JSONObject returned = new JSONObject();
        HttpResponse response;

        try {
            response = httpclient.execute(httpget);
            HttpEntity entity = response.getEntity();

            if (entity != null) {
                InputStream instream = entity.getContent();
                String result= convertStreamToString(instream);

                returned =new JSONObject(result);                   
                instream.close();
            }
        } 
        catch (ClientProtocolException | IOException | JSONException e) { e.printStackTrace();} 

        return returned;
    }

        @Override
    protected void onPostExecute (JSONObject returned){
        Gson gson = new Gson();

//posts is the element within the JSONObject that is an array of post objects
        try {
        JSONArray posts = returned.getJSONArray("posts");

        for (int curr = 0; curr < posts.length(); curr++){
            String s = posts.get(curr).toString();

            Article a = gson.fromJson(s, Article.class);

            JSONObject attachments = new JSONObject(s).getJSONObject("attachments");
            final Iterator<String> keys = attachments.keys();
               while(keys.hasNext()) {
                    final String key = keys.next();
                    a.attached.add(gson.fromJson(attachments.getJSONObject(key).toString(), Attachment.class));
                }   
               stories.add(a);
        }

            } catch (JSONException e) {
                // TODO Auto-generated catch block
                e.printStackTrace();
            }

Answer 1

This is an example of data that probably should have been serialized as an array, but was not. One solution to parsing it is to utilize a JSONObject directly.

String json = ...;
final Gson gson = new Gson();

final List<Attachment> attachements = new ArrayList<Attachment>(64);
final JSONObject jsonObj = new JSONObject(json).getJSONObject("attachments");
final Iterator<String> keys = jsonObj.keys();
while(keys.hasNext()) {
    final String key = keys.next();
    attachements.add(gson.fromJson(jsonObj.getJSONObject(key).toString(), Attachment.class);
}

// Do something with attachements

---

The data can also be viewed as a map, of id's to attachments. And it can be deserialized as such:

final String jsonObj = new JSONObject(json).getJSONObject("attachments");
final Gson gson = new Gson();
final Map<String, Attachment> data = gson.fromJson(jsonObj.toString(),
        new TypeToken<Map<String, Attachment>>() {
        }.getType());
final List<Attachment> attachments = new ArrayList<Attachment>(data.values());

This is actuall