FreeMarker: Enumeration of Root - freemarker

Question

I am looking to enumerate the root object in FTL (freeMarker template language). for all hash arrays, and all sequence arrays, and all standard key value objects.
I need output in JSON format.
I have found the posted code for JSON enumeration:
http://ericbrandel.com/2013/03/28/freemarker-container-to-json/
<#macro objectToJsonMacro object>
<#compress single_line=true>
<#if object?is_hash || object?is_hash_ex>
<#assign first="true">
{
<#list object?keys as key>
<#if first="false">,</#if>
<#assign value><#objectToJsonMacro object=object<key> /></#assign>
"${key}" : ${value?trim}
<#assign first="false">
</#list>
}
<#elseif object?is_enumerable>
<#assign first="true">
[
<#list object as item>
<#if first="false">,</#if>
<#assign value><#objectToJsonMacro object=item /></#assign>
${value?trim}
<#assign first="false">
</#list>
]
<#else>
"${object?trim}"
</#if>
</#compress>
</#macro>
But the code does NOT WORK (throws an error) in the latest edition of FreeMarker.
I would appreciate any help that anyone can provide. Also, I don't see a way to "get" the root object.
Thanks,
Dan Linstedt

Answer 1

I solved this by adding a public method to my root object which JSON encodes itself. I used Gson to marshal the object.
/**
* #return JSON serialized version of this object.
*/
public String toJson()
{
GsonBuilder gsonBuilder = new GsonBuilder();
//gsonBuilder.setPrettyPrinting();
//gsonBuilder.disableHtmlEscaping();
// .. and whatever else you need Gson to do
return gsonBuilder.create().toJson(this);
}
I didn't need it in FreeMarker, but you could access it like:
${toJson()}