We can create a JSON Object using a Map in Java. You must note here that I am using the word “JSON Object”. A JSON Object is a key-value pair and can be easily created using a Java Map. A Map in Java also represents a collection of key-value pairs.

Start with a very simple JSON Object:

{
    "username" : "admin",
    "password" : "password123"
}

Observe above JSON Object. It contains two key-value pairs. “username” and “password” are two keys and “admin” and “password123” are its corresponding values.

Following the same, we need to create a Map and put the above key-value pairs as they ae\re. Since key and value both are string, we can create a generic Map. See the example below:-

Map<String,String> authPayload = new HashMap<String,String>();
authPayload.put("username", "admin");
authPayload.put("password", "password123");

Now you can directly pass above Map object to body() method which is overloaded to accept Object type.

Complete example:–

package DifferentWaysOfPassingPayloadToRequest;
 
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
 
import org.testng.annotations.Test;
 
import io.restassured.RestAssured;
import io.restassured.http.ContentType;
 
public class CreatingRequestBodyUsingMap {
	
	@Test
	public void passBodyAsMap()
	{
		Map<String,String> authPayload = new HashMap<String,String>();
		authPayload.put("username", "admin");
		authPayload.put("password", "password123");
		
		
		//GIVEN
		RestAssured
		   .given()
			  .baseUri("https://restful-booker.herokuapp.com/auth")
			  .contentType(ContentType.JSON)
			  .body(authPayload)
			  .log()
			  .all()
		// WHEN
		   .when()
			   .post()
		// THEN
		   .then()
			   .assertThat()
			   .statusCode(200)
			   .log()
			   .all();
		
	}
 
}

I am using a logger just to show you the JSON body. Observe Output below. You will see the request body:-

[RemoteTestNG] detected TestNG version 7.0.0
Request method:	POST
Request URI:	https://restful-booker.herokuapp.com/auth
Proxy:			<none>
Request params:	<none>
Query params:	<none>
Form params:	<none>
Path params:	<none>
Headers:		Accept=*/*
				Content-Type=application/json; charset=UTF-8
Cookies:		<none>
Multiparts:		<none>
Body:
{
    "password": "password123",
    "username": "admin"
}
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: Cowboy
Connection: keep-alive
X-Powered-By: Express
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 27
Etag: W/"1b-CfXCADRO41immbrDETUmLRPUeGo"
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2020 16:45:31 GMT
Via: 1.1 vegur
 
{
    "token": "3ce7cd012765c9f"
}
PASSED: passBodyAsMap
 
===============================================
    Default test
    Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================
 
 
===============================================
Default suite
Total tests run: 1, Passes: 1, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================

Now see some complex example:-

Above we have seen a very basic JSON object body. Let’s learn little complex JSON Object request body.

{
    "firstname" : "Jim",
    "lastname" : "Brown",
    "totalprice" : 111,
    "depositpaid" : true,
    "bookingdates" : {
        "checkin" : "2018-01-01",
        "checkout" : "2019-01-01"
    },
    "additionalneeds" : "Breakfast"
}

A key in JSON Object can hold another JSON Object as well. Unlike the above example where we created generic Map as Map<String, String>, in this, we need to create a generic map as Map<String, Object> to allow a key in Map to have a JSON Object as value.

We need to create two Maps here. One will hold overall key-value pairs and another Map will hold only bookingdates key-value pairs. Refer example below:-

Map<String,Object> jsonBodyUsingMap = new HashMap<String,Object>();
jsonBodyUsingMap.put("firstname", "Jim");
jsonBodyUsingMap.put("lastname", "Brown");
jsonBodyUsingMap.put("totalprice", 111);
jsonBodyUsingMap.put("depositpaid", true);
		
Map<String,String> bookingDatesMap = new HashMap<>();
bookingDatesMap.put("checkin", "2021-07-01");
bookingDatesMap.put("checkout", "2021-07-01");
		
jsonBodyUsingMap.put("bookingdates", bookingDatesMap);
jsonBodyUsingMap.put("additionalneeds", "Breakfast");

Complete Example Code:-

package DifferentWaysOfPassingPayloadToRequest;
 
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
 
import org.testng.annotations.Test;
 
import io.restassured.RestAssured;
import io.restassured.http.ContentType;
 
public class CreatingNestedJsonObject {
	
	@Test
	public void CreatingNestedJsonObjectTest()
	{
		Map<String,Object> jsonBodyUsingMap = new HashMap<String,Object>();
		jsonBodyUsingMap.put("firstname", "Jim");
		jsonBodyUsingMap.put("lastname", "Brown");
		jsonBodyUsingMap.put("totalprice", 111);
		jsonBodyUsingMap.put("depositpaid", true);
		
		Map<String,String> bookingDatesMap = new HashMap<>();
		bookingDatesMap.put("checkin", "2021-07-01");
		bookingDatesMap.put("checkout", "2021-07-01");
		
		jsonBodyUsingMap.put("bookingdates", bookingDatesMap);
		jsonBodyUsingMap.put("additionalneeds", "Breakfast");
		
		
		//GIVEN
		RestAssured
		   .given()
			  .baseUri("https://restful-booker.herokuapp.com/booking")
			  .contentType(ContentType.JSON)
			  .body(jsonBodyUsingMap)
			  .log()
			  .all()
		// WHEN
		   .when()
			   .post()
		// THEN
		   .then()
			   .assertThat()
			   .statusCode(200)
			   .log()
			   .all();
	}
 
}

Output:-

[RemoteTestNG] detected TestNG version 7.0.0
Request method:	POST
Request URI:	https://restful-booker.herokuapp.com/booking
Proxy:			<none>
Request params:	<none>
Query params:	<none>
Form params:	<none>
Path params:	<none>
Headers:		Accept=*/*
				Content-Type=application/json; charset=UTF-8
Cookies:		<none>
Multiparts:		<none>
Body:
{
    "firstname": "Jim",
    "additionalneeds": "Breakfast",
    "bookingdates": {
        "checkin": "2021-07-01",
        "checkout": "2021-07-01"
    },
    "totalprice": 111,
    "depositpaid": true,
    "lastname": "Brown"
}
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: Cowboy
Connection: keep-alive
X-Powered-By: Express
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 195
Etag: W/"c3-a1U4h04tkfvUYEkrOJJWIFOJZWA"
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2020 16:44:48 GMT
Via: 1.1 vegur
 
{
    "bookingid": 11,
    "booking": {
        "firstname": "Jim",
        "lastname": "Brown",
        "totalprice": 111,
        "depositpaid": true,
        "bookingdates": {
            "checkin": "2021-07-01",
            "checkout": "2021-07-01"
        },
        "additionalneeds": "Breakfast"
    }
}
PASSED: CreatingNestedJsonObjectTest
 
===============================================
    Default test
    Tests run: 1, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================
 
 
===============================================
Default suite
Total tests run: 1, Passes: 1, Failures: 0, Skips: 0
===============================================