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

How can I deserialize JSON to a custom type which has a property of type IEnumerable<dynamic>?

I'm writing a console app to retrieve JSON data from a 3rd party API. I have no control over the API data structures or functionality.
Several of the calls I make will return multiple 'pages' of data. The data is a collection of objects of a certain type e.g. User.
I have created classes in my app to match the various data types from the API.
public class User
{
[JsonProperty("id")]
public int ID { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("first_name")]
public string FirstName { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("last_name")]
public string LastName { get; set; }
}
public class FooBar
{
[JsonProperty("foo")]
public string Foo { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("bar")]
public string Bar { get; set; }
}
The API response is always in the same format for these calls. While the actual object types in the "data" array will differ depending on what call has been made.
{
"paging":{"page":1},
"data":[{<object>}, {<object>}, {<object>},...]
}
I have created a class to try to deserialize these. The dynamic[] type for the Data property is for illustrative purposes and I am happy to change it if there is a better approach.
public class ApiResponseObject
{
[JsonProperty("paging")]
public Paging PagingInfo { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("data")]
public dynamic[] Data { get; set; }
}
And I would like to have the Data collection resolve to the appropriate type for the objects it contains. e.g.
string userJson = "{\"paging\":{\"page\":1},\"data\":[{\"id\":1,\"first_name\":\"Joe\",\"last_name\":\"Bloggs\"},{\"id\":2,\"first_name\":\"Jane\",\"last_name\":\"Doe\"}]}"; // json string would come from API
string foobarJson = "{\"paging\":{\"page\":1},\"data\":[{\"foo\":\"Lorem\",\"bar\":\"Ipsum\"},{\"foo\":\"Dolor\",\"bar\":\"Amet\"}]}";
var userResponse = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ApiResponseObject>(userJson);
var foobarResponse = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ApiResponseObject>(foobarJson);
The deserialization succeeds but the Data collection is of type JObject and cannot be cast into the correct type (User, FooBar).
I am trying to avoid having to write specific response object classes for each request if possible.
I will know what type of object I am expecting in the collection when I am requesting it so I could pass that type to the deserializer but I'm not clear on how to achieve that in this particular scenario.
Something like the below psuedo code would be ideal.
var userResponse = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ApiResponseObject<User>>(userJson);
Thanks for your help!

You can use the generic type T, like this :
public class ApiResponseObject<T>
{
[JsonProperty("paging")]
public Paging PagingInfo { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("data")]
public T[] Data { get; set; }
}

How can parse dynamic json in c#?

Have some json and parse that whit this code:
dynamic json = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(response.Content);
dynamic result =json.result;
after this line:
dynamic result =json.result;
have this output:
{
{
"321":{
"online_status":true,
"basic_info":{
"status":"Recharged",
"group_name":"IRN-UV002-M01",
"isp_name":"Main",
"creation_date":"2017-09-05 08:19:32",
"recharge_deposit":0.0,
"user_id":321,
"nearest_exp_date":"2018-02-22 10:21:00",
"credit":20387.775145462037,
"deposit":0.0,
"isp_id":0,
"group_id":72
},
"user_repr":"10001168-2100104f4Y8-FTTH",
}
}
}
and now want to get user_id from that json,how can i write code for that purpose?thanks.

The better way would be to deseralize this into a strongly typed object.
But for you you can use the JObject class to do something like the following (note not tested, but you should understand the concept):
dynamic result = JObject.Parse(source);
int id = result.321.basic_info.user_id;

You probably want to do something like this:
var yourInstance = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<YourClass>(responseJson);
For that, you need to define a class YourClass and related sub-classes which have properties matching the values returned in the JSON data, i.e. something like:
public class YourClass {
public bool online_status { get; set; }
public BasicInfo basic_info { get; set; }
public string user_repr { get; set; }
}
public class BasicInfo {
public string status { get; set; }
public string group_name{ get; set; }
public string isp_name{ get; set; }
public DateTime creation_date{ get; set; }
public string group_name{ get; set; }
// ...etc.
}
With this in place, JsonConvert should be able to understand and parse your data to the correct object.
This is just a rough example, but it should get you on your way.

Another way is to use JObject to hold the string.
var str = "{\"321\":{\"online_status\":true,\"basic_info\":{\"status\":\"Recharged\",\"group_name\":\"IRN-UV002-M01\",\"isp_name\":\"Main\",\"creation_date\":\"2017-09-05 08:19:32\",\"recharge_deposit\":0.0,\"user_id\":321,\"nearest_exp_date\":\"2018-02-22 10:21:00\",\"credit\":20387.775145462037,\"deposit\":0.0,\"isp_id\":0,\"group_id\":72},\"user_repr\":\"10001168-2100104f4Y8-FTTH\"}}";
var obj = JObject.Parse(str);
var userId = obj["321"]["basic_info"]["user_id"].ToString();

Parsing nested json with n number of json objects in c#

i am a newbie to coding , I have a nested json coming from a external source the json format is looks something like this ..
{
"data":"data",
"data":
{
"data":"data",
//----------------e.t.c the internal objects could be in n number
}
}
so how do i deserialize the json object and use the data as a list in order to do my other operations like sql and posting the data??

You need to create a class that is appropriate with the Json, like that:
public someClass
{
public string data1 { get; set; }
public DataClass dataArr { get; set; }
}
public DataClass
{
public string insideData { get; set; }
}
after you do this you need the following code:
var jsonDto = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<someClass>(yourJson);

Modify a JSON string

I have a string in JSON format as follows
string jsonStr = "{"Type":1, "Id":1000,"Date":null,"Group": "Admin","Country":"India","Type":1}";
I want to modify this string so that Id attribute should always be the first. The order of attributes matters.
Is there any way I can modify this string.
I tried searching google but did not find appropriate solution.
Any help would be appreciated.
EDIT:
I also tried to deserialize object using
object yourOjbect = new JavaScriptSerializer().DeserializeObject(jsonStr);
But here also the "type" attribute comes first. I dont find any way to move the attributes within this deserialized object

It's possible. Use the JsonProperty attribute, property Order.
http://www.newtonsoft.com/json/help/html/JsonPropertyOrder.htm.
Let me know if it works.

Instead of attempting to manipulate the order of the outputted JSON and comparing strings, I would transform both JSON strings that you want to compare, into objects and then perform your comparison. You could then compare individual properties or entire objects with something like the following:
void CompareJSON()
{
string json = #"{""Type"":1, ""Id"":1000,""Date"":null,""Group"": ""Admin"",""Country"":""India"",""Type"":1}";
string jsonToCompare = "JSON TO COMPARE";
MyObject myJsonObject = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<MyObject>(json);
MyObject myJsonObjectToCompare = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<MyObject>(jsonToCompare);
if (myJsonObject.Id == myJsonObjectToCompare.Id)
{
// Do something
}
}
class MyObject
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int Type { get; set; }
public DateTime? Date { get; set; }
public string Group { get; set; }
public string Country { get; set; }
}
Please note that this example is carried out using the Newtonsoft.JSON library. More information on the library can be found here.

Just make your JSON into a c# class with Id first and then serialize it again if that is what you need. You do know that you have "Type" twice in the JSON string? In this solution it will get "fixed" so you only have it once as it should be. But if your string really is with two Type this wont work since the strings will be incorrect. If they really are like that you need to do some ugly string manipulation to fix the order but i hope the first string is incorrect only here and not in your code.
private void Test() {
string json = #"{""Type"":1, ""Id"":1000,""Date"":null,""Group"": ""Admin"",""Country"":""India"",""Type"":1}";
JavaScriptSerializer jsonSerializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
MyJsonObject myJsonObject = jsonSerializer.Deserialize<MyJsonObject>(json);
string s = jsonSerializer.Serialize(myJsonObject);
//Returns: {"Id":1000,"Type":1,"Date":null,"Group":"Admin","Country":"India"}
}
class MyJsonObject {
public int Id { get; set; }
public int Type { get; set; }
public DateTime? Date { get; set; }
public string Group { get; set; }
public string Country { get; set; }
}