json - Jackson - ignore Map superclass when serializing

Question

I have a few model classes that extend LinkedHashMap<String, Object>: they define getters and setters which wrap the Map's get and put methods. I am trying to serialize instances of these classes using Jackson (with RESTEasy), but Jackson refuses to pay attention to my getters, which are annotated with @JsonProperty. Instead, it is only serializing the key-value pairs of the backing map. I tried using @JsonAutoDetect to disable auto-detection for all methods and fields, but that didn't change anything. Is there a way to prevent Jackson from automatically serializing a Map, or must I create new model classes that don't extend LinkedHashMap<String, Object>?

Answer 1

I agree with @skaffman's response. But if you could not easily change inheritance structure drastically, there may be ways around this.

One possibility is that if you do have an interface that defines getters/setters, you could add

@JsonSerialize(as=MyInterface.class)
@JsonDeserialize(as=MyInterface.class)

which would force Jackson to only use whatever is available via specific interface.

Custom serializers/deserializers are also a possibility, but that's quite a bit of work.