In addition to core Jackson annotations, jackson-databind adds a small set of annotations that are tied to types defined in databind package. These are used for more fine-grained definition of handlers.

• @JsonSerialize (method, field) can be used to denote:
  • Explicit serializer (of type JsonSerializer) to use, with following properties:
    • using for value of property itself
    • keyUsing for keys of java.util.Map valued properties
    • contentUsing for contents of structured values (elements of arrays, java.util.Collections, values of java.util.Maps)
    • nullUsing when serializing Java null valued properties (NEW with 2.3)
  • Explicit type to use (instead of actual run time type) with
    • as for property value
    • keyAs for java.util.Map keys
    • contentAs for elements/values of structured types
    • NOTE: type used must be compatible with nominal type (a super type)
  • Whether static or dynamic typing (default: static typing) is to be used: typing property
    • Allowed values are DYNAMIC (for dynamic runtime type), STATIC (to use declared, "nominal" type) or DEFAULT_TYPING to use defaults for ObjectMapper
  • Converter object (of type Converter) to use
    • converter for property value itself, or
    • contentConverter for values of structured types (elements of array, java.util.Collections; values of java.util.Maps)

• @JsonDeserialize (method, field) can be used to denote:
  • Explicit deserializer to use:
    • using for values (scalars or structured)
    • contentUsing for values of structured types (elements of arrays and java.util.Collections, values of java.util.Maps)
    • keyUsing for keys of java.util.Maps
  • Explicit types to use with
    • as property (must be compatible with declared type, i.e. subtype)
    • Similarly keyAs() and contentAs() for specifying key type for java.util.Maps, content type for Collections, arrays.
  • Builder object (of any type) to use: builder
  • Converter object (of type Converter) to use
    • converter for property value itself, or
    • contentConverter for values of structured types (elements of array, java.util.Collections; values of java.util.Maps)
• @JsonNaming (Class) is used to indicate PropertyNamingStrategy to use for annotated type
  • Note that databind module includes implementation of two alternate naming strategies:
    • PropertyNamingStrategy.LowerCaseWithUnderScoresStrategy: supports "C-style" naming, like first_name (instead of Java "firstName")
    • PropertyNamingStrategy.PascalCaseStrategy: supports names like "FirstName"
• @JsonPOJOBuilder (Class) is used to configure so-called Builder objects; builders can be specified using @JsonDeserialize.builder property
• @JsonValueInstantiator (Class) is used to specify custom ValueInstantiator to use for annotated type
  • Use of ValueInstantiator is an advanced topic.

Following annotations work together with standard @JsonTypeInfo annotation defined by core annotations package.

• @JsonTypeResolver (class) can be used to plug in a custom type information handler, to replace default one (for specific class)
• @JsonTypeIdResolver (class) can be used to replace standard type id converter (type to/from JSON String) with a custom version; for example, to create more convenient handler for using logical type names.

It is also possible to use JAXB annotations in addition to or instead of these core annotations.