Reading / writing JSON example

DataReaderWriter.java

package monster;

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

import org.codehaus.jackson.map.ObjectMapper;
import org.codehaus.jackson.map.SerializationConfig;

public class DataReaderWriter {
    private static final File MONSTER_FILE = new File("src/test/resources/monsters.json");
    private final ObjectMapper _mapper;

    public DataReaderWriter() {
        _mapper = new ObjectMapper();
        _mapper.enable(SerializationConfig.Feature.INDENT_OUTPUT); //Enable pretty printing of JSON
    }

    public void writeMonsters(final List<Monster> monsters) throws IOException {
        _mapper.writeValue(MONSTER_FILE, monsters);
    }

    public List<Monster> readMonsters() throws IOException {
        final Monster[] monsterArray = _mapper.readValue(MONSTER_FILE, Monster[].class);

        return Arrays.asList(monsterArray);
    }
}

Monster.java

package monster;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class Monster {
    private String _name;
    private int _hitpoints;
    private final List<String> _inventory;

    public Monster() {
        _inventory = new ArrayList<>();
    }

    public Monster(final String name, final int hitpoints) {
        this();
        _name = name;
        _hitpoints = hitpoints;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return _name;
    }

    public void setName(final String name) {
        _name = name;
    }

    public int getHitpoints() {
        return _hitpoints;
    }

    public void setHitpoints(final int hitpoints) {
        _hitpoints = hitpoints;
    }

    public List<String> getInventory() {
        return _inventory;
    }

}

monsters.json

[ {
  "inventory" : [ "Rat hairs" ],
  "hitpoints" : 10,
  "name" : "Rat"
}, {
  "inventory" : [ "Leather shield", "Rusted sword" ],
  "hitpoints" : 50,
  "name" : "Goblin"
} ]