How to parse an inner field in a nested JSON object

You could use structs so long as your incoming data isn't too dynamic.

http://play.golang.org/p/bUZ8l6WgvL

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "encoding/json"
    )

type User struct {
    Name string
    Parents struct {
        Mother string
        Father string
    }
}

func main() {
    encoded := `{
        "name": "Cain",
        "parents": {
            "mother": "Eve",
            "father": "Adam"
        }
    }`

    // Decode the json object
    u := &User{}
    err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(encoded), &u)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    // Print out mother and father
    fmt.Printf("Mother: %s\n", u.Parents.Mother)
    fmt.Printf("Father: %s\n", u.Parents.Father)
}

Here's some code I baked up real quick in the Go Playground

http://play.golang.org/p/PiWwpUbBqt

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "encoding/json"
    )

func main() {
    encoded := `{
        "name": "Cain",
        "parents": {
            "mother": "Eve"
            "father": "Adam"
        }
    }`

    // Decode the json object
    var j map[string]interface{}
    err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(encoded), &j)
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }

    // pull out the parents object
    parents := j["parents"].(map[string]interface{})

    // Print out mother and father
    fmt.Printf("Mother: %s\n", parents["mother"].(string))
    fmt.Printf("Father: %s\n", parents["father"].(string))
}

There might be a better way. I'm looking forward to seeing the other answers. :-)

Unfortunately, unlike encoding/xml, the json package doesn't provide a way to access nested values. You'll want to either create a separate Parents struct or assign the type to be map[string]string. For example:

type Person struct {
    Name string
    Parents map[string]string
}

You could then provide a getter for mother as so:

func (p *Person) Mother() string {
    return p.Parents["mother"]
}

This may or may not play into your current codebase and if refactoring the Mother field to a method call is not on the menu, then you may want to create a separate method for decoding and conforming to your current struct.