Convert JSON Configuration to .properties Format

JSON to Properties Conversion

The reverse direction—converting JSON to .properties—is useful when you have configuration in JSON format (from Node.js, cloud services, or APIs) and need to produce a Java-compatible properties file.

Example JSON Input

{
  "server": {
    "port": 8080,
    "host": "0.0.0.0",
    "ssl": {
      "enabled": true,
      "keyStore": "/etc/ssl/keystore.jks"
    }
  },
  "database": {
    "url": "jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/mydb",
    "pool": {
      "maxSize": 20,
      "minIdle": 5,
      "timeout": 30000
    }
  },
  "features": ["auth", "cache", "logging"]
}

Properties Output

server.port=8080
server.host=0.0.0.0
server.ssl.enabled=true
server.ssl.keyStore=/etc/ssl/keystore.jks
database.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/mydb
database.pool.maxSize=20
database.pool.minIdle=5
database.pool.timeout=30000
features[0]=auth
features[1]=cache
features[2]=logging

How Flattening Works

1. Nested objects are flattened using dot notation: server.ssl.enabled
2. Arrays use bracket notation: features[0], features[1]
3. All values are converted to strings (Java properties are always strings)
4. Boolean and number JSON values become their string representation
5. Null values become empty strings
6. Special characters in keys (=, :, spaces) are properly escaped

Round-Trip Considerations

Converting JSON → Properties → JSON (nested) will generally reproduce the original structure, but with all values as strings. Number and boolean types are re-inferred during the Properties → JSON direction.