Develop Reference

Json with data inconsistency

I got this strange API response from one external service:
{emplooye: "Michael",age:"25",attachments:[{idAttachment: "23",attachmentPath:"C://Users/1"},{idAttachment: "24",attachmentPath:"C://Users/2"}]},{emplooye: "John",age:"30",attachments:{idAttachment: "25",attachmentPath:"C://Users/3"}}
Has anyone ever faced a situation where sometimes the "Attachment" property can be an array, sometimes it can be an object? I created a class to manipulate the data, but when I find an object, the code breaks.
I'm doing this in C#.
Class Used
public class Attachments
{
public string idAttachment{ get; set; }
public string attachmentPath{ get; set; }
}
public class Root
{
public string emplooye {get; set;}
public string age {get;set}
public List<Attachments> attachments { get; set; } = new List<Attachments>();
}

your json is not even close to json, should be something like this
var json = "[{\"emplooye\":\"Michael\",\"age\":\"25\",\"attachments\":[{\"idAttachment\":\"23\",\"attachmentPath\":\"C://Users/1\"},{\"idAttachment\":\"24\",\"attachmentPath\":\"C://Users/2\"}]},{\"emplooye\":\"John\",\"age\":\"30\",\"attachments\":{\"idAttachment\":\"25\",\"attachmentPath\":\"C://Users/3\"}}]";
Using Newtonsoft.Json you can create a JsonConstructor
using Newtonsoft.Json;
List<Data> data= JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<Data>>(json);
public class Data
{
public string emplooye { get; set; }
public string age { get; set; }
public List<Attachments> attachments { get; set; }
[JsonConstructor]
public Data(JToken attachments)
{
if (attachments.Type.ToString() == "Array")
this.attachments = attachments.ToObject<List<Attachments>>();
else
this.attachments = new List<Attachments> { attachments.ToObject<Attachments>() };
}
public Data() {}
}
public class Attachments
{
public string idAttachment { get; set; }
public string attachmentPath { get; set; }
}

You can use Newtonsoft to parse to a JToken which will handle the typing for you, but with the downside of not having a stable and predictable class to deserialize to automatically
Then, you would want to check its type, which returns a JTokenType enum
Once you know what the underlying types are, marshal the data into your DTO classes
JToken responseJT = JToken.Parse(json); //json string
if (responseJT.Type == JTokenType.Array)
//its an array, handle as needed ...
else if (responseJT.Type == JTokenType.Object)
//its an object, handle as needed ...
Personally, I would keep the attachments property as a List<Attachments> and if the JToken has a JSON object I would just set it as the [0] index of that property. This way things stay consistent and you can use LINQ on that property with ease

JsonConvert.DeserializeObject returns nulls

I have the following code which I am using in an ASP.NET MVC c# application
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
try
{
var result = client.GetStringAsync(url).Result;
APIReturn = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<APIReturn>(result);
}
catch
{
}
When I place my breakpoint on the APIReturn = .... line, and I view the contents of result, I see what looks like a valid return from the API call. I even copied the contents of the variable result and applied it to an online json tool. This is what the tool shows:
This is the definition of the APIReturn class:
public class APIReturn
{
public string return_response { get; set; }
public string return_code { get; set; }
public string return_plan_name { get; set; }
public string return_menu_string { get; set; }
public string return_peo_ind { get; set; }
}
At the end of the execution of the code, I look at the values of APIReturn and each field is null.
Any ideas why Json is not parsing the string?
Thank you.

Your json is an array of objects... but you are deserializing it to an object. Change the deserialization to List and should work
var list = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<APIReturn>>(result);

Unable to map JSON response to a predefined class in C# / dynamic property name

I have a class which basically contains a property like this:
public class Msg
{
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "XD1703301059485299")]
public Shipping shipping { get; set; }
}
the problem is in this part:
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "XD1703301059485299")]
And the dynamic property name that I get from server...
This property name can be any name that server returns. In this particular case it's able to map the JSON to my class since the property names are same... But when server returns something like this:
XS12394124912841
The object is the null....
How can I resolve property name to be dynamic ? Can someone help me out?
P.S. This is the JSON response itself:
{"status":1,"msg":{"dynamic_name":{"order_sn":"12312313123123123","order_status":"0","shipping_info":[{"shipping_name":"","shipping_no":"","shipping_img":"","shipping_code":"","shipping_time":"","track_goods":""}]}},"errcode":0}

So I don't think this problem is as dynamic as it sounds. You can probably just convert to a dyanmic object and explicitly handle conversions.
Sample solution below. I inserted a few values to show conversion works as expected.
Add nuget package Newtonsoft.Json
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
using System;
namespace Serialize
{
public class Shipping
{
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "shipping_name")]
public String Name { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "shipping_img")]
public String Img { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "shipping_code")]
public String Code { get; set; }
}
public class Order
{
public Shipping shipping { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "order_sn")]
public string SerialNumber { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "order_status")]
public string Status { get; set; }
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
/*
{
"status":1,
"msg": {
"dynamic_name": {
"order_sn": "12312313123123123",
"order_status":"0",
"shipping_info": [{
"shipping_name":"name",
"shipping_no":"",
"shipping_img":"img",
"shipping_code":"code",
"shipping_time":"",
"track_goods":""
}]
}
},
"errcode":0
}
* */
var raw = "{ \"status\":1, \"msg\":{\"dynamic_name\":{\"order_sn\":\"12312313123123123\",\"order_status\":\"0\",\"shipping_info\":[{\"shipping_name\":\"name\",\"shipping_no\":\"\",\"shipping_img\":\"img\",\"shipping_code\":\"code\",\"shipping_time\":\"\",\"track_goods\":\"\"}]}},\"errcode\":0}";
var incomingOrder = new Order();
// properties on dynamic objects are evaluated at runtime
dynamic msgJson = JObject.Parse(raw);
// you'll want exception handling around all of this
var order = msgJson.msg.dynamic_name;
// accessing properties is easy (if they exist, as these do)
incomingOrder.SerialNumber = order.order_sn;
incomingOrder.Status = order.order_status;
// JObject cast might not be necessary. need to check for array elements, etc.
// but it's simple to serialize into a known type
incomingOrder.shipping = ((JObject)(order.shipping_info[0])).ToObject<Shipping>();
}
}
}
Alternatively, if the property name is given at runtime, you can dereference properties with the indexer getter
dynamic msgJson = JObject.Parse(raw);
JObject order = msgJson.msg["XS12394124912841"];
incomingOrder.SerialNumber = order["order_sn"].ToObject<string>();
incomingOrder.Status = order["order_status"].ToObject<string>();
incomingOrder.shipping = order["shipping_info"][0].ToObject<Shipping>();

You can implement something like this with the help of System.Web.Helpers
using (StreamReader r = new StreamReader("sample.json"))
{
string json = r.ReadToEnd();
dynamic data = Json.Decode(json);
Console.WriteLine(data["your_property"]);
}
Here sample.json contains your sample JSON response.

How Can I Deserialize JSON Data Using C#?

I have seen some other questions like this, but those are quite complex JSON data's that have objects within objects. Although the JSON I'm working with is never static, I doubt it's as complex as those. Also, it's my first time using JSON with C# so I'm a little clueless.
What I'm trying to achieve is to separate the data that is received from an API that I prompt using WebRequest in C#.
{
"johhny.debt": {
"id":35187540,
"name":"johnny.debt",
"profileIconId":786,
"Level":30,
"revisionDate":1428019045000
}
}
The returned JSON data is in a fashion like thereof.
I want to be able to access all of the properties of the above string in the following manner:
ID :
Name:
~~
~~
~~
... and so forth.
I'm assuming some type of class has to be made for this?
All help is appreciated, thank you all in advance.

Install Json.Net from Nuget
Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json
https://www.nuget.org/packages/Newtonsoft.Json/
Declare class for inner object ({"id":..., "name": ... }):
public class InnerObject
{
[JsonProperty("id")]
public int Id { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("name")]
public string Username { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("profileIconId")]
public int ProfileIconId { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("level")]
public int Level { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("revisionDate")]
public string RevisionDate { get; set; }
}
As you can see you can specify rename mapping from json fields to .Net object properties using JsonPropertyAttribute.
Read your json to Dictionary<string,InnerObject> and get value of "johhny.debt" key:
var dict = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, InnerObject>>(jsonText);
var johhny = dict["johhny.debt"];
Or if your need always to parse exact json property 'johhny.debt', you could create root object class:
public class RootObject
{
[JsonProperty("johhny.debt")]
public InnerObject JohhnyDept { get; set; }
}
And deserialize it:
var root = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(jsonText);
var johhny = root.JohhnyDebt;

Just Create a class like this
public class RootObject
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
public int profileIconId { get; set; }
public int Level { get; set; }
public string revisionDate { get; set; }
}
then install json.Net and this code to your main method
var jsonObject=JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(jsonText);
That's all
Update
var obj = JObject.Parse(json);
var RootObject = new RootObject()
{
Id = (int)obj["johhny.debt"]["id"],
Level = (int)obj["johhny.debt"]["Level"],
name = (string)obj["johhny.debt"]["name"],
profileIconId = (int)obj["johhny.debt"]["profileIconId"],
revisionDate = (string)obj["johhny.debt"]["revisionDate"]
};

C# convert string to dictionary

I get this response string from the Bitly api:
{ "status_code": 200,
"status_txt": "OK",
"data":
{ "long_url": "http:\/\/amazon.de\/",
"url": "http:\/\/amzn.to\/1mP2o58",
"hash": "1mP2o58",
"global_hash": "OjQAE",
"new_hash": 0
}
}
How do I convert this string to a dictionary and how do I access the value for the key "url" (without all the \)

This isn't just some ordinary string. This is a data structure in JSON format, a common and well-established format, originally used in Javascript but now rather common as a data transfer mechanism between services and clients.
Rather than reinventing the wheel and parsing the JSON yourself, I suggest you use an existing JSON library for C#, such as JSON.NET, which will eat up that string and parse it into .NET objects for you.
Here's a code sample, taken from JSON.NET's documentation, showing its usage:
string json = #"{
'href': '/account/login.aspx',
'target': '_blank'
}";
Dictionary<string, string> htmlAttributes =
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, string>>(json);
Console.WriteLine(htmlAttributes["href"]);
// /account/login.aspx
Console.WriteLine(htmlAttributes["target"]);
// _blank

If you add a package like Newtonsoft's Json to your project, you can deserialize the Json in to an anonymous type. You can then fetch the url from that. This is available via NuGet within Visual Studio and provides support for async or sync serialization/deserialization.
public string GetUrl(string bitlyResponse)
{
var responseObject = new
{
data = new { url = string.Empty },
};
responseObject = JsonConvert.DeserializeAnonymousType(bitlyResponse, responseObject);
return responseObject.data.url;
}

I'd use JSON.NET.
http://james.newtonking.com/json
MIT License which means if you're doing anything commercial you are good.
I don't think you would want to go straight to a Dictionary, because there is some stuff there that isn't a one to one relationship. So you could make a class like the following.
public class BitlyData
{
public string LongUrl{ get; set; }
public string Url { get; set; }
public string Hash { get; set; }
public string GlobalHash { get; set; }
public string NewHash { get; set; }
}
You could then use Json.NET to turn that String into an JObject. So we'll call your string bitlyString.
JObject bitlyObject = JObject.Parse(bitlyString);
Now we have that all that is left to do is access the data.
BitlyData theData = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<BitlyData>(bitlyObject["data"]);
Then you can access the url (and any other pieces) using the getters.
Of course you could make it even better by having class that handles the other bits as well so you just do one serialisation.

1)Add these classes to your project
public class Rootobject
{
public int status_code { get; set; }
public string status_txt { get; set; }
public Data data { get; set; }
}
public class Data
{
public string long_url { get; set; }
public string url { get; set; }
public string hash { get; set; }
public string global_hash { get; set; }
public int new_hash { get; set; }
}
2)Add a reference to JSON.NET
3)
string jsonString= "YOUR JSON STRING";
Rootobject weps = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Rootobject>(jsonString);
Console.WriteLine(weps.status_code);
if (weps.data != null)
{
Console.WriteLine(weps.data.url);
Console.WriteLine(weps.data.global_hash);
//...
}