Develop Reference

Passing JSON as a string in the body of the POST request

I need a small help, because I don't know how to solve the below problem.
The requirement is simple, I have to sent the JSON to the server as a string parameter. The server basing on the key finds the mapping, and generically parses the JSON to some objects. That means, that the payload can have a different values and structures, each key has its own mapping - different data structure, number of parameters and so on. So the payload shouldn't be parsed outside the endpoint logic.
I know, that the Swagger sees the payload as a JSON, not as a string, and it tries to parse the data. How can I send the JSON as a string parameter to the endpooint without parsing the parameter? I have to parse it inside of the application, because of the mentioned mappings.
Example JSON:
{
"key": "test",
"payload": "[{"IDNew":1,"NameNew":"t1","DescriptionNew":"t1d", "IntegerValueNew":1, "DecimalValueNew":123.3}]"
}
When I'm trying to send the data in Swagger, I'm getting the below results:
curl -X POST "http://localhost:5110/api/InboundData" -H "accept: */*" -H "Content-Type: application/json-patch+json" -d "{ \"key\": \"test\", \"payload\": \"[{\"IDNew\":1,\"NameNew\":\"t1\",\"DescriptionNew\":\"t1d\", \"IntegerValueNew\":1, \"DecimalValueNew\":123.3}]\"}"
{
"errors": {
"payload": [
"After parsing a value an unexpected character was encountered: I. Path 'payload', line 3, position 17."
]
},
"type": "https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-6.5.1",
"title": "One or more validation errors occurred.",
"status": 400,
"traceId": "|d952c89f-4e25126d8cdf3697."
}
Data model:
[Required]
[JsonProperty(Required = Required.DisallowNull)]
[MaxLength(100)]
public string Key { get; set; }
[Required]
[JsonProperty(Required = Required.DisallowNull)]
public string Payload { get; set; }

The error clearly suggests that your JSON is not correct. If we analyze the payload property:
{
"key": "test",
"payload": "[{"IDNew":1,"NameNew":"t1","DescriptionNew":"t1d", "IntegerValueNew":1, "DecimalValueNew":123.3}]"
}
It seems you are creating a string object which further contains a JSON as a string. Generally, when you pass an array, you would pass it like this.
{
"key": "test",
"payload": [
{
"IDNew": 1,
"NameNew": "t1",
"DescriptionNew": "t1d",
"IntegerValueNew": 1,
"DecimalValueNew": 123.3
}
]
}
But, since value of the payload property is not properly escaped, which is why it is not properly able to parse it as it has unexpected characters for a string value.
If you strictly want to pass a JSON Array as a string object, you need to properly escape it in order to get it working. For example below is a JSON that contains JSON as a string with properly escaped properties:
{
"key": "test",
"payload": "[{\"IDNew\":1,\"NameNew\":\"t1\",\"DescriptionNew\":\"t1d\", \"IntegerValueNew\":1, \"DecimalValueNew\":123.3}]"
}
This is how you would escape your JSON if you strictly want to pass a JSON object that further contains JSON as string.
Or, perhaps, use single quote (') instead for the nested JSON. For example below is a JSON that contains JSON as a string with a single quotes for the properties:
{
"key": "test",
"payload": "[{'IDNew':1,'NameNew':'t1','DescriptionNew':'t1d', 'IntegerValueNew':1, 'DecimalValueNew':123.3}]"
}
UPDATE
I just wanted to add a suggestion that would be less confusing and would generate an accurate output for the scenario.
It would be nice if you generate the models for your intended JSON string and serialize the model to get a JSON string then do the assignment to payload property.
var payload = new List<payloadSample1>();
payload.Add(new payloadSample1{ IDNew = 1, NameNew = "t1", DescriptionNew = "t1d" });
var payloadStr = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(payload);
// payloadStr would contain your JSON as a string.
In C#, you can also generate dynamic type objects. Use those if your JSON is constantly varying and you find it hectic to create many models for many api requests.
var payload = new List<dynamic>();
payload.Add(new { IDNew = 1, NameNew = "t1", DescriptionNew = "t1d" });
var payloadStr = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(payload);
// And even then, if you have a further JSON object to send:
var payloadParent = new { key = "test", payload = payloadStr };
// send payloadParent as your json.
This is not the cleanest approach because of many reasons one out of those would be, when there is a change in your model, you will have to manually analyze all your dynamic objects and change all the references where you are using it. But, certainly, it will reduce the confusion behind escaping and maintaining the strings.
If you are using JavaScript make the api call, then generate a proper JSON object and then stringify it to get a string.

Dynamic JObject - parse invalid JSON

Consider I have following json:
{ "version": "1.0" }
I can parse it to dynamic JObject and use:
dynamic result = JObject.Parse(myJson);
string verison = result.Version; //works <3
But server returns the following json
{ { "version": "1.0" } }
This json is consider as valid by newtonsoft, but cannot access version anymore:
dynamic result = JObject.Parse(myJson);
string verison = result.Version; //error
How to access Version when onlt dynamic result is avalable?

{ { "version": "1.0" } } This json is consider as valid by newtonsoft
That is incorrect, you will not be able to parse this and will receive a exception of type Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReaderException (with: Invalid property identifier character: {. Path '', line 1, position 2.)
Invalid JSON:
{ { "version": "1.0" } }
Valid JSON:
{ "version": "1.0" }
(In case you have server control, I suggest you make the necessary steps on the server to return valid JSON)
However, worst case scenario, you could make this invalid JSON valid by removing the first char { and last char } before parsing it. For example like so:
var myJson = json.Substring(1, json.Length - 2);
dynamic result = JObject.Parse(myJson);
string version = result.version;
Where json here was the original response containing the invalid JSON.
Also note that for the JSON you provided you must use lowercase version as result.version. The dynamic property name must match exactly the one in the JSON

I think you trouble in capital "V" in "Version". Should be "result.version"

Can't parse json from Resources

In resources I have json file with next content:
{
"EU": [
"Germany",
"Ukraine",
"United Kingdom",
"Hungary"
]
}
I want to deserialize it into Dictionary<string,List<string>>
I've tried next :
var json = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(Resources.regionGroups);//Resources.regionGroups return byte[]
return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, List<string>>>(json);
But every time I get exception as variable json is in incorect json format.
What can cause this? I've tried the same deserialization but with jsonString as hard-coded and it works.
Detailed exception message :
Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: . Path '', line
0, position 0.
UPDATE :
After removing all spaces
var json = Regex.Replace(Encoding.UTF8.GetString(Resources.regionGroups), "(\"(?:[^\"\\\\]|\\\\.)*\")|\\s+", "$1");
from string I have next one
"{\"EU\":[\"Germany\",\"Ukraine\",\"United Kingdom\",\"Hungary\"]}"
which also reproduce exception.

Well #AmitKumarGhosh was right about encoding, as I think.
So I've tried to change type of my json file in the Resources. I've changed it from binary to text file and this helps.
So parsing now is very simple :
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, List<string>>>(Resources.regionGroups);

C# Json deserialization error

I want to convert json string to C# datatable and my json string contains another json string.
I don't want to convert internal json string (keep it as string only). this is my code
string js = "[{\"FirstName\":\"first\",\"LastName\":\"second\",\"jsonStr\":\"[{\"abc\":\"a\",\"xyz\":\"x\"}]\"}]";
DataTable dt = (DataTable)JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(js, (typeof(DataTable)));
gv.DataSource = dt;
gv.DataBind();
But I am getting an error
After parsing a value an unexpected character was encountered: a. Path
'[0].jsonStr', line 1, position 56.

Your JSON is invalid. After unescaping, it becomes the following string:
[
{
"FirstName" : "first",
"LastName" : "second",
"jsonStr" : "[{" abc ":" a "," xyz ":" x "}]"
}
]
Stack Overflow syntax highlighting suggests that your JSON is invalid.
You can also check the JSON validity here.
In order to make it valid, your quotes within jsonStr should have been escaped again:
string js = "[{\"FirstName\":\"first\",\"LastName\":\"second\",\"jsonStr\":\"[{\\\"abc\\\":\\\"a\\\",\\\"xyz\\\":\\\"x\\\"}]\"}]";
This C# string now contains the following JSON, which is valid:
[
{
"FirstName": "first",
"LastName": "second",
"jsonStr": "[{\"abc\":\"a\",\"xyz\":\"x\"}]"
}
]

Invalid Json Primitives

Could you help me for resolving this issue. I have one asp.net application, in this i am using Javascript serializer for serializing a dataset followed by convertion to the list. That code is shown below.
JavaScriptSerializer json = new JavaScriptSerializer();
strJson = json.Serialize(aclDoc);
But, at the time of deserializing i got one ArguementException like Invalid Json Primitives with my Json value. My json value is
[{"Id":"F79BA508-F208-4C37-9904-DBB1DEDE67DB","App_Id":"ScriptFlow","Name":"New form","FriendlyName":"","Read":"Revoke","ReadRule":"a353776f-cbdc-48b7-a15b-4a2316d19b05","Update":"Grant","UpdateRule":"be30c34e-33ec-4c0a-9f09-4fd483f5f1b9","Create":"Revoke","CreateRule":"898dce4d-4709-45b6-8942-d7efb07cbd86","Delete":"Revoke","DeleteRule":"aa14d435-dec8-4ade-ad9b-830ae5ee15d0"}][{"Id":"1","Doc_Id":"858E013C-5775-4FDF-AA1E-2C84053EE39F","Name":"TextBox1","FriendlyName":"TextBox1","Read":"Grant","ReadRule":"0a2e3c0e-ad8f-4f75-9160-cfd9827ac894","Update":"Grant","UpdateRule":"ecad3cf4-104f-44dc-b815-de039f3a0396"},{"Id":"2","Doc_Id":"858E013C-5775-4FDF-AA1E-2C84053EE39F","Name":"TextBox2","FriendlyName":"TextBox2","Read":"Grant","ReadRule":"81e0e9ef-09f7-4c25-a58e-d5fdfbd4c2ba","Update":"Grant","UpdateRule":"2047f662-c881-413b-a1f9-69f15bf667fc"}]
The code for deserializing is:
JavaScriptSerializer json = new JavaScriptSerializer();
lstDoc = json.Deserialize<List<ACLDocument>>(value);
return lstDoc;
where lstDoc is a List Collection of type of my class
I got the exception like this:
Invalid JSON primitive:
{"Id":"1","Doc_Id":"858E013C-5775-4FDF-AA1E-2C84053EE39F","Name":"TextBox1","FriendlyName":"TextBox1","Read":"Grant","ReadRule":"0a2e3c0e-ad8f-4f75-9160-cfd9827ac894","Update":"Grant","UpdateRule":"ecad3cf4-104f-44dc-b815-de039f3a0396"},{"Id":"2","Doc_Id":"858E013C-5775-4FDF-AA1E-2C84053EE39F","Name":"TextBox2","FriendlyName":"TextBox2","Read":"Grant","ReadRule":"81e0e9ef-09f7-4c25-a58e-d5fdfbd4c2ba","Update":"Grant","UpdateRule":"2047f662-c881-413b-a1f9-69f15bf667fc"}].
Please help me for resolving this issue. Thanks in advance

Your input string is really a wrong JSON string. You input consist from two correct JSON strings:
[
{
"Id": "F79BA508-F208-4C37-9904-DBB1DEDE67DB",
"App_Id": "ScriptFlow",
"Name": "New form",
"FriendlyName": "",
"Read": "Revoke",
"ReadRule": "a353776f-cbdc-48b7-a15b-4a2316d19b05",
"Update": "Grant",
"UpdateRule": "be30c34e-33ec-4c0a-9f09-4fd483f5f1b9",
"Create": "Revoke",
"CreateRule": "898dce4d-4709-45b6-8942-d7efb07cbd86",
"Delete": "Revoke",
"DeleteRule": "aa14d435-dec8-4ade-ad9b-830ae5ee15d0"
}
]
and
[
{
"Id": "1",
"Doc_Id": "858E013C-5775-4FDF-AA1E-2C84053EE39F",
"Name": "TextBox1",
"FriendlyName": "TextBox1",
"Read": "Grant",
"ReadRule": "0a2e3c0e-ad8f-4f75-9160-cfd9827ac894",
"Update": "Grant",
"UpdateRule": "ecad3cf4-104f-44dc-b815-de039f3a0396"
},
{
"Id": "2",
"Doc_Id": "858E013C-5775-4FDF-AA1E-2C84053EE39F",
"Name": "TextBox2",
"FriendlyName": "TextBox2",
"Read": "Grant",
"ReadRule": "81e0e9ef-09f7-4c25-a58e-d5fdfbd4c2ba",
"Update": "Grant",
"UpdateRule": "2047f662-c881-413b-a1f9-69f15bf667fc"
}
]
but you can not concatenate two JSON strings. To say exactly what you receive after such concatenating in not more a JSON string.
I recommend you to verify JSON strings in http://www.jsonlint.com/. Just cut and paste the data which you need to verify and click "Validate" button.

To answer the question directly, since everyone thinks this is a Microsoft forum and not answering directly.
The string is sent as a 2 element array. You forgot the '[' in the beginning of the string which denotes that the containing values are an array structure.
Insert the '[' in the beginning of the string and the error should go away.

This is a useful little tool for examining your JSON objects:
http://jsonviewer.codeplex.com/

See if you have any // or commented lines in project.json
Removing this has solved the same problem for me