Handling false Boolean Values in JSONAPI Marshalling with Go

Learn how to correctly marshal Go boolean fields, including false values, as JSONAPI attributes without losing data or getting empty objects.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/79343968/ asked by the user 'BeeGee' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/4975446/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/79362477/ provided by the user 'DazWilkin' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/609290/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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The Problem: Marshaling False Boolean Values as Empty JSON Objects

When using the jsonapi library in Go, you might encounter a subtle issue: a struct field with a boolean value false is serialized as an empty JSON object {} instead of { "value": false }. This can confuse API clients because they can't distinguish between an explicit false and an omitted or zero-valued field.

Example Situation

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Using a protobuf wrapper around bool, marshaling Active: &wrappers.BoolValue{Value: false} results in { "Active": {} } instead of { "Active": { "value": false } }.

Why Does This Happen?

Go scalar types like bool have no concept of nil.

Pointer wrappers (*wrappers.BoolValue) encode zero values as empty structs.

The jsonapi library interprets empty structs as empty JSON objects.

This is a side effect of how zero-value structs are handled during marshalling.

Modern, Concise Solution: Use *bool Instead of Wrapper Struct

Instead of using protobuf wrappers, use *bool directly for nullable booleans. This way:

nil means the attribute is absent or null.

true and false values serialize transparently.

Helper Function to Create Boolean Pointers

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Updated Struct Example

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Usage and Output

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Marshaling resourceTrue yields:

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Marshaling resourceFalse yields:

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Marshaling resourceNil yields:

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Summary

Avoid using protobuf wrapper structs that marshal zero values as empty objects.

Use pointer to scalar types (*bool, *int, etc.) for nullable fields.

Provide simple helper functions to create pointers from scalar values.

This leads to clear and unambiguous JSONAPI output for booleans, including false.

This approach improves API clarity and eliminates confusion around missing vs. false boolean values.