Possible Solution for UntypedObjectDeserializer

XmlMappingTest.java

package test.com.inpaas.http.wsdl;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
import java.util.LinkedHashSet;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParseException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonToken;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonMappingException;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectWriter;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.UntypedObjectDeserializer;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.module.SimpleModule;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.xml.XmlMapper;

public class XmlMappingTest {

	public static void main(String[] args) throws JsonParseException, JsonMappingException, IOException {
		String xml = "<person><name>John</name><parent>Jose</parent><parent>Maria</parent><dogs><count>3</count><dog><name>Spike</name><age>12</age></dog><dog><name>Brutus</name><age>9</age></dog><dog><name>Bob</name><age>14</age></dog></dogs></person>";

		ObjectWriter w = new ObjectMapper().writerWithDefaultPrettyPrinter();
		Object o;

		
		o = new XmlMapper()
				.readValue(xml, Object.class);		
		System.out.println( w.writeValueAsString(o) );

		o = new XmlMapper()
				.registerModule(new SimpleModule().addDeserializer(Object.class, new FixedUntypedObjectDeserializer()))
				.readValue(xml, Object.class);		
		System.out.println( w.writeValueAsString(o) );

	}

	@SuppressWarnings({ "deprecation", "serial" })
	public static class FixedUntypedObjectDeserializer extends UntypedObjectDeserializer {

		@Override
		@SuppressWarnings({ "unchecked", "rawtypes" })
		protected Object mapObject(JsonParser p, DeserializationContext ctxt) throws IOException {
			String firstKey;

			JsonToken t = p.getCurrentToken();

			if (t == JsonToken.START_OBJECT) {
				firstKey = p.nextFieldName();
			} else if (t == JsonToken.FIELD_NAME) {
				firstKey = p.getCurrentName();
			} else {
				if (t != JsonToken.END_OBJECT) {
					throw ctxt.mappingException(handledType(), p.getCurrentToken());
				}
				firstKey = null;
			}

			// empty map might work; but caller may want to modify... so better
			// just give small modifiable
			LinkedHashMap<String, Object> resultMap = new LinkedHashMap<String, Object>(2);
			if (firstKey == null)
				return resultMap;

			p.nextToken();
			resultMap.put(firstKey, deserialize(p, ctxt));

			// 03-Aug-2016, jpvarandas: handle next objects and create an array
			Set<String> listKeys = new LinkedHashSet<>();

			String nextKey;
			while ((nextKey = p.nextFieldName()) != null) {
				p.nextToken();
				if (resultMap.containsKey(nextKey)) {
					Object listObject = resultMap.get(nextKey);

					if (!(listObject instanceof List)) {
						listObject = new ArrayList<>();
						((List) listObject).add(resultMap.get(nextKey));

						resultMap.put(nextKey, listObject);
					}

					((List) listObject).add(deserialize(p, ctxt));

					listKeys.add(nextKey);

				} else {
					resultMap.put(nextKey, deserialize(p, ctxt));

				}
			}

			return resultMap;

		}

	}

}