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How to fix error Cannot deserialize the current JSON object? [duplicate]

Below is a (slightly) stripped down response I get from a REST API upon successful creation of a new "job code" entry. I need to deserialize the response into some classes, but I'm stumped.
For reference, I'm using JSON.NET in .NET 3.5 (running in a SSIS script in SQL Server 2008 R2) to attempt my deserialization. Here's the JSON - which I obviously have no control over as it's coming from someone else's API:
{
"results":{
"jobcodes":{
"1":{
"_status_code":200,
"_status_message":"Created",
"id":444444444,
"assigned_to_all":false,
"billable":true,
"active":true,
"type":"regular",
"name":"1234 Main Street - Jackson"
},
"2":{
"_status_code":200,
"_status_message":"Created",
"id":1234567890,
"assigned_to_all":false,
"billable":true,
"active":true,
"type":"regular",
"name":"4321 Some Other Street - Jackson"
}
}
}
}
In my C# code, I do have a "JobCode" class defined which only partially maps the JSON values to properties - I'm not interested in all of the data that's returned to me:
[JsonObject]
class JobCode
{
[JsonProperty("_status_code")]
public string StatusCode { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("_status_message")]
public string StatusMessage { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("id")]
public string Id {get; set;}
[JsonProperty("name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Empty constructor for JSON serialization support
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
public JobCode() { }
}
I'm attempting to deserialize the data via this call:
newResource = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<JobCode>(jsonResponse);
Where jsonResponse is the code outputted above.
When I execute the code, "newResource" always comes back as null - which is not unexpected because I know that there are actually multiple jobcodes in the data and this code is trying to deserialize it into a single JobCode object. I tried creating a new class called "JobCodes" that looks like this:
class JobCodes
{
[JsonProperty("jobcodes")]
public List<JobCode>_JobCodes { get; set; }
}
And then I tried calling this:
newResource = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<JobCodes>(jsonResponse);
But the issue persists - my return object is null.
What's throwing me off, I think, is the presence of the "1" and "2" identifiers. I don't know how to account for their presence in my object design and/or usage of the JSON.NET class / property attributes like [JsonObject],[JsonProperty], etc.
When I run the JSON data through JSON2CSharp, it constructs some weird-looking classes, so that hasn't proven too effective. I've validated the JSON with several different validators and it all checks out - I just don't know what I'm missing here.
Ultimately, I'd like to return a List from the JSON data, but I'm stumped on what I need to do to make that happen.

Your problem is twofold:
You don't have a class defined at the root level. The class structure needs to match the entire JSON, you can't just deserialize from the middle.
Whenever you have an object whose keys can change, you need to use a Dictionary<string, T>. A regular class won't work for that; neither will a List<T>.
Make your classes like this:
class RootObject
{
[JsonProperty("results")]
public Results Results { get; set; }
}
class Results
{
[JsonProperty("jobcodes")]
public Dictionary<string, JobCode> JobCodes { get; set; }
}
class JobCode
{
[JsonProperty("_status_code")]
public string StatusCode { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("_status_message")]
public string StatusMessage { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("id")]
public string Id { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
}
Then, deserialize like this:
RootObject obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(json);
Working demo here

Excellent Answers!
For those out there that may need some more help with the JSON Class Configuration, try: http://json2csharp.com/#
An excellent way of Auto Generating the Classes!
Or even easier, in VS, Goto:
Edit -> Paste Special -> Paste as JSON Classes

Because you can't change the scheme of JSON, and you can't set constant No. of properties, I'd suggest you to use JObject
var jobject = JObject.Parse(json);
var results = jobject["results"];
var jobcodes = results["jobcodes"];
var output = jobcodes.Children<JProperty>()
.Select(prop => prop.Value.ToObject<JobCode>())
.ToList();
Warning: code assumes, that JSON is always in proper schema. You should also handle invalid schema (for example where property is not of JobCode scheme).

You can also deserialize your json to an object of your target class, and then read its properties as per normal:
var obj = DeSerializeFromStrToObj<ClassToSerialize>(jsonStr);
Console.WriteLine($"Property: {obj.Property}");
where DeSerializeFromStrToObj is a custom class that makes use of reflection to instantiate an object of a targeted class:
public static T DeSerializeFromStrToObj<T>(string json)
{
try
{
var o = (T)Activator.CreateInstance(typeof(T));
try
{
var jsonDict = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Dictionary<string, string>>(json);
var props = o.GetType().GetProperties();
if (props == null || props.Length == 0)
{
Debug.WriteLine($"Error: properties from target class '{typeof(T)}' could not be read using reflection");
return default;
}
if (jsonDict.Count != props.Length)
{
Debug.WriteLine($"Error: number of json lines ({jsonDict.Count}) should be the same as number of properties ({props.Length})of our class '{typeof(T)}'");
return default;
}
foreach (var prop in props)
{
if (prop == null)
{
Debug.WriteLine($"Error: there was a prop='null' in our target class '{typeof(T)}'");
return default;
}
if (!jsonDict.ContainsKey(prop.Name))
{
Debug.WriteLine($"Error: jsonStr does not refer to target class '{typeof(T)}'");
return default;
}
var value = jsonDict[prop.Name];
Type t = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(prop.PropertyType) ?? prop.PropertyType;
object safeValue = value ?? Convert.ChangeType(value, t);
prop.SetValue(o, safeValue, null); // initialize property
}
return o;
}
catch (Exception e2)
{
Debug.WriteLine(e2.Message);
return o;
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Debug.WriteLine(e.Message);
return default;
}
}
A complete working example class can be found in my enhanced answer to a similar question, here

How to parse json string in c#

How can i parse a json string in c# controller
public ActionResult GetAjaxSession(string search)
{
...
}
Variable which containt the json string :
search
The Json string :
[{"id_employe":"35"},{"id_employe":"80"},{"id_employe":"136"},{"id_employe":"140"}]
I want to get all id_employe from the string

But parsing would be the right way, to get the right data out of your string.
Example with using Newtonsoft.Json:
var objects = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<MyObj>>(jsonText);
With the class:
public class MyObj
{
public string id_employe { get; set; }
}

Malior's approach is perfectly fine, it's a typed approach. I'd like to mention an alternative way, using Linq and dynamic:
var jsonText="[{\"id_employe\":\"35\"},{\"id_employe\":\"80\"},"
+"{\"id_employe\":\"136\"},{\"id_employe\":\"140\"}]";
var objects = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<dynamic>>(jsonText);
var values = objects.Select(s=>s.id_employe).ToList();
Fiddle
This will create a list, so values contains the following elements:
35,80,136,140
Because it is dynamic, you don't need to declare an extra class. Note that both approaches will throw a JsonReaderException if there is anything wrong with the JSON string (e.g. missing [ etc.). And if the property name isn't found it can throw a RuntimeBinderException - so you should use a try ... catch block.

Create json in UWP without JSON.Net

I am trying to create a json formatted string using c# in UWP without JSON.Net, but I am just not understanding how to get there. Let's say I wanted to create the following json dynamically:
[{"id":130},{"id":131},{"id":132},{"id":133},{"id":134}]
From everything I have read, it would seem that I need a class that defines the content of my json. For example:
class accountTypes
{
public int id { get; set; }
public string type { get; set; }
}
From there, it would seem that I only need to create a list of type "accountTypes" and then add each "id" to the list.
List<accountTypes> jsonList = new List<accountTypes>();
int numOfChildren = AccountTypesList.Children.Count;
for (int i = 0; i < numOfChildren; i++)
{
if (((CheckBox)AccountTypesList.Children[i]).IsChecked == true)
{
jsonList.Add(new accountTypes() { id = (int)(double)((CheckBox)AccountTypesList.Children[i]).Tag });
}
}
While I am 99% sure that the above code is very flawed, it does not crash on me, so that is a start at least. What I am struggling with now though is how I would serialize the list "jsonList". Everything I have read thus far either points to JSON.net or the JavaScriptSerializer Class, and not Windows.Data.Json. If I could see a simple example on how to serialize json using Windows.Data.Json, then I could at least visualize what is going on with my list and could correct it accordingly. That being said, how do I serialize an array or a list using Windows.Data.Json?

First of all, there's no built-in JSON-serializer that handles all the mapping for you. This is exactly what JSON.NET is doing for you. Therefore, you have to take the manual and long way.
To create exactly this result:
[{"id":130},{"id":131},{"id":132},{"id":133},{"id":134}]
You have to use the JsonArray class. For example, pass your jsonList object to a method like this:
public string ToJson(List<accountTypes> objectList)
{
var jArray = new JsonArray();
foreach (var at in objectList)
{
jArray.Add(ToJson(at));
}
return jArray.ToString();
}
Whereas you use this method to create a JsonObject for your class object itself (as manual step as well):
public JsonObject ToJson(accountTypes at)
{
var jObj = new JsonObject();
jObj.SetNamedValue("id", JsonValue.CreateNumberValue(at.id));
return jObj;
}

Parsing JSON data with javascriptserializer throws exception

I am getting JSON data in following format:
"[[\"NAME\",\"state\"],\n[\"Alabama\",\"01\"],\n[\"Alaska\",\"02\"]]"
I am trying to parse it with System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer the following way:
[Serializable]
private class State
{
private string Name { get; set; }
private string Code { get; set; }
}
private static List<State> getStates(string jsonData)
{
var json = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var parsedResult = json.Deserialize<List<State>>(jsonData);
return parsedResult;
}
The error I am getting is Type 'State' is not supported for deserialization of an array.
What am I doing wrong?Please suggest a way out.
Update
I have somewhat solved the problem since I need only a collection of the data in a queryable format. The following code did the trick:
var parsedResult = json.Deserialize<List<string[]>>(jsonData);

You have found workaround, nevertheless I think it's good to have explanation for the issue.
The problem you have is in brackets; [] means array, whereas object is market with {}. This means that to deserialize input string in array of State objects your input string should be formatted in following way:
[{\"NAME\",\"state\"},\n{\"Alabama\",\"01\"},\n{\"Alaska\",\"02\"}]

.NET serialization of JSON data with dynamic structure (schema)

The web service I consume responces with json data.
it gives resultObject as array:
resultObject:[{object1}, {object2},...] if there more then one object
and it returns
resultObject:{object1} if there only one object.
for serializing in .NET I created a "static" structure of classes to map json schema. But if in one case i've got an array (list) of objects an in other case just one object, how is it possible to handle this situation?

I have found a plethora of ugly solutions to this one, but so far goes:
If you use the System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer you have very limited control. If the result data type is simple, you could simply use the DeserializeObject method; it will translate everything into Dictionary and the "resultObject" property will in the first case be a Dictionary while the latter case will turn it into an array of such dictionary. It will not save you the headache of the final translation, but you will get the data into dictionaries which could be considered a first step.
I also attempted to use the KnownTypes and the DataContractJsonSerializer, but alas the datacontract serializer needs "hints" in the form of specially named properties to aid it deserializing. (Why am I using the KnownType attribute wrong?). This is a hopeless strategy if you don't have any control of the serialization which I guess is the case for you.
So now we are down to the butt-ugly solutions of which trial-and-error is my first choice:
When using the ScriptSerializer the conversion will fail with an InvalidOperationException if anything is wrong. I then created two data types one with data-as-arrays and one where data is a single instance (the DataClass is my invention since you do not specify the data types):
[DataContract]
public class DataClass
{
[DataMember]
public string FirstName { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public int BirthYear { get; set; }
public override string ToString()
{
return "FirstName : '" + FirstName + "', BirthYear: " + BirthYear;
}
}
[DataContract]
public class ResultSingle
{
[DataMember]
public DataClass Data { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
public class ResultArray
{
[DataMember]
public List<DataClass> Data { get; set; }
}
Using these data types it is possible to translate using
JavaScriptSerializer jSer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var one = jSer.Deserialize<ResultSingle>(jsonWithSingleInstance);
var many = jSer.Deserialize<ResultArray>(jsonWithArray);
But this of course require you to known the data type in advance and you get two different result types. Instead you could choose to always convert to ResultArray. If you get an exception you should convert as ResultSingle and then instantiate the ResultArray and manually add the data object to the Data list:
static ResultArray ConvertJson(string json)
{
ResultArray fromJson;
JavaScriptSerializer jSer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
try
{
fromJson = jSer.Deserialize<ResultArray>(json);
return fromJson;
}
catch (InvalidOperationException)
{
var single = jSer.Deserialize<ResultSingle> (json);
fromJson = new ResultArray();
fromJson.Data = new List<DataClass>();
fromJson.Data.Add(single.Data);
return fromJson;
}
}
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var jsonWithSingleInstance = "{\"Data\":{\"FirstName\":\"Knud\",\"BirthYear\":1928}}";
var jsonWithArray = "{\"Data\":[{\"FirstName\":\"Knud\",\"BirthYear\":1928},{\"FirstName\":\"Svend\",\"BirthYear\":1930}]}";
var single = ConvertJson(jsonWithSingleInstance);
var array = ConvertJson(jsonWithArray);
}
I do not say this is a beautiful solution (it isn't), but it should do the job.
You could also look at json.net which seem to be the json serializer of choice in .NET: How to install JSON.NET using NuGet?

Well, my service provider finally said that it is really a bug.
http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/JETTISON-102
says that is it because of java version that they use.