Module com.google.gson
Package com.google.gson

Class Gson

  • public final class Gson
extends Object
    This is the main class for using Gson. Gson is typically used by first constructing a Gson instance and then invoking toJson(Object) or fromJson(String, Class) methods on it. Gson instances are Thread-safe so you can reuse them freely across multiple threads.

    You can create a Gson instance by invoking new Gson() if the default configuration is all you need. You can also use GsonBuilder to build a Gson instance with various configuration options such as versioning support, pretty printing, custom JsonSerializers, JsonDeserializers, and InstanceCreators.

    Here is an example of how Gson is used for a simple Class: 

     Gson gson = new Gson(); // Or use new GsonBuilder().create();
 MyType target = new MyType();
 String json = gson.toJson(target); // serializes target to JSON
 MyType target2 = gson.fromJson(json, MyType.class); // deserializes json into target2

    If the type of the object that you are converting is a ParameterizedType (i.e. has at least one type argument, for example List<MyType>) then for deserialization you must use a fromJson method with Type or TypeToken parameter to specify the parameterized type. For serialization specifying a Type or TypeToken is optional, otherwise Gson will use the runtime type of the object. TypeToken is a class provided by Gson which helps creating parameterized types. Here is an example showing how this can be done: 

     TypeToken<List<MyType>> listType = new TypeToken<List<MyType>>() {};
 List<MyType> target = new LinkedList<MyType>();
 target.add(new MyType(1, "abc"));

 Gson gson = new Gson();
 // For serialization you normally do not have to specify the type, Gson will use
 // the runtime type of the objects, however you can also specify it explicitly
 String json = gson.toJson(target, listType.getType());

 // But for deserialization you have to specify the type
 List<MyType> target2 = gson.fromJson(json, listType);

    See the Gson User Guide for a more complete set of examples.

    Lenient JSON handling

    For legacy reasons most of the Gson methods allow JSON data which does not comply with the JSON specification, regardless of whether GsonBuilder.setLenient() is used or not. If this behavior is not desired, the following workarounds can be used:

    Serialization

    1. Use getAdapter(Class) to obtain the adapter for the type to be serialized
    2. When using an existing JsonWriter, manually apply the writer settings of this Gson instance listed by newJsonWriter(Writer).
      Otherwise, when not using an existing JsonWriter, use newJsonWriter(Writer) to construct one.
    3. Call TypeAdapter.write(JsonWriter, Object)

    Deserialization

    1. Use getAdapter(Class) to obtain the adapter for the type to be deserialized
    2. When using an existing JsonReader, manually apply the reader settings of this Gson instance listed by newJsonReader(Reader).
      Otherwise, when not using an existing JsonReader, use newJsonReader(Reader) to construct one.
    3. Call TypeAdapter.read(JsonReader)
    4. Call JsonReader.peek() and verify that the result is JsonToken.END_DOCUMENT to make sure there is no trailing data
    Author:
    Inderjeet Singh, Joel Leitch, Jesse Wilson
    See Also:
    TypeToken

    • Constructor Summary

      Constructors 
      Constructor Description
      Gson()
      Constructs a Gson object with default configuration.

    • Method Detail

      • newBuilder

        public GsonBuilder newBuilder()
        Returns a new GsonBuilder containing all custom factories and configuration used by the current instance.
        Returns:
        a GsonBuilder instance.
        Since:
        2.8.3

      • excluder

        @Deprecated
public com.google.gson.internal.Excluder excluder()
        Deprecated.
        This method by accident exposes an internal Gson class; it might be removed in a future version.

      • serializeNulls

        public boolean serializeNulls()
        Returns whether this Gson instance is serializing JSON object properties with null values, or just omits them.
        See Also:
        GsonBuilder.serializeNulls()

      • htmlSafe

        public boolean htmlSafe()
        Returns whether this Gson instance produces JSON output which is HTML-safe, that means all HTML characters are escaped.
        See Also:
        GsonBuilder.disableHtmlEscaping()

      • getAdapter

        public <T> TypeAdapter<T> getAdapter​(TypeToken<T> type)
        Returns the type adapter for type.

        When calling this method concurrently from multiple threads and requesting an adapter for the same type this method may return different TypeAdapter instances. However, that should normally not be an issue because TypeAdapter implementations are supposed to be stateless.

        Throws:
        IllegalArgumentException - if this Gson instance cannot serialize and deserialize type.

      • getDelegateAdapter

        public <T> TypeAdapter<T> getDelegateAdapter​(TypeAdapterFactory skipPast,
                                             TypeToken<T> type)
        This method is used to get an alternate type adapter for the specified type. This is used to access a type adapter that is overridden by a TypeAdapterFactory that you may have registered. This features is typically used when you want to register a type adapter that does a little bit of work but then delegates further processing to the Gson default type adapter. Here is an example:

        Let's say we want to write a type adapter that counts the number of objects being read from or written to JSON. We can achieve this by writing a type adapter factory that uses the getDelegateAdapter method: 

         
  class StatsTypeAdapterFactory implements TypeAdapterFactory {
    public int numReads = 0;
    public int numWrites = 0;
    public <T> TypeAdapter<T> create(Gson gson, TypeToken<T> type) {
      final TypeAdapter<T> delegate = gson.getDelegateAdapter(this, type);
      return new TypeAdapter<T>() {
        public void write(JsonWriter out, T value) throws IOException {
          ++numWrites;
          delegate.write(out, value);
        }
        public T read(JsonReader in) throws IOException {
          ++numReads;
          return delegate.read(in);
        }
      };
    }
  }
        This factory can now be used like this: 
         
  StatsTypeAdapterFactory stats = new StatsTypeAdapterFactory();
  Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().registerTypeAdapterFactory(stats).create();
  // Call gson.toJson() and fromJson methods on objects
  System.out.println("Num JSON reads" + stats.numReads);
  System.out.println("Num JSON writes" + stats.numWrites);
        Note that this call will skip all factories registered before skipPast. In case of multiple TypeAdapterFactories registered it is up to the caller of this function to insure that the order of registration does not prevent this method from reaching a factory they would expect to reply from this call. Note that since you can not override type adapter factories for String and Java primitive types, our stats factory will not count the number of String or primitives that will be read or written.
        Parameters:
        skipPast - The type adapter factory that needs to be skipped while searching for a matching type adapter. In most cases, you should just pass this (the type adapter factory from where getDelegateAdapter method is being invoked).
        type - Type for which the delegate adapter is being searched for.
        Since:
        2.2

      • getAdapter

        public <T> TypeAdapter<T> getAdapter​(Class<T> type)
        Returns the type adapter for type.
        Throws:
        IllegalArgumentException - if this Gson instance cannot serialize and deserialize type.

      • toJsonTree

        public JsonElement toJsonTree​(Object src)
        This method serializes the specified object into its equivalent representation as a tree of JsonElements. This method should be used when the specified object is not a generic type. This method uses Object.getClass() to get the type for the specified object, but the getClass() loses the generic type information because of the Type Erasure feature of Java. Note that this method works fine if any of the object fields are of generic type, just the object itself should not be of a generic type. If the object is of generic type, use toJsonTree(Object, Type) instead.
        Parameters:
        src - the object for which JSON representation is to be created
        Returns:
        JSON representation of src.
        Since:
        1.4
        See Also:
        toJsonTree(Object, Type)

      • toJsonTree

        public JsonElement toJsonTree​(Object src,
                              Type typeOfSrc)
        This method serializes the specified object, including those of generic types, into its equivalent representation as a tree of JsonElements. This method must be used if the specified object is a generic type. For non-generic objects, use toJsonTree(Object) instead.
        Parameters:
        src - the object for which JSON representation is to be created
        typeOfSrc - The specific genericized type of src. You can obtain this type by using the TypeToken class. For example, to get the type for Collection<Foo>, you should use: 
         Type typeOfSrc = new TypeToken<Collection<Foo>>(){}.getType();
        Returns:
        Json representation of src
        Since:
        1.4
        See Also:
        toJsonTree(Object)

      • toJson

        public String toJson​(Object src)
        This method serializes the specified object into its equivalent JSON representation. This method should be used when the specified object is not a generic type. This method uses Object.getClass() to get the type for the specified object, but the getClass() loses the generic type information because of the Type Erasure feature of Java. Note that this method works fine if any of the object fields are of generic type, just the object itself should not be of a generic type. If the object is of generic type, use toJson(Object, Type) instead. If you want to write out the object to a Writer, use toJson(Object, Appendable) instead.
        Parameters:
        src - the object for which JSON representation is to be created
        Returns:
        Json representation of src.
        See Also:
        toJson(Object, Appendable), toJson(Object, Type)

      • toJson

        public String toJson​(Object src,
                     Type typeOfSrc)
        This method serializes the specified object, including those of generic types, into its equivalent JSON representation. This method must be used if the specified object is a generic type. For non-generic objects, use toJson(Object) instead. If you want to write out the object to a Appendable, use toJson(Object, Type, Appendable) instead.
        Parameters:
        src - the object for which JSON representation is to be created
        typeOfSrc - The specific genericized type of src. You can obtain this type by using the TypeToken class. For example, to get the type for Collection<Foo>, you should use: 
         Type typeOfSrc = new TypeToken<Collection<Foo>>(){}.getType();
        Returns:
        JSON representation of src
        See Also:
        toJson(Object, Type, Appendable), toJson(Object)

      • toJson

        public void toJson​(Object src,
                   Appendable writer)
            throws JsonIOException
        This method serializes the specified object into its equivalent JSON representation and writes it to the writer. This method should be used when the specified object is not a generic type. This method uses Object.getClass() to get the type for the specified object, but the getClass() loses the generic type information because of the Type Erasure feature of Java. Note that this method works fine if any of the object fields are of generic type, just the object itself should not be of a generic type. If the object is of generic type, use toJson(Object, Type, Appendable) instead.
        Parameters:
        src - the object for which JSON representation is to be created
        writer - Writer to which the JSON representation needs to be written
        Throws:
        JsonIOException - if there was a problem writing to the writer
        Since:
        1.2
        See Also:
        toJson(Object), toJson(Object, Type, Appendable)

      • toJson

        public void toJson​(Object src,
                   Type typeOfSrc,
                   Appendable writer)
            throws JsonIOException
        This method serializes the specified object, including those of generic types, into its equivalent JSON representation and writes it to the writer. This method must be used if the specified object is a generic type. For non-generic objects, use toJson(Object, Appendable) instead.
        Parameters:
        src - the object for which JSON representation is to be created
        typeOfSrc - The specific genericized type of src. You can obtain this type by using the TypeToken class. For example, to get the type for Collection<Foo>, you should use: 
         Type typeOfSrc = new TypeToken<Collection<Foo>>(){}.getType();
        writer - Writer to which the JSON representation of src needs to be written.
        Throws:
        JsonIOException - if there was a problem writing to the writer
        Since:
        1.2
        See Also:
        toJson(Object, Type), toJson(Object, Appendable)

      • toJson

        public void toJson​(Object src,
                   Type typeOfSrc,
                   JsonWriter writer)
            throws JsonIOException
        Writes the JSON representation of src of type typeOfSrc to writer.

        The JSON data is written in lenient mode, regardless of the lenient mode setting of the provided writer. The lenient mode setting of the writer is restored once this method returns.

        The 'HTML-safe' and 'serialize null' settings of this Gson instance (configured by the GsonBuilder) are applied, and the original settings of the writer are restored once this method returns.

        Throws:
        JsonIOException - if there was a problem writing to the writer

      • toJson

        public String toJson​(JsonElement jsonElement)
        Converts a tree of JsonElements into its equivalent JSON representation.
        Parameters:
        jsonElement - root of a tree of JsonElements
        Returns:
        JSON String representation of the tree
        Since:
        1.4

      • toJson

        public void toJson​(JsonElement jsonElement,
                   Appendable writer)
            throws JsonIOException
        Writes out the equivalent JSON for a tree of JsonElements.
        Parameters:
        jsonElement - root of a tree of JsonElements
        writer - Writer to which the JSON representation needs to be written
        Throws:
        JsonIOException - if there was a problem writing to the writer
        Since:
        1.4

      • newJsonReader

        public JsonReader newJsonReader​(Reader reader)
        Returns a new JSON reader configured for the settings on this Gson instance.

        The following settings are considered:

      • toJson

        public void toJson​(JsonElement jsonElement,
                   JsonWriter writer)
            throws JsonIOException
        Writes the JSON for jsonElement to writer.

        The JSON data is written in lenient mode, regardless of the lenient mode setting of the provided writer. The lenient mode setting of the writer is restored once this method returns.

        The 'HTML-safe' and 'serialize null' settings of this Gson instance (configured by the GsonBuilder) are applied, and the original settings of the writer are restored once this method returns.

        Throws:
        JsonIOException - if there was a problem writing to the writer

      • fromJson

        public <T> T fromJson​(String json,
                      Class<T> classOfT)
               throws JsonSyntaxException
        This method deserializes the specified JSON into an object of the specified class. It is not suitable to use if the specified class is a generic type since it will not have the generic type information because of the Type Erasure feature of Java. Therefore, this method should not be used if the desired type is a generic type. Note that this method works fine if the any of the fields of the specified object are generics, just the object itself should not be a generic type. For the cases when the object is of generic type, invoke fromJson(String, TypeToken). If you have the JSON in a Reader instead of a String, use fromJson(Reader, Class) instead.

        An exception is thrown if the JSON string has multiple top-level JSON elements, or if there is trailing data. Use fromJson(JsonReader, Type) if this behavior is not desired.

        Type Parameters:
        T - the type of the desired object
        Parameters:
        json - the string from which the object is to be deserialized
        classOfT - the class of T
        Returns:
        an object of type T from the string. Returns null if json is null or if json is empty.
        Throws:
        JsonSyntaxException - if json is not a valid representation for an object of type classOfT
        See Also:
        fromJson(Reader, Class), fromJson(String, TypeToken)

      • fromJson

        public <T> T fromJson​(String json,
                      Type typeOfT)
               throws JsonSyntaxException
        This method deserializes the specified JSON into an object of the specified type. This method is useful if the specified object is a generic type. For non-generic objects, use fromJson(String, Class) instead. If you have the JSON in a Reader instead of a String, use fromJson(Reader, Type) instead.

        Since Type is not parameterized by T, this method is not type-safe and should be used carefully. If you are creating the Type from a TypeToken, prefer using fromJson(String, TypeToken) instead since its return type is based on the TypeToken and is therefore more type-safe.

        An exception is thrown if the JSON string has multiple top-level JSON elements, or if there is trailing data. Use fromJson(JsonReader, Type) if this behavior is not desired.

        Type Parameters:
        T - the type of the desired object
        Parameters:
        json - the string from which the object is to be deserialized
        typeOfT - The specific genericized type of src
        Returns:
        an object of type T from the string. Returns null if json is null or if json is empty.
        Throws:
        JsonSyntaxException - if json is not a valid representation for an object of type typeOfT
        See Also:
        fromJson(Reader, Type), fromJson(String, Class), fromJson(String, TypeToken)

      • fromJson

        public <T> T fromJson​(String json,
                      TypeToken<T> typeOfT)
               throws JsonSyntaxException
        This method deserializes the specified JSON into an object of the specified type. This method is useful if the specified object is a generic type. For non-generic objects, use fromJson(String, Class) instead. If you have the JSON in a Reader instead of a String, use fromJson(Reader, TypeToken) instead.

        An exception is thrown if the JSON string has multiple top-level JSON elements, or if there is trailing data. Use fromJson(JsonReader, TypeToken) if this behavior is not desired.

        Type Parameters:
        T - the type of the desired object
        Parameters:
        json - the string from which the object is to be deserialized
        typeOfT - The specific genericized type of src. You should create an anonymous subclass of TypeToken with the specific generic type arguments. For example, to get the type for Collection<Foo>, you should use: 
         new TypeToken<Collection<Foo>>(){}
        Returns:
        an object of type T from the string. Returns null if json is null or if json is empty.
        Throws:
        JsonSyntaxException - if json is not a valid representation for an object of the type typeOfT
        Since:
        2.10
        See Also:
        fromJson(Reader, TypeToken), fromJson(String, Class)

      • fromJson

        public <T> T fromJson​(Reader json,
                      Class<T> classOfT)
               throws JsonSyntaxException,
                      JsonIOException
        This method deserializes the JSON read from the specified reader into an object of the specified class. It is not suitable to use if the specified class is a generic type since it will not have the generic type information because of the Type Erasure feature of Java. Therefore, this method should not be used if the desired type is a generic type. Note that this method works fine if any of the fields of the specified object are generics, just the object itself should not be a generic type. For the cases when the object is of generic type, invoke fromJson(Reader, TypeToken). If you have the JSON in a String form instead of a Reader, use fromJson(String, Class) instead.

        An exception is thrown if the JSON data has multiple top-level JSON elements, or if there is trailing data. Use fromJson(JsonReader, Type) if this behavior is not desired.

        Type Parameters:
        T - the type of the desired object
        Parameters:
        json - the reader producing the JSON from which the object is to be deserialized.
        classOfT - the class of T
        Returns:
        an object of type T from the Reader. Returns null if json is at EOF.
        Throws:
        JsonIOException - if there was a problem reading from the Reader
        JsonSyntaxException - if json is not a valid representation for an object of type typeOfT
        Since:
        1.2
        See Also:
        fromJson(String, Class), fromJson(Reader, TypeToken)

      • fromJson

        public <T> T fromJson​(Reader json,
                      Type typeOfT)
               throws JsonIOException,
                      JsonSyntaxException
        This method deserializes the JSON read from the specified reader into an object of the specified type. This method is useful if the specified object is a generic type. For non-generic objects, use fromJson(Reader, Class) instead. If you have the JSON in a String form instead of a Reader, use fromJson(String, Type) instead.

        Since Type is not parameterized by T, this method is not type-safe and should be used carefully. If you are creating the Type from a TypeToken, prefer using fromJson(Reader, TypeToken) instead since its return type is based on the TypeToken and is therefore more type-safe.

        An exception is thrown if the JSON data has multiple top-level JSON elements, or if there is trailing data. Use fromJson(JsonReader, Type) if this behavior is not desired.

        Type Parameters:
        T - the type of the desired object
        Parameters:
        json - the reader producing JSON from which the object is to be deserialized
        typeOfT - The specific genericized type of src
        Returns:
        an object of type T from the Reader. Returns null if json is at EOF.
        Throws:
        JsonIOException - if there was a problem reading from the Reader
        JsonSyntaxException - if json is not a valid representation for an object of type typeOfT
        Since:
        1.2
        See Also:
        fromJson(String, Type), fromJson(Reader, Class), fromJson(Reader, TypeToken)

      • fromJson

        public <T> T fromJson​(Reader json,
                      TypeToken<T> typeOfT)
               throws JsonIOException,
                      JsonSyntaxException
        This method deserializes the JSON read from the specified reader into an object of the specified type. This method is useful if the specified object is a generic type. For non-generic objects, use fromJson(Reader, Class) instead. If you have the JSON in a String form instead of a Reader, use fromJson(String, TypeToken) instead.

        An exception is thrown if the JSON data has multiple top-level JSON elements, or if there is trailing data. Use fromJson(JsonReader, TypeToken) if this behavior is not desired.

        Type Parameters:
        T - the type of the desired object
        Parameters:
        json - the reader producing JSON from which the object is to be deserialized
        typeOfT - The specific genericized type of src. You should create an anonymous subclass of TypeToken with the specific generic type arguments. For example, to get the type for Collection<Foo>, you should use: 
         new TypeToken<Collection<Foo>>(){}
        Returns:
        an object of type T from the Reader. Returns null if json is at EOF.
        Throws:
        JsonIOException - if there was a problem reading from the Reader
        JsonSyntaxException - if json is not a valid representation for an object of type of typeOfT
        Since:
        2.10
        See Also:
        fromJson(String, TypeToken), fromJson(Reader, Class)

      • fromJson

        public <T> T fromJson​(JsonReader reader,
                      Type typeOfT)
               throws JsonIOException,
                      JsonSyntaxException
        Reads the next JSON value from reader and converts it to an object of type typeOfT. Returns null, if the reader is at EOF.

        Since Type is not parameterized by T, this method is not type-safe and should be used carefully. If you are creating the Type from a TypeToken, prefer using fromJson(JsonReader, TypeToken) instead since its return type is based on the TypeToken and is therefore more type-safe. If the provided type is a Class the TypeToken can be created with TypeToken.get(Class).

        Unlike the other fromJson methods, no exception is thrown if the JSON data has multiple top-level JSON elements, or if there is trailing data.

        The JSON data is parsed in lenient mode, regardless of the lenient mode setting of the provided reader. The lenient mode setting of the reader is restored once this method returns.

        Type Parameters:
        T - the type of the desired object
        Parameters:
        reader - the reader whose next JSON value should be deserialized
        typeOfT - The specific genericized type of src
        Returns:
        an object of type T from the JsonReader. Returns null if reader is at EOF.
        Throws:
        JsonIOException - if there was a problem reading from the JsonReader
        JsonSyntaxException - if json is not a valid representation for an object of type typeOfT
        See Also:
        fromJson(Reader, Type), fromJson(JsonReader, TypeToken)

      • fromJson

        public <T> T fromJson​(JsonReader reader,
                      TypeToken<T> typeOfT)
               throws JsonIOException,
                      JsonSyntaxException
        Reads the next JSON value from reader and converts it to an object of type typeOfT. Returns null, if the reader is at EOF. This method is useful if the specified object is a generic type. For non-generic objects, fromJson(JsonReader, Type) can be called, or TypeToken.get(Class) can be used to create the type token.

        Unlike the other fromJson methods, no exception is thrown if the JSON data has multiple top-level JSON elements, or if there is trailing data.

        The JSON data is parsed in lenient mode, regardless of the lenient mode setting of the provided reader. The lenient mode setting of the reader is restored once this method returns.

        Type Parameters:
        T - the type of the desired object
        Parameters:
        reader - the reader whose next JSON value should be deserialized
        typeOfT - The specific genericized type of src. You should create an anonymous subclass of TypeToken with the specific generic type arguments. For example, to get the type for Collection<Foo>, you should use: 
         new TypeToken<Collection<Foo>>(){}
        Returns:
        an object of type T from the JsonReader. Returns null if reader is at EOF.
        Throws:
        JsonIOException - if there was a problem reading from the JsonReader
        JsonSyntaxException - if json is not a valid representation for an object of the type typeOfT
        Since:
        2.10
        See Also:
        fromJson(Reader, TypeToken), fromJson(JsonReader, Type)

      • fromJson

        public <T> T fromJson​(JsonElement json,
                      Class<T> classOfT)
               throws JsonSyntaxException
        This method deserializes the JSON read from the specified parse tree into an object of the specified type. It is not suitable to use if the specified class is a generic type since it will not have the generic type information because of the Type Erasure feature of Java. Therefore, this method should not be used if the desired type is a generic type. Note that this method works fine if any of the fields of the specified object are generics, just the object itself should not be a generic type. For the cases when the object is of generic type, invoke fromJson(JsonElement, TypeToken).
        Type Parameters:
        T - the type of the desired object
        Parameters:
        json - the root of the parse tree of JsonElements from which the object is to be deserialized
        classOfT - The class of T
        Returns:
        an object of type T from the JSON. Returns null if json is null or if json is empty.
        Throws:
        JsonSyntaxException - if json is not a valid representation for an object of type classOfT
        Since:
        1.3
        See Also:
        fromJson(Reader, Class), fromJson(JsonElement, TypeToken)

      • fromJson

        public <T> T fromJson​(JsonElement json,
                      Type typeOfT)
               throws JsonSyntaxException
        This method deserializes the JSON read from the specified parse tree into an object of the specified type. This method is useful if the specified object is a generic type. For non-generic objects, use fromJson(JsonElement, Class) instead.

        Since Type is not parameterized by T, this method is not type-safe and should be used carefully. If you are creating the Type from a TypeToken, prefer using fromJson(JsonElement, TypeToken) instead since its return type is based on the TypeToken and is therefore more type-safe.

        Type Parameters:
        T - the type of the desired object
        Parameters:
        json - the root of the parse tree of JsonElements from which the object is to be deserialized
        typeOfT - The specific genericized type of src
        Returns:
        an object of type T from the JSON. Returns null if json is null or if json is empty.
        Throws:
        JsonSyntaxException - if json is not a valid representation for an object of type typeOfT
        Since:
        1.3
        See Also:
        fromJson(Reader, Type), fromJson(JsonElement, Class), fromJson(JsonElement, TypeToken)

      • fromJson

        public <T> T fromJson​(JsonElement json,
                      TypeToken<T> typeOfT)
               throws JsonSyntaxException
        This method deserializes the JSON read from the specified parse tree into an object of the specified type. This method is useful if the specified object is a generic type. For non-generic objects, use fromJson(JsonElement, Class) instead.
        Type Parameters:
        T - the type of the desired object
        Parameters:
        json - the root of the parse tree of JsonElements from which the object is to be deserialized
        typeOfT - The specific genericized type of src. You should create an anonymous subclass of TypeToken with the specific generic type arguments. For example, to get the type for Collection<Foo>, you should use: 
         new TypeToken<Collection<Foo>>(){}
        Returns:
        an object of type T from the JSON. Returns null if json is null or if json is empty.
        Throws:
        JsonSyntaxException - if json is not a valid representation for an object of type typeOfT
        Since:
        2.10
        See Also:
        fromJson(Reader, TypeToken), fromJson(JsonElement, Class)