Develop Reference

Deserializing JSON with numbers as field using JsonSerializer

I need to deserialize this weird JSON (image below). I've seen some deserialization hints using Dictionary<>, etc. but the problem is that "parameters" contains different data, then previous keys.
Can I somehow get it to work using JsonSerializer deserializator without doing foreach loops and other suspicious implementations? I do need data from "data" in my application.
Here's some of my code:
using var client = new WebClient();
var json = client.DownloadString(GetJsonString());
var invoicesData = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<JsonMyData>(json, options);
If using Newtonsoft is necessary I might start using it.

With Newtonsoft you can parse and access arbitrary JSON documents, even ones that can't reasonably be deserialized into a .NET object. So something like:
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
using System;
namespace ConsoleApp35
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var json = #"
{
""myData"" :
{
""0"" : { ""data"": { ""A"":1,""B"":2} },
""1"" : { ""data"": { ""A"":1,""B"":2} },
""2"" : { ""data"": { ""A"":1,""B"":2} },
""3"" : { ""data"": { ""A"":1,""B"":2} },
""parameters"" : { ""p"":""a""}
},
""status"":{ }
}";
var foo = JObject.Parse(json);
var a = foo["myData"]["1"]["data"];
Console.WriteLine(a);
Console.WriteLine("Hit any key to continue");
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}

I think you should really consider using Newtonsoft.Json instead of default JsonDeserializer, it is much easier to use in such situations.

If you are interested in processing this without foreach loops and wanting to access the data in a list format, I would suggest using Dictionary for this. When you use dictionary, you can use Objects as values that would compensate for differences in numbers (0, 1, 2, ..) and words (parameters).
// Classes to Deserialize data we need.
public class MyObject
{
[JsonProperty("data")]
public Data Data { get; set; }
}
public class Data
{
public int A { get; set; }
public int B { get; set; }
}
Usage in Main
// Read in the JSON
var myData = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(jsonString)["myData"];
// Convert To Dictionary
Dictionary<string, dynamic> dataAsObjects = myData.ToObject<Dictionary<string, dynamic>>();
string searchFor = "3";
dataAsObjects.TryGetValue(searchFor, out dynamic obj);
if (obj != null)
{
// Conversion to int and matching against searchFor is to ensure its a number.
int.TryParse(searchFor, out int result);
if (result == 0 && result.ToString().Equals(searchFor))
{
MyObject myObject = obj.ToObject<MyObject>();
Console.WriteLine($"A:{myObject.Data.A} - B:{myObject.Data.B}");
}
else if (result == 8 && result.ToString().Equals(searchFor))
{
// I am not clear on whats your parameters class look like.
MyParameters myParams = obj.ToObject<MyParameters>();
}
}
Output
A:1 - B:2
With this method you can either access the numbers or the parameters element.

How to iterate through JObject Properties via Foreach/LINQ

I have an established JObject object. Trying to loop through it to acquire a Key/value based on anothers Key/value (example of json below with code currently stuck on)
For a tad more detail - looking to loop through "value", get the "KeyID" based on "MailState"
definitely feel like I am missing the step of filtering by MailState/ColName apparently - I have searched through threads a bunch but if someone knows of one that answered this that i was unable to find i will happily pull this down/reference it
// JSON DATA
{
"odata.metadata": "https://..com/odata/$metadata#JCJMCDXes",
"value": [
{
"KeyID": "10379",
"MailCity": "Chicago",
"MailState": "IL"
},
{
"KeyID": "9846",
"MailCity": "Chicago",
"MailState": "IL"
},
{
"KeyID": "2234",
"MailCity": "Madison",
"MailState": "WI"
}]
}
// Current code example
// class in play
public class datastorage
{
public string ID { get; set; }
public string Col { get; set; }
}
public class listData
{
public string ColName {get;set;}
}
// getVPData is a string response from a call to an API
getVPData.Replace(System.Environment.NewLine, "");
JObject jobj = (JObject)Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(getVPData);
List<datastorage> data = new List<datastorage>();
// Loop
foreach(var r in listData) // has distinct State abeviations so only 1 occurence
{
foreach (var j in jobj) // This the right path?
{
//add KeyID into ID
data.add(new datastorage
{
ID = ,//add KeyID into ID
Col = r.ColName
});
}
}

You can use Newtonsoft.Json library to parse and loop to the items of value
here is a sample code:
dynamic json = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(getVPData);
foreach (dynamic item in json["value"])
{
//you can access the fields inside value.
var KeyID = item["KeyID"];
var MailCity = item["MailCity"];
var MailState = item["MailState"];
//just for showing...
Console.WriteLine("KeyID:{0}, MailCity:{1}, MailState:{2}", KeyID, MailCity, MailState);
}
Let me know if the snippet works.

Straightforward ways are:
using System;
using System.Linq;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
namespace ConsoleApp7
{
internal class Program
{
private static void Main(string[] args)
{
var mailStates = new[] {"IL", "WI"};
var jObject = (JObject) JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(json);
var values = (JArray) jObject["value"];
// 1st way
foreach (var mailState in mailStates)
{
var key = values
.Where(v => mailState == v.SelectToken("MailState").Value<string>())
.Select(v => v.Value<string>("KeyID"))
.FirstOrDefault();
Console.WriteLine($"1st case: {mailState} - {key}");
}
/* 2nd way based on JSONPath
* api: https://www.newtonsoft.com/json/help/html/QueryJsonSelectTokenJsonPath.htm
* dox: https://support.smartbear.com/alertsite/docs/monitors/api/endpoint/jsonpath.html
* tester: https://jsonpath.curiousconcept.com/
*/
foreach (var mailState in mailStates)
{
var key = values.SelectTokens($"$[?(#.MailState == '{mailState}')].KeyID")
.Select(v => v.ToString())
.FirstOrDefault();
Console.WriteLine($"2nd case: {mailState} - {key}");
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
private static string json = #"
{
""odata.metadata"": ""https://cdxapiclient.palmercg.com/odata/$metadata#JCJMCDXes"",
""value"": [
{
""KeyID"": ""10379"",
""MailCity"": ""Chicago"",
""MailState"": ""IL""
},
{
""KeyID"": ""9846"",
""MailCity"": ""Chicago"",
""MailState"": ""IL""
},
{
""KeyID"": ""2234"",
""MailCity"": ""Madison"",
""MailState"": ""WI""
}]
}";
}
}

NewtonSoft json parsing

Can somebody help me to parse the json and get the details.
Lets say i have Top2 input parameter as Police and i want to know the respective Top3 and in that Top3 array i need to check whether Test1Child value is there or not.
I am using newtonsoft json + c# and so far i can get till DeviceTypes using below code
var json = File.ReadAllText(jsonFile); // below json is stored in file jsonFile
var jObject = JObject.Parse(json);
JArray MappingArray =(JArray)jObject["Top1"];
string strTop1 = ObjZone.Top1.ToString();
string strTop2 = ObjZone.Top2.ToString();
var JToken = MappingArray.Where(obj => obj["Top2"].Value<string>() == strTop2).ToList();
//Json
{
"Top1": [
{
"Top2": "Test1",
"Top3": [
"Test1Child"
]
},
{
"Top2": "Test2",
"Top3": [
"Test2Child"
]
}
]
}

I'd use http://json2csharp.com/ (or any other json to c# parser) and then use C# objects (it's just easier for me)
This would look like that for this case:
namespace jsonTests
{
public class DeviceTypeWithResponseTypeMapper
{
public string DeviceType { get; set; }
public List<string> ResponseTypes { get; set; }
}
public class RootObject
{
public List<DeviceTypeWithResponseTypeMapper> DeviceTypeWithResponseTypeMapper { get; set; }
}
}
and the use it like that in code:
var rootob = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(str);
var thoseThatHaveNotUsed = rootob.DeviceTypeWithResponseTypeMapper.Where(dtwrtm =>
dtwrtm.ResponseTypes.Any(rt => rt == "NotUsed"));
foreach (var one in thoseThatHaveNotUsed)
{
Console.WriteLine(one.DeviceType);
}
this code lists all the Device types that have "NotUsed" among the responses.
version 2 (extending your code) would look like that, i believe:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var json = str; // below json is stored in file jsonFile
var jObject = JObject.Parse(json);
JArray ZoneMappingArray = (JArray)jObject["DeviceTypeWithResponseTypeMapper"];
string strDeviceType = "Police";
string strResponseType = "NotUsed";
var JToken = ZoneMappingArray.Where(obj => obj["DeviceType"].Value<string>() == strDeviceType).ToList();
var isrespTypeThere = JToken[0].Last().Values().Any(x => x.Value<string>() == strResponseType);
Console.WriteLine($"Does {strDeviceType} have response type with value {strResponseType}? {yesorno(isrespTypeThere)}");
}
private static object yesorno(bool isrespTypeThere)
{
if (isrespTypeThere)
{
return "yes!";
}
else
{
return "no :(";
}
}
result:
and if you'd like to list all devices that have response type equal to wanted you can use this code:
var allWithResponseType = ZoneMappingArray.Where(jt => jt.Last().Values().Any(x => x.Value<string>() == strResponseType));
foreach (var item in allWithResponseType)
{
Console.WriteLine(item["DeviceType"].Value<string>());
}

Howto C# DeserializeObject, where variable name is number?

How do I Deserialize the following. The problem is that the variable name is a number. So how should MyClass be defined?
json_str:
{"23521952": {"b": [], "o": []}, "23521953": {"b": [], "o": []}}
class MyClass { //? };
var var = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<MyClass>(json_str);

This sounds like the outer object is actually a dictionary:
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
class Foo
{
// no clue what b+o look like from the question; modify to suit
public int[] b { get; set; }
public string[] o { get; set; }
}
static class P
{
static void Main()
{
var json = #"{""23521952"": {""b"": [], ""o"": []}, ""23521953"": {""b"": [], ""o"": []}}";
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, Foo>>(json);
foreach(var pair in obj)
{
System.Console.WriteLine($"{pair.Key}, {pair.Value}");
}
}
}

You can use anonymous type deserialization for your data like this, without creating classes for properties of JSON. Hope it works.
var finalResult=JsonConvert.DeserializeAnonymousType(
json_str, // input
new
{
Id=
{
new
{
b=new[], o=new[]
}
}
}
);
foreach(var id in finalResult.Id)
{
console.write(id); // gives ids like 23521952
console.write(id.b[0]) // gives first elemnt in 'b' array
}

C# Json To Dictionary of Objects

I want to take some Json and parse it in to a collection of key/value pairs, but some of the values will be dictionaries themselves. I tried the usual Newtonsoft deserialization. It's close, but not quite right. The end result must be a dictionary, not a strongly typed class.
This is some example Json:
{
"JobNumber": 1010,
"Asset": null,
"JobNotes": [
{
"NoteText": "It's not working.",
"NoteType": "Complaint"
},
{
"NoteText": "Needs to be fixed",
"NoteType": "Job"
}
]
}
This is the code I used to deserialize:
var json = File.ReadAllText(#"c:\temp\job.json");
var result = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, object>>(json);
The result is almost correct, but the value of the item with a key of "JobNotes" is just json string. I want the parser to recurse in and deserialise the inner Json to a further dictionary of strings and objects. Is there a way I can do this with the Newtonsoft library? Or, is there another library that will do the trick? Can I hook in to the parsing method to override the functionality at that point in time?

This is a modified version of #DanielKeogh's code. It works well.
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var json = File.ReadAllText(#"c:\temp\job3.json");
var result = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, object>>(json);
RecurseDeserialize(result);
}
private static void RecurseDeserialize(Dictionary<string, object> result)
{
//Iterate throgh key/value pairs
foreach (var keyValuePair in result.ToArray())
{
//Check to see if Newtonsoft thinks this is a JArray
var jarray = keyValuePair.Value as JArray;
if (jarray != null)
{
//We have a JArray
//Convert JArray back to json and deserialize to a list of dictionaries
var dictionaries = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<Dictionary<string, object>>>(jarray.ToString());
//Set the result as the dictionary
result[keyValuePair.Key] = dictionaries;
//Iterate throught the dictionaries
foreach (var dictionary in dictionaries)
{
//Recurse
RecurseDeserialize(dictionary);
}
}
}
}
}
This modified Json shows how deep it goes:
{
"JobNumber": 1010,
"Asset": null,
"JobNotes": [
{
"NoteText": "It's not working.",
"NoteType": "Complaint"
},
{
"NoteText": "Needs to be fixed",
"NoteType": "Job",
"JobNoteNotes": [
{
"Something": 1,
"Something2": "Test"
}
]
}
]
}
The result ends three dictionaries deep so that I can get at the "Something" value by key.

This can be done with a little recursion. I'll leave defining IsJson up to you as an academic exercise. :)
Dictionary<string, object> RecursiveDeserialize(string json)
{
var result = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, object>>(json);
foreach (var pair in result.ToArray())
{
if(IsJson(pair.Value))
{
result[pair.Key] = RecursiveDeserialize(pair.Value);
}
}
return result;
}

Using this object for json string
public class JobNote
{
public string NoteText { get; set; }
public string NoteType { get; set; }
}
public class ListJob
{
public int JobNumber { get; set; }
public object Asset { get; set; }
public List<JobNote> JobNotes { get; set; }
}
Then you can deserialize it