Develop Reference

Working with Irregular nodes/elements in json response from an API

I have a situation while working with a JSON response from an API. To give a background, I am consuming an API from a source using a REST API using 3.5 .net framework.
Below is the part of the JSON output and I am kind of struggling to use it.
a)
"value": {
"Description": "Total Calculated things",
"2018": "5,820,456 ",
"2019": "2,957,447 "
}
The last 2 elements are dynamic, those are tend to change in API response. I was expecting the format like I have mentioned below, but at this point of given time the source provider is not able to change it as the API is used in many other different programs. And Changing the things in the source API will make other program owners to change.
b)
"value": {
"Description": "Total Calculated EQUITY AND LIABILITIES",
"YearData": [ {
"Data": "5,820,456",
"Year": "2018"
},
{
"Data": "2,957,447 ",
"Year": "2019"
} ]
}
Is there any way to overcome such thing> Any way to convert a to b?
EDIT
#Xerillio , Thanks . How can I achieve the same using below JSON format.
var json = #"
{
""entityData"": [
{
""name"": ""Statement of Comprehensive Income"",
""subattrOutput"": [
{
""name"": ""Sales"",
""subattrOutput"": [],
""value"": {
""Description"": ""Sales "",
""2018"": ""8,704,888 "",
""2019"": ""4,760,717 ""
},
""score"": ""99.5"",
""valuetype"": ""object""
},
{
""name"": ""Cost of goods sold"",
""subattrOutput"": [],
""value"": {
""Description"": ""Cost of sales "",
""2018"": ""(6,791,489) "",
""2019"": ""(3,502,785) ""
},
""score"": ""99.75"",
""valuetype"": ""object""
}
],
""value"": null,
""score"": ""98.63"",
""valuetype"": ""object""
}
]
}";

I wish this was more easy, but i just got it here:
class Program
{
static async Task Main(string[] args)
{
string json1 = #"{""value"": {""Description"": ""Total Calculated things"",""2018"": ""5,820,456 "",""2019"": ""2,957,447 ""}}";
string json2 = #"{""value"": {""Description"": ""Total Calculated EQUITY AND LIABILITIES"",""YearData"": [ {""Data"": ""5,820,456"",""Year"": ""2018""},{""Data"": ""2,957,447 "",""Year"": ""2019""} ]}}";
var obj1 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ObjectResult>(json1);
var obj2 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ObjectResult>(json2);
var res1 = CastObject<Result1>(obj1.Value.ToString());
var res2 = CastObject<Result2>(obj2.Value.ToString());
var invalidRes1 = CastObject<Result1>(obj2.Value.ToString());
var invalidRes2 = CastObject<Result2>(obj1.Value.ToString());
Console.WriteLine(res1);
Console.WriteLine(res2);
}
public static T CastObject<T>(string obj)
{
return !TryCastObject(obj, out T result) ? default : result;
}
public static bool TryCastObject<TOut>(string objToCast, out TOut obj)
{
try
{
obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<TOut>(objToCast);
return true;
}
catch
{
obj = default;
return false;
}
}
}
public class ObjectResult
{
public object Value { get; set; }
}
public class Result1
{
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "description")] public string Description { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "2018")] public string _2018 { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "2019")] public string _2019 { get; set; }
}
public class Result2
{
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "Description")] public string Description { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "YearData")] public List<YearData> YearData { get; set; }
}
public class YearData
{
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "Data")] public string Data { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "Year")] public string Year { get; set; }
}
It is A LOT of work and sincerely, as there more nodes in the json i think that using JObject is the best option, and you will have to do a deserealization in more than 1 step :(

Depending on how large the JSON structure is you could deserialize it into a Dictionary and manually map it to the proper format:
var json = #"
{
""value"": {
""Description"": ""Total Calculated things"",
""2018"": ""5,820,456 "",
""2019"": ""2,957,447 ""
}
}";
var badObj = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<BadFormat>(json);
var result = new WrapperType
{
Value = new ProperlyFormattedType()
};
foreach (var pair in badObj.Value)
{
if (pair.Key == "Description")
{
result.Value.Description = pair.Value;
}
else if (int.TryParse(pair.Key, out int _))
{
result.Value.YearData
.Add(new DatedValues
{
Year = pair.Key,
Data = pair.Value
});
}
}
// Data models...
public class BadFormat
{
[JsonPropertyName("value")]
public Dictionary<string, string> Value { get; set; }
}
public class WrapperType
{
public ProperlyFormattedType Value { get; set; }
}
public class ProperlyFormattedType
{
public string Description { get; set; }
public List<DatedValues> YearData { get; set; } = new List<DatedValues>();
}
public class DatedValues
{
public string Year { get; set; }
public string Data { get; set; }
}
See an example fiddle here.

How can i search a json response to see if a value exists using linq?

I have the following json response
{
"Id": "1234",
"Name": "Test",
"Orders": [
{
"OrderId": "87654",
"OrderDetails": {
"OrdId": "1234",
"Name": "Desk"
}
},
{
"OrderId": "54213",
"OrderDetails": {
"OrdId": "4321",
"Name": "Table"
}
}
]
}
I want to search the list of orders to see if there is an OrderId of 87654.
I can do with an array , but how can I do it with Linq ?

You can deserialize the json string to a JObject using Newtonsoft.Json and then loop through the orders to get the OrderIDs.
var obj = JObject.Parse(json);
foreach(var order in obj["Orders"])
{
Console.WriteLine(order["OrderId"]);
}
or you can use the Where clause.
var myOrder = obj["Orders"].Where(x => x["OrderId"].ToString().Equals("87654")).FirstOrDefault();
Then you can print any property of that order,
Console.WriteLine(myOrder["OrderDetails"]["Name"].ToString());
// Prints: Desk
Alternatively, you can: also use classes to deserialize the json you have and query the orders.
public class OrderDetails
{
public string OrdId { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public class Order
{
public string OrderId { get; set; }
public OrderDetails OrderDetails { get; set; }
}
public class RootObject
{
public string Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public List<Order> Orders { get; set; }
}
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
string json = File.ReadAllText(#"C:\temp\json.txt");
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(json);
var myOrder = obj.Orders.FirstOrDefault(x => x.OrderId.Equals("87654"));
if (myOrder != null)
{
Console.WriteLine(myOrder.OrderDetails.Name);
}
}

Demo on dotnet fiddle
You can use Newtonsoft to achieve it
var jsonData = "{ 'Id': '1234', 'Name': 'Test', 'Orders': [ {'OrderId': '87654', 'OrderDetails': { 'OrdId': '1234', 'Name': 'Desk' } }, { 'OrderId': '54213', 'OrderDetails': { 'OrdId': '4321','Name': 'Table' }}]}";
var desirializedData = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<MyObject>(jsonData);
var result = desirializedData.Orders.Where(p => p.OrderId == 87654);
foreach(var master in result)
{
Console.WriteLine(master.OrderId + " " + master.OrderDetails.Name);
}

Finding a JSON entry and add a nested element

I have a .json file that looks like this:
[
{
"username": "John",
"currency": 8,
"pulls":
[
{
"character": "person"
},
{
"character": "loved one"
}
]
},
{
"username": "Mike",
"currency": 2,
"pulls":
[
{
"character": "noone"
}
]
},
{
"username": "Clara",
"currency": 5,
"pulls":
[
{
"character": "someone"
}
]
}
]
What I managed to do so far is modify "currency":
bool userExists = false;
string jsonPointsString = File.ReadAllText(userPath);
dynamic jsonObjects = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(jsonPointsString);
foreach (var jsonObject in jsonObjects)
{
if (jsonObject["username"] == user)
{
jsonObject["currency"] += value;
string output = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(jsonObjects, Formatting.Indented);
File.WriteAllText(userPath, output);
userExists = true;
}
}
As well as add a completely new entry from scratch:
JsonCollection.User user = new JsonCollection.User();
user.username = username;
user.currency = 10;
using (StreamReader r = new StreamReader(userPath))
{
string json = r.ReadToEnd();
List<JsonCollection.User> users = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<JsonCollection.User>>(json);
users.Add(user);
newJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(users, Formatting.Indented);
}
File.WriteAllText(userPath, newJson);
However, no matter what I try I can not add another element to "pulls". The idea is that I call a function with a username and a pull, two strings. Based on the username variable I have to find the corresponding Json Entry and create a new entry within the "pulls" tree based on the pull variable. This is what I could come up with:
public void AddPullToUser(string user, string newPull)
{
user = "Mike"; //test value
string jsonPointsString = File.ReadAllText(userPath);
dynamic jsonObjects = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(jsonPointsString);
foreach (var jsonObject in jsonObjects)
{
if (jsonObject["username"] == user)
{
//jsonObject["pulls"] = newPull;
JsonCollection.Character pull = new JsonCollection.Character();
pull.character = newPull;
jsonObject["pulls"] = pull;
string output = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(jsonObjects, Formatting.Indented);
File.WriteAllText(userPath, output);
}
}
}
If I do it like this the system can't convert the JsonCollection to the JArray but without using the JArray I don't understand how to find the specific users tree.
In step two this will have to be expanded even further to not create duplicated "pulls", but first of all this has to work in general.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Something like this -
var json = "[{'username':'John','currency':8,'pulls':[{'character':'person'},{'character':'loved one'}]},{'username':'Mike','currency':2,'pulls':[{'character':'noone'}]},{'username':'Clara','currency':5,'pulls':[{'character':'someone'}]}]";
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<RootObject>>(json);
var o = obj.FindIndex(a => a.username == "Mike");
obj[o].pulls.AddRange(new List<Pull>{
new Pull{
character = "Modified"
}
});
Console.WriteLine(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj));
Where
public class Pull
{
public string character { get; set; }
}
public class RootObject
{
public string username { get; set; }
public int currency { get; set; }
public List<Pull> pulls { get; set; }
}
alternatively, you might be interested in JSON Merge
A possible solution looks like -
var json = "[{'username':'John','currency':8,'pulls':[{'character':'person'},{'character':'loved one'}]},{'username':'Mike','currency':2,'pulls':[{'character':'noone'}]},{'username':'Clara','currency':5,'pulls':[{'character':'someone'}]}]";
var obj = JArray.Parse(json);
var idx = obj.IndexOf(obj.FirstOrDefault(a => a["username"].ToString() == "Mike"));
((JArray)obj[idx]["pulls"]).Add(JObject.Parse(#"{
'character': 'new one'
}"));
Console.WriteLine(obj[idx]);
/*output -
{
"username": "Mike",
"currency": 2,
"pulls": [
{
"character": "noone"
},
{
"character": "new one"
}
]
} */

After a bit more research and your help I was able to first of all change all the interaction with Json to the same code-style.
New entry has changed to this:
public void CreateUser(string username)
{
try
{
string jsonUserString = File.ReadAllText(userPath);
var users = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<JsonCollection.User>>(jsonUserString);
users.AddRange(new List<JsonCollection.User> { new JsonCollection.User { username = username, currency = 10, pulls = new List<JsonCollection.Character> { new JsonCollection.Character { character = "TemmieHYPE" } } } });
string output = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(users, Formatting.Indented);
File.WriteAllText(userPath, output);
}
catch
{
Console.WriteLine("Error on CreateUser");
}
}
Update has changed to this:
public void UpdateUserStats(string username, decimal value, int selection)
{
try
{
string jsonUserString = File.ReadAllText(userPath);
var users = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<JsonCollection.User>>(jsonUserString);
int user = users.FindIndex(a => (a.username == username));
if (user != -1)
{
switch (selection)
{
case 1:
users[user].currency += value;
break;
case 2:
users[user].secondsOnline += value;
break;
default:
break;
}
string output = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(users, Formatting.Indented);
File.WriteAllText(userPath, output);
//AddPullToUser(username, DateTime.Now.ToString()); //remove on live
}
else
{
CreateUser(username);
}
}
catch
{
Console.WriteLine("Error on UpdateCurrency");
}
}
Most importantly the Add Pull command to add a nested element to the Json now works with the following code:
public void AddPullToUser(string username, string pulledCharacter)
{
string jsonUserString = File.ReadAllText(userPath);
var users = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<JsonCollection.User>>(jsonUserString);
int alreadyPulled = users.FindIndex(a => (a.username == username) && (a.pulls.FindIndex(b => b.character == pulledCharacter) > 0));
if (alreadyPulled == -1)
{
int user = users.FindIndex(a => (a.username == username));
users[user].pulls.AddRange(new List<JsonCollection.Character> { new JsonCollection.Character { character = pulledCharacter } });
string output = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(users, Formatting.Indented);
File.WriteAllText(userPath, output);
}
}
With the addition of the "if (alreadyPulled == -1)" duplicated pulls don't get added to the Json files either.

How to get Class Metadata into JSON string

How to generate JSON of Class meta data.
for eg.
C# Classes
public class Product
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public bool IsActive { get; set; }
public Description Description { get; set; }
}
public class Description
{
public string Content { get; set; }
public string ShortContent { get; set; }
}
JSON
[
{
"PropertyName" : "Id",
"Type" : "Int",
"IsPrimitive" : true
},
{
"PropertyName" : "Name",
"Type" : "string",
"IsPrimitive" : true
},
{
"PropertyName" : "IsActive",
"Type" : "bool",
"IsPrimitive" : true
},
{
"PropertyName" : "Description",
"Type" : "Description",
"IsPrimitive" : false
"Properties" : {
{
"PropertyName" : "Content",
"Type" : "string",
"IsPrimitive" : true
},
{
"PropertyName" : "ShortContent",
"Type" : "string",
"IsPrimitive" : true
}
}
},
]

If you define a class that will map your Json Model:
public class PropertyDescription
{
public string PropertyName { get; set; }
public string Type { get; set; }
public bool IsPrimitive { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<PropertyDescription> Properties { get; set; }
}
And then just create a function that read the properties of your object recursively:
public static List<PropertyDescription> ReadObject(Type type)
{
var propertyDescriptions = new List<PropertyDescription>();
foreach (var propertyInfo in type.GetProperties())
{
var propertyDescription = new PropertyDescription
{
PropertyName = propertyInfo.Name,
Type = propertyInfo.PropertyType.Name
};
if (!propertyDescription.IsPrimitive
// String is not a primitive type
&& propertyInfo.PropertyType != typeof (string))
{
propertyDescription.IsPrimitive = false;
propertyDescription.Properties = ReadObject(propertyInfo.PropertyType);
}
else
{
propertyDescription.IsPrimitive = true;
}
propertyDescriptions.Add(propertyDescription);
}
return propertyDescriptions;
}
You can use Json.Net to serialize the result of this function :
var result = ReadObject(typeof(Product));
var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(result);
EDIT: Linq solution based on #AmitKumarGhosh answer:
public static IEnumerable<object> ReadType(Type type)
{
return type.GetProperties().Select(a => new
{
PropertyName = a.Name,
Type = a.PropertyType.Name,
IsPrimitive = a.PropertyType.IsPrimitive && a.PropertyType != typeof (string),
Properties = (a.PropertyType.IsPrimitive && a.PropertyType != typeof(string)) ? null : ReadType(a.PropertyType)
}).ToList();
}
...
var result = ReadType(typeof(Product));
json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(result);

One probable solution -
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var o = typeof(Product).GetProperties().Select(a =>
{
if (a.PropertyType != null && (a.PropertyType.IsPrimitive || a.PropertyType == typeof(string)))
{
return MapType(a);
}
else
{
dynamic p = null;
var t = MapType(a);
var props = a.PropertyType.GetProperties();
if (props != null)
{ p = new { t, Properties = props.Select(MapType).ToList() }; }
return new { p.t.PropertyName, p.t.Type, p.t.IsPrimitive, p.Properties };
}
}).ToList();
var jsonString = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(o);
}
static dynamic MapType(PropertyInfo a)
{
return new
{
PropertyName = a.Name,
Type = a.PropertyType.Name,
IsPrimitive = a.PropertyType != null && a.PropertyType.IsPrimitive
};
}

Try this, concept is get all elements from object to dictionary. Field name and value. For each property create additional elements (using Reflection) in dictionary like Type, IsPrimitive etc. You can use recursion for going throw properties and then serialize this dictionary to JSON.
An example here:
Appending to JSON object using JSON.net
An example of this:
var serialize = new Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializer();
var dict = GetDic(new Description());
serialize.Serialize(sr, dict);
And GetDcit implementation:
private List<Dictionary<string, string>> GetDic(object obj)
{
var result= new List<Dictionary<string, string>>();
foreach (var r in obj.GetType().GetProperties())
{
result.Add(new Dictionary<string, string>
{
["PropertyName"] = r.Name,
["Type"] = r.PropertyType.Name,
["IsPrimitive"] = r.GetType().IsPrimitive.ToString(),
});
}
return result;
}

Parse error with JSONObject in c# .net

I have a JSON file saved locally that is being opened and read from successfully, but every time I try to parse it it fails. I've checked the JSON online but I can't find fault with it.
{
"Groups": [
{
"UniqueId": "233619708",
"Title": "Partno",
"Customer": "Customer",
"Items": []
}
]
}
I'm using a modified version of the JSON reader included in a sample source in VS, which looks like this:
private async Task GetSampleDataAsync()
{
if (this._groups.Count != 0)
return;
StorageFile file = await Windows.Storage.KnownFolders.PicturesLibrary.GetFileAsync("DB.json");
string jsonText = await FileIO.ReadTextAsync(file);
if (jsonText == "") {
await new Windows.UI.Popups.MessageDialog("File Blank!").ShowAsync();
}
JsonObject jsonObject;
if(JsonObject.TryParse(jsonText, out jsonObject))
{ await new Windows.UI.Popups.MessageDialog("File Read Error! Json Couldn't Parse!").ShowAsync();
throw new FormatException(jsonText);
}
if(jsonObject.Count == 0)
{
return;
}
JsonArray jsonArray = jsonObject["Groups"].GetArray();
foreach (JsonValue groupValue in jsonArray)
{
JsonObject groupObject = groupValue.GetObject();
Part group = new Part(groupObject["UniqueId"].GetString(),
groupObject["Title"].GetString(),
groupObject["Customer"].GetString(),
groupObject["Description"].GetString());
foreach (JsonValue itemValue in groupObject["Items"].GetArray())
{
JsonObject itemObject = itemValue.GetObject();
group.Items.Add(new Box(itemObject["UniqueId"].GetString(),
Convert.ToInt16( itemObject["Qty"].GetNumber()),
itemObject["Location"].GetString(),
group.UniqueId));
}
this.Groups.Add(group);
}
}
Any ideas anyone? Every time JsonObject.TryParse runs it returns false, and JsonObject.Parse returns a KeyMissingException.
Thanks.
(btw, I know there's nothing in the items part, I've tried both with and without...)

Have you tried using the other Json conversion method?
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(jsonText);
I remember from having to grab data from bitcoin API's that when one method didn't work as expected it was worth trying the other one.
I think it had something to do with JObject.Parse being for JSON Objects and JsonConvert.Deserialize being for JSON arrays.
EDIT:
This will parse and deserialize the JSON you provided.
public class MyJsonObject
{
public string UniqueId { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public string Customer { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public List<JsonObjectItem> Items { get; set; }
}
public class JsonObjectItem
{
public string UniqueId { get; set; }
public string Qty { get; set; }
public string Location { get; set; }
}
public void ParseJson(string jsonText)
{
JObject jsonObject = JObject.Parse(jsonText);
if(jsonObject != null)
{
JToken token = null;
if(jsonObject.TryGetValue("Groups", out token))
{
foreach (var partData in token.Children())
{
if (!partData.HasValues)
continue;
MyJsonObject obj = partData.ToObject<MyJsonObject>();
Part group = new Part(obj.UniqueId, obj.Title, obj.Customer, obj.Description);
if(obj.Items.Count > 0)
{
foreach (var item in obj.Items)
{
short qty;
if(!Int16.TryParse(item.Qty, out qty))
{
// Decide what to do if is error with parsing qty.
}
group.Items.Add(new Box(item.UniqueId, qty, item.Location, obj.UniqueId));
}
}
}
}
}
}
HOWEVER - Depending upon the exact make up of your 'Part' class, you may even be able to simplify this even further and change:
MyJsonObject obj = partData.ToObject<MyJsonObject>();
to:
Part group = partData.ToObject<Part>();
and that should populate the properties and list of items in one go.
Hope that is helpful