Develop Reference

Saving JSON to DataTable

I need to save data retrieved from API to a DataTable. JSON which is returned from API can't be deserialized directly to DataTable using this code:
DataTable dt = (DataTable)JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(json, (typeof(DataTable)));
I got an error: Unexpected JSON token when reading DataTable. I read that it's beacuse JSON format is not as it should be. Mine is as follows:
{
"page": 1,
"page_size": 1000,
"items": [
{
"id": "e1b019b9a8bf408c9cb964c29e845104",
"asset_id": "5adb0d87882b4e14b99bde74a967e84c",
"alias": "Concrete Pump Yellow",
"serial_number": "QEQ000123",
"model": {
"name": "Pump C50-HP"
},
"operating_hours": {
"hours": 100,
"unit_driven": true
}
}
]
}
I know I need format like [{..}] but can't find workaround, API returns JSON as above. I can deserialize it using this:
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(json);
but how can I now add data to DataTable? I'm looking for a solution for it

What the JsonConvert class does is it materializes your string version of the response into an object. For this to work, your string version has to match the structure of the resulting object or the class needs hints to know how to inflate the object. The runtime is telling you that there is a mismatch and it doesn't know how to resolve it.
There are a few ways to get this done. I prefer an structured approach so I would recommend you create classes to receive the data:
var payload = #"{
""page"": 1,
""page_size"": 1000,
""items"": [
{
""id"": ""e1b019b9a8bf408c9cb964c29e845104"",
""asset_id"": ""5adb0d87882b4e14b99bde74a967e84c"",
""alias"": ""Concrete Pump Yellow"",
""serial_number"": ""QEQ000123"",
""model"": {
""name"": ""Pump C50-HP""
},
""operating_hours"": {
""hours"": 100,
""unit_driven"": true
}
}
]
}";
public class ApiResponse
{
[JsonProperty("page")]
public int Page { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("page_size")]
public int PageSize { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("items")]
public IEnumerable<ApiResponseItem> Items { get; set; }
}
public class ApiResponseItem
{
[JsonProperty("id")]
public string Id { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("asset_id")]
public string AssetId { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("alias")]
public string Alias { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("serial_number")]
public string SerialNumber { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("model")]
public ApiResponseModel Model { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("operating_hours")]
public ApiResponseOperatingHours OperatingHours { get; set; }
}
public class ApiResponseModel
{
[JsonProperty("name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public class ApiResponseOperatingHours
{
[JsonProperty("hours")]
public string Hours { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("unit_driven")]
public bool UnitDriven { get; set; }
}
var response = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ApiResponse>(payload);
As you can see, the classes use hint attributes to let the deserializer know about the fields. You can then loop through the response.Items enumerable and consume the items as desired.
UPDATE:
For posterity and at the suggestion of #mason, it's important to point out that there is no need to use a DataTable. A quick inspection of the payload reveals the output is a paged version of set of records so it's not equivalent to a data table.

Your issue here is that the json you're deserializing is not a DataTable, its just an Object.
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(request, typeof(Object)) -> Where Object would be a defined Class with parameter definitions to deserialize the json to, i.e page, page_size, id etc..
Once in this format its fairly easy to coerce it into a DataTable:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.data.datatable?view=net-6.0
The Classes would look something along the lines of:
public class Items
{
public Guid? Id {get;set;}
public Guid? AssetId {get;set;}
public string alias {get;set;}
public string serial_number {get;set;}
public Model model {get;set;}
public OperatingHours operatingHours {get;set;}
}
public class Model
{
public string Name { get;set;}
}
public class OperatingHours
{
public int Hours {get;set;}
public bool Unit_Driven {get;set;}
}
public class OverallObject
{
public int Page {get;set;}
public int PageSize {get;set;}
public List<Items> AllItems {get;set;}
}

Dynamic JSON parsing in. net core

We have N number of JSON parameters and class properties as well but
have to remove dynamically the JSON parameters which are not available in class properties while serializing.
If I use [JsonIgnore] it is only removing values, not the entire property; we need to remove the entire property.
Example:
JSON request:
{
"Name":"ABC",
"Age":26,
"Designation":"Er",
"Place":"Pune",
"Gender":"Male"
}
Class:
[Serializable]
public class SampleProperties
{
[JsonProperty("Name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("Age")]
public int Age { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("Designation")]
public string Designation { get; set; }
}
Result Expecting :
{
"Name":"ABC",
"Age":26,
"Designation":"Er"
}

the best way to do this is to create an object with 30 fields and deserialize the json string to this object
try somthing like this :
class MyObject
{
public string prop1 {get;set; }
public string prop2 {get;set; }
}
then :
string json = "your json";
MyObject objectWith30Fields = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<MyObject>(json);

You can set NullValueHandling like the code below that you can see on the documentation of Newtonsoft.Json or in this link as well, in addition, you can use ExpandoObject() as you can see on this link
public class Movie
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public string Classification { get; set; }
public string Studio { get; set; }
public DateTime? ReleaseDate { get; set; }
public List<string> ReleaseCountries { get; set; }
}
Movie movie = new Movie();
movie.Name = "Bad Boys III";
movie.Description = "It's no Bad Boys";
string included = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(movie,
Formatting.Indented,
new JsonSerializerSettings { });
// {
// "Name": "Bad Boys III",
// "Description": "It's no Bad Boys",
// "Classification": null,
// "Studio": null,
// "ReleaseDate": null,
// "ReleaseCountries": null
// }
string ignored = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(movie,
Formatting.Indented,
new JsonSerializerSettings { NullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore });
// {
// "Name": "Bad Boys III",
// "Description": "It's no Bad Boys"
// }
More about ExpandoObject

Runtime Binder Exception

After a deserialization I save the content in an object:
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(responseText);
so I execute a loop for populate a DataGrid
foreach(var item in obj)
{
MainWindow.AppWindow.Squadre_DataGrid.Items.Add(new Teams.Club_Information
{
code = item.code,
name = item.name,
shortName = item.shortName,
squadMarketValue = item.squadMarketValue
});
}
The problem's that inside the foreach the compiler show Runtime Binder Exception.
Why happean this?
Some more details:
Class structure
public class Self
{
public string href { get; set; }
}
public class Fixtures
{
public string href { get; set; }
}
public class Players
{
public string href { get; set; }
}
public class Links
{
public Self self { get; set; }
public Fixtures fixtures { get; set; }
public Players players { get; set; }
}
public class RootObject
{
public Links _links { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
public string code { get; set; }
public string shortName { get; set; }
public string squadMarketValue { get; set; }
public string crestUrl { get; set; }
}
JSON structure:
{
"_links": {
"self": { "href": "http://api.football-data.org/alpha/teams/19" },
"fixtures": { "href": "http://api.football-data.org/alpha/teams/19/fixtures" },
"players": { "href": "http://api.football-data.org/alpha/teams/19/players" }
},
"name": "Eintracht Frankfurt",
"code": "SGE",
"shortName": "Eintr. Frankfurt",
"squadMarketValue": "75.475.000 ?",
"crestUrl": "http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Eintracht_Frankfurt_Logo.svg"
}

The object you are deserializing does not contain a property named code. So the line code = item.code causes an exception at runtime, because the Json.Net object behind the dynamic does not contain a value named code.
This means that the Json that you are parsing does not contain a property named code. Or else it only sometimes contains a property named code. In that case you'll have to either parse it is a JObject and check if the property exists or create an type do deserialize it into.'
Edit
Based on the Json that you posted along with the class structure it looks like you should just be deserializing directly into a RootObject class:
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(responseText);
Or in any case you can still deserialize into a dynamic but you need to get rid of the foreach since you don't have a collection of RootObject
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(responseText);
MainWindow.AppWindow.Squadre_DataGrid.Items.Add(new Teams.Club_Information
{
code = obj.code,
name = obj.name,
shortName = obj.shortName,
squadMarketValue = obj.squadMarketValue
});
Where you went wrong was the foreach. Since obj is dynamic there is no compiler error and the Json.Net JObject that is returned supports iteraction. But the that gives you back each of the property values, (e.g. _links, name, etc) on at a time, not the object that you are interested in.

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"]
};

Store a JSON string in C# and then access individual parts of it

I am pulling some JSON from an API. It comes in this format:
{"yourname": {
"id": 42728521,
"name": "Your Name",
"profileIconId": 27,
"revisionDate": 1397930999000,
"summonerLevel": 1
}}
However, that is stored as:
"{\"yourname\":{\"id\":42728521,\"name\":\"Your Name\",\"profileIconId\":27,\"summonerLevel\":1,\"revisionDate\":1397930999000}}"
Inside the string.
I want to be able to call summonerLevel and for it to return the correct value.
I've been trying this:
using (var client = new WebClient())
{
api_return = client.DownloadString(api_call_key);
}
var foo = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Summoner>(api_return);
Console.WriteLine(Summoner.id);
Console.WriteLine(Summoner.name);
Console.WriteLine(Summoner.summonerLevel);
string id_ = foo.ToString();
Console.WriteLine(id_);
Console.ReadKey();
}
public class Summoner
{
public static int id { get; set; }
public static string name { get; set; }
public static int summonerLevel { get; set; }
}
However, that just prints out:
0
nothing
0

You have two issues here, which are both preventing you from getting the data from the JSON.
The first issue is that the properties of your Summoner class should not be static, as Vikas pointed out. Define your class like this:
public class Summoner
{
public int id { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
public int summonerLevel { get; set; }
}
The second issue is that your JSON structure doesn't match what you're deserializing into. The id, name and summonerLevel properties are not at the root level of the JSON, they are one level further down, inside another object. So, you'll need to deserialize into some class that "wraps" your Summoner. If the yourname property in the JSON were a fixed value, you could define a Wrapper class like this to deserialize into:
public class Wrapper
{
[JsonProperty("yourname")]
public Summoner Summoner { get; set; }
}
However, since the yourname property in the JSON is likely not a fixed value (it could change for different summoners), I would recommend deserializing into a Dictionary<string, Summoner> like this instead:
var dict = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, Summoner>>(json);
From there, you can either loop through the dictionary key-value pairs, or, if you're only expecting one, you can use First() to get it.
var summoner = dict.First().Value;
Here is a full demo:
string json = #"{""yourname"": {
""id"": 42728521,
""name"": ""Your Name"",
""profileIconId"": 27,
""revisionDate"": 1397930999000,
""summonerLevel"": 1
}}";
var dict = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, Summoner>>(json);
var summoner = dict.First().Value;
Console.WriteLine(summoner.id);
Console.WriteLine(summoner.name);
Console.WriteLine(summoner.summonerLevel);
Output:
42728521
Your Name
1

Properties in Summoner class should not be static
using (var client = new WebClient())
{
api_return = client.DownloadString(api_call_key);
}
var foo = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Summoner>(api_return);
Console.WriteLine(foo.id);
Console.WriteLine(foo.name);
Console.WriteLine(foo.summonerLevel);
..............
}
public class Summoner
{
public int id { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
public int summonerLevel { get; set; }
}