Parse json string using JSON.NET

Question

I have a string like the following in C#. I need to loop through and create an HTML table output. I tried with JSON.NET but couldn\'t figure out how to retrieve the keys (Na

Answer 1

You can use .NET 4's dynamic type and built-in JavaScriptSerializer to do that. Something like this, maybe:

string json = "{\"items\":[{\"Name\":\"AAA\",\"Age\":\"22\",\"Job\":\"PPP\"},{\"Name\":\"BBB\",\"Age\":\"25\",\"Job\":\"QQQ\"},{\"Name\":\"CCC\",\"Age\":\"38\",\"Job\":\"RRR\"}]}";

var jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();

dynamic data = jss.Deserialize<dynamic>(json);

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

sb.Append("<table>\n  <thead>\n    <tr>\n");

// Build the header based on the keys in the
//  first data item.
foreach (string key in data["items"][0].Keys) {
        sb.AppendFormat("      <th>{0}</th>\n", key);
}

sb.Append("    </tr>\n  </thead>\n  <tbody>\n");

foreach (Dictionary<string, object> item in data["items"]) {
    sb.Append("    <tr>\n");

    foreach (string val in item.Values) {
        sb.AppendFormat("      <td>{0}</td>\n", val);
    }
}

sb.Append("    </tr>\n  </tbody>\n</table>");

string myTable = sb.ToString();

At the end, myTable will hold a string that looks like this:

<table>
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>Name</th>
            <th>Age</th>
            <th>Job</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>AAA</td>
            <td>22</td>
            <td>PPP</td>
        <tr>
            <td>BBB</td>
            <td>25</td>
            <td>QQQ</td>
        <tr>
            <td>CCC</td>
            <td>38</td>
            <td>RRR</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

Answer 2

If your keys are dynamic I would suggest deserializing directly into a DataTable:

    class SampleData
    {
        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "items")]
        public System.Data.DataTable Items { get; set; }
    }

    public void DerializeTable()
    {
        const string json = @"{items:["
            + @"{""Name"":""AAA"",""Age"":""22"",""Job"":""PPP""},"
            + @"{""Name"":""BBB"",""Age"":""25"",""Job"":""QQQ""},"
            + @"{""Name"":""CCC"",""Age"":""38"",""Job"":""RRR""}]}";
        var sampleData = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<SampleData>(json);
        var table = sampleData.Items;

        // write tab delimited table without knowing column names
        var line = string.Empty;
        foreach (DataColumn column in table.Columns)            
            line += column.ColumnName + "\t";                       
        Console.WriteLine(line);

        foreach (DataRow row in table.Rows)
        {
            line = string.Empty;
            foreach (DataColumn column in table.Columns)                
                line += row[column] + "\t";                                   
            Console.WriteLine(line);
        }

        // Name   Age   Job    
        // AAA    22    PPP    
        // BBB    25    QQQ    
        // CCC    38    RRR    
    }

You can determine the DataTable column names and types dynamically once deserialized.

Answer 3

I did not test the following snippet... hopefully it will point you towards the right direction:

    var jsreader = new JsonTextReader(new StringReader(stringData));
    var json = (JObject)new JsonSerializer().Deserialize(jsreader);
    var tableRows = from p in json["items"]
                 select new
                 {
                     Name = (string)p["Name"],
                     Age = (int)p["Age"],
                     Job = (string)p["Job"]
                 };