Deserializing JSON using JSon.NET with dynamic data

Question

I\'m trying to deserialize some JSON data into objects for an application. Up until now it\'s been fine because the properties on the JSON data was static (key with a value)

Answer 1

I hope the below example will help. I always design a model that match the json. It is much better to work with the object when it is your own model design.

It is very easy to generate the c# model from the json. I use this website to generate the model: http://json2csharp.com

A complete example is:

C# Code:

    var targetsObject = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<YourModel>(jsonString);

JSON:

    {
      "investors": [
        {
          "name": "06",
          "programs": [
            {
              "name": "Conventional",
              "value": "3.5"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Standard",
              "value": "5.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Streamline",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "VA",
              "value": "5.5"
            },
            {
              "name": "VA IRRRL",
              "value": "6.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "Non-Prime",
              "value": ""
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "07",
          "programs": [
            {
              "name": "Conventional",
              "value": "3.5"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Standard",
              "value": "5.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Streamline",
              "value": "7.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "VA",
              "value": "5.5"
            },
            {
              "name": "VA IRRRL",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "Non-Prime",
              "value": ""
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "08",
          "programs": [
            {
              "name": "Conventional",
              "value": "3.5"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Standard",
              "value": "5.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Streamline",
              "value": "7.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "VA",
              "value": "5.5"
            },
            {
              "name": "VA IRRRL",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "Non-Prime",
              "value": ""
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "09",
          "programs": [
            {
              "name": "Conventional",
              "value": "3.5"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Standard",
              "value": "5.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Streamline",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "VA",
              "value": "5.5"
            },
            {
              "name": "VA IRRRL",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "Non-Prime",
              "value": ""
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "10",
          "programs": [
            {
              "name": "Conventional",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Standard",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Streamline",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "VA",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "VA IRRRL",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "Non-Prime",
              "value": "2.0"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "11",
          "programs": [
            {
              "name": "Conventional",
              "value": "3.5"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Standard",
              "value": "5.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Streamline",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "VA",
              "value": "6.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "VA IRRRL",
              "value": "6.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "Non-Prime",
              "value": ""
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "12",
          "programs": [
            {
              "name": "Conventional",
              "value": "3.5"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Standard",
              "value": "5.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Streamline",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "VA",
              "value": "5.5"
            },
            {
              "name": "VA IRRRL",
              "value": "6.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "Non-Prime",
              "value": ""
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "13",
          "programs": [
            {
              "name": "Conventional",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Standard",
              "value": "5.0"
            },
            {
              "name": "FHA - Streamline",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "VA",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "VA IRRRL",
              "value": ""
            },
            {
              "name": "Non-Prime",
              "value": "2.0"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }

Model:

    public class Program
    {
        public string name { get; set; }
        public string value { get; set; }
    }

    public class Investor
    {
        public string name { get; set; }
        public List<Program> programs { get; set; }
    }

    public class RootObject
    {
        public List<Investor> investors { get; set; }
    }

Answer 2

The simplest method. In this particular case would probably be to go dynamic.

dynamic data = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(json);
var lastRevId = data.query.pages["6695"].lastrevid;

You can reference any element by it's [] name so you can do something like data["query"]["pages"]["6695"]["lastrevid"]. This will get by all those little objects where the name isn't valid in c#.

Answer 3

Here is how you do using https://github.com/facebook-csharp-sdk/simple-json ( https://nuget.org/packages/SimpleJson ).

var text = "{\"query\":{\"pages\":{\"6695\":{\"pageid\":6695,\"ns\":0,\"title\":\"Citadel\",\"touched\":\"2012-01-03T19:16:16Z\",\"lastrevid\":468683764,\"counter\":\"\",\"length\":8899}}}}";

(Using dynamic)

dynamic json = SimpleJson.DeserializeObject(text);
string title = json.query.pages["6695"].title;

foreach (KeyValuePair<string, dynamic> page in json.query.pages)
{
    var id = page.Key;
    var pageId = page.Value.pageid;
    var ns = page.Value.ns;
}

(Using strongly typed classes)

class result
{
    public query query { get; set; }
}
class query
{
    public IDictionary<string, page> pages { get; set; }
}
class page
{
    public long pageid { get; set; }
    public string title { get; set; }
}

var result = SimpleJson.DeserializeObject<result>(text);

[Update]

on windows phone where dynamic is not supported and you don't want to use strongly typed classes.

var json = (IDictionary<string, object>)SimpleJson.DeserializeObject(text);
var query = (IDictionary<string, object>)json["query"];
var pages = (IDictionary<string, object>)query["pages"];
var pageKeys = pages.Keys;
var page = (IDictionary<string, object>)pages["6695"];
var title = (string)page["title"];

Answer 4

How about a simple search and replace in the JSON string ? While it might not be the most elegant solution, it would possibly be the most pragmatic one.

Answer 5

Maybe you could just use one reserved attribute to contain the object type, and then use the base type as shown in this article: Dynamic types with JSON.NET

Answer 6

Using Json.net you can just do:

Dictionary<string,object> result = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string,object>>(json);
foreach(var item in result)
    Console.WriteLine(item.Key + " " + item.Value);