TypeReferenceTest.java

import java.util.List;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonCreator;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.type.TypeReference;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;

import static java.util.Arrays.asList;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;

final class TypeReferenceTest {
    @Test
    public void test() throws Exception {
        final String str = "[{\"foo\": 3, \"bar\": \"boo\" }, { \"foo\": -3, \"bar\": \"boo2\" }]";
        List<Object> value = new ObjectMapper().readValue(str, new TypeReference<List<Foo>>() { });

        System.out.println(value); // prints [Foo(foo = 3, bar = "boo"), Foo(foo = -3, bar = "boo2")]

        assertEquals(asList(new Foo(3, "boo"), new Foo(-3, "boo2")), value);
    }

    static class Foo {
        @JsonCreator
        Foo(@JsonProperty("foo") int foo, @JsonProperty("bar") String bar) {
            this.foo = foo;
            this.bar = bar;
        }

        @JsonProperty("foo")
        int foo;

        @JsonProperty("bar")
        String bar;

        @Override
        public String toString() {
            return "Foo(foo = " + foo + ", bar = \"" + bar + "\")";
        }

        @Override
        public boolean equals(Object other) {
            if (this == other) {
                return true;
            }

            if (!(other instanceof Foo)) {
                return false;
            }

            Foo that = (Foo) other;

            return this.foo == that.foo && this.bar.equals(that.bar);
        }
      
        @Override
        public int hashCode() {
          throw new IllegalStateException("unimplemented");
        }
    }
}