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Reading and Writing Nested data JSON in C#

I have looked at several solutions over the web on reading nested json files but I haven't found one suitable to my need. Maybe because I am new to JSON. Here is my issue:
I have the following JSON in a file:
{
"ConfigError" : {
"DateSent": "2022-04-28T14:03:16.6628493-07:00",
"ToolType": "WSM",
"IsSent": true
},
"FileCopyError" : {
"DateSent": "2022-06-14T14:03:16.6628493-07:00",
"ToolType": "RMT",
"IsSent": false
}
}
For this I have written two classes. One for the Inner object:
public class SummaryEmailStatus
{
public DateTime DateSent { get; set; }
public string ToolType { get; set; }
public bool IsSent { get; set; }
}
One for the Outer Objects:
public class SummaryEmailClass
{
SummaryEmailStatus Status { get; set; } = new SummaryEmailStatus();
}
I would like to be able to read the JSON in C#. I'm primarily concerned with the inner objects. They are of same class but they need to be used differently. So ideally I'd want a function that I can pass in "ConfigError" or "FileCopyError" into and it will return SummaryEmailStatus class object populated by the values in the JSON:
public static void ReadJasonFile(string jsonFileName, string objctName)
{
List<SummaryEmailClass> emailClassList = new List<SummaryEmailClass>();
dynamic jsonFile = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(File.ReadAllText(jsonFileName));
SummaryEmailStatus sumclass = jsonFile[objctName];
}
But this gives me a run time error saying:
Cannot implicitly convert type "Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject to SummaryEmailStatus
How can I successfully parse out the inner summaryemailstatus objects?
Additionally, I'd like to be able to create the JSON data within C#. The reason being, when I read the JSON, I will do some task and then will need to update the values of the JSON with the current timestamps. I'd imagine, I'd need to rewrite the file. How can I write a nested JSON like this in C#?
If JSON is not the best way to do this, I am open to alternatives

you can try
string json = File.ReadAllText(jsonFileName);
Dictionary<string,SummaryEmailStatus> summaryEmailStatus =
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string,SummaryEmailStatus>>(json);
you can use it
SummaryEmailStatus configError = summaryEmailStatus["ConfigError"];
if you want update data
summaryEmailStatus["ConfigError"].DateSent= DateTime.Now;
and serialize back
json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(summaryEmailStatus);
or if you have only 2 main properties, create a class
public class SummaryEmailClass
{
SummaryEmailStatus ConfigError { get; set; }
SummaryEmailStatus FileCopyError{ get; set; }
}
and use it
SummaryEmailClass summaryEmailStatus =
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<SummaryEmailStatusClass>(json);
SummaryEmailStatus configError = summaryEmailStatus.ConfigError;

Summary
You need to convert your JObject into the type you are expecting, as shown here:
SummaryEmailStatus sumclass = jsonFile[objctName].ToObject<SummaryEmailStatus>();
Details
jsonFile[objtName] is of type JObject. The reason is because JsonConvert.DeserializeObject has no idea that you intend to convert that into a list of SummaryEmailStatus.
Once you have your array of JObjects, you can convert that into a SummaryEmailStatus as shown in the following snippet:
public static void ReadJasonFile(string jsonFileName, string objctName)
{
List<SummaryEmailClass> emailClassList = new List<SummaryEmailClass>();
dynamic jsonFile = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(File.ReadAllText(jsonFileName));
SummaryEmailStatus sumclass = jsonFile[objctName].ToObject<SummaryEmailStatus>();
}

Easy way is kept both objects in JSON, I rewrite your code and add root. For example, if you want to write Config Error and don't write File Copy Error, you can save one of them like null.
public class ConfigError
{
public DateTime DateSent { get; set; }
public string ToolType { get; set; }
public bool IsSent { get; set; }
}
public class FileCopyError
{
public DateTime DateSent { get; set; }
public string ToolType { get; set; }
public bool IsSent { get; set; }
}
public class Root
{
public ConfigError ConfigError { get; set; }
public FileCopyError FileCopyError { get; set; }
}
//in your method to get all data
var json = File.ReadAllText(jsonFileName);
var myDeserializedClass = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Root>(json);
Example change config and write to file
var json = #"{
""ConfigError"" : {
""DateSent"": ""2022-04-28T14:03:16.6628493-07:00"",
""ToolType"": ""WSM"",
""IsSent"": true
},
""FileCopyError"" : {
""DateSent"": ""2022-06-14T14:03:16.6628493-07:00"",
""ToolType"": ""RMT"",
""IsSent"": false
}
}";
var conf = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Root>(json);
conf.ConfigError.DateSent = DateTime.Now;
conf.ConfigError.ToolType = "New way";
conf.ConfigError.IsSent = false;
conf.FileCopyError = null;
var newJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(conf);
File.WriteAllText("your path", newJson);

Parse json nested array into c# object

I´m need to parse a json object into a c# class, my problem is that json object has a nested array and it´s throwing some errors when parsing.
I have tried a couple of options:
a) do foreach in the elements of nested array, and add them to a new array
b) parsing using json.deserialize
No success so far
These are my c# classes
public class itemPrediccion
{
public string ClavePartido { get; set; }
public string Ganador { get; set; }
public bool EsFavorito { get; set; }
}
public class Prediccion
{
public ObjectId _id { get; set; }
public string IdUsuario { get; set; }
public int Jornada { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<itemPrediccion> PrediccionesJornada { get; set; }
}
An object of class "Prediccion" would contain a list of "itemPrediccion"
This is the json object that I want to parse to a "Prediccion" object
{
"IdUsuario" : "user1",
"Jornada" : "1",
"PrediccionesJornada" : [
{
"ClavePartido" : "AP2019J1P1",
"Ganador": "Morelia",
"EsFavorito": "false"
},
{
"ClavePartido" : "AP2019J1P2",
"Ganador": "Chivas",
"EsFavorito": "false"
},
{
"ClavePartido" : "AP2019J1P3",
"Ganador": "Atlas",
"EsFavorito": "true"
}
]
}
This is how I´m trying to deserialize
string requestBody = await new StreamReader(req.Body).ReadToEndAsync();
dynamic data = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(requestBody);
Prediccion prediccionUsuario = new Prediccion {
IdUsuario = data.IdUsuario,
Jornada = data.Jornada,
PrediccionesJornada = data.PrediccionesJornada
};
Throws this error:
Cannot implicitly convert type 'Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JArray' to
'System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable'.
An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?)

You should be able to use the non dynamic variant of the deserializer:
var result =JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Prediccion>(requestBody);

Issue with Deserialization with JSON with C#

I have looked over example after example after example and none of my attempts have worked.
I'm attempting to deserialize this JSON return:
{
"status": "success",
"data": {
"result": "match",
"id_user": 26564,
"dob_match": null,
"first_name_match": null,
"last_name_match": null
},
"code": 200
}
Here is my JSON object class declaration:
[DataContract]
internal class DccCoachApi
{
[DataMember]
public string result { get; set; }
public string id_user { get; set; }
public string dob_match { get; set; }
public string first_name_match { get; set; }
public string last_name_match { get; set; }
}
In my stream method, my streamRead variable is filled with:
{"status":"success","data":{"result":"match","id_user":26564,"dob_match":null,"first_name_match":null,"last_name_match":null},"code":200}
Method 1 does not populate coachId:
using (var ms = new MemoryStream(Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(streamRead)))
{
// Deserialization from JSON
var deserializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(DccCoachApi));
var dccObj = (DccCoachApi)deserializer.ReadObject(ms);
coachId = dccObj.id_user;
}
Nor does method 2:
DccCoachApi coach = new JavaScriptSerializer().Deserialize<DccCoachApi>(streamRead);
coachId = coach.id_user;
nor does method 3:
JavaScriptSerializer js = new JavaScriptSerializer();
DccCoachApi dccObj = js.Deserialize<DccCoachApi>(streamRead);
coachId = dccObj.id_user;
nor does method 4:
dynamic dccObject = js.Deserialize<dynamic>(streamRead);
coachId = dccObject["id_user"];
The hard error that gets produced when i pull the value directly off method 4 is:
System.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException: The given key was not present in the dictionary. at System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2.get_Item(TKey key)
Methods 1-3 do not hit a hard error, however they populate coachId with no data.
Can somebody please let me know what i'm doing wrong?

You can simply generate proper classes here: http://json2csharp.com/
This is how it should look like you don't need the DataMember Attributes, it might confuse the serializer to only de-serialize this single property:
public class Data
{
public string result { get; set; }
public int id_user { get; set; }
public object dob_match { get; set; }
public object first_name_match { get; set; }
public object last_name_match { get; set; }
}
public class RootObject
{
public string status { get; set; }
public Data data { get; set; }
public int code { get; set; }
}
Code:
var deserializer = DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(RootObject));
var root = (RootObject)deserializer.ReadObject(ms);
var coachId = root.data.id_user;

I revised the code to look like this, and it is dumping my value perfectly. Thanks much to everyone who helped me reach the solution. Plutonix, thanks as well for the paste special 411. I had no idea that existed. VERY useful!
using (var reader = new StreamReader(webResponse.GetResponseStream()))
{
var streamRead = reader.ReadToEnd();
reader.Close();
using (var ms = new MemoryStream(Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(streamRead)))
{
JavaScriptSerializer js = new JavaScriptSerializer();
DccCoachRootobject dccObj = js.Deserialize<DccCoachRootobject>(streamRead);
coachId = dccObj.data.id_user.ToString();
}
}

How to convert HttpResponseMessage having OData to a C# object?

I am calling a REST service from my C# application which connects to CRM.
This returns HttpResponseMessage.
response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result
The above statement returns following output. I need to convert this to Account object, which already has "accountnumber, and accountid properties.
{
"#odata.context":"https://APIURL/api/data/v8.1/$metadata#account(accountnumber)","value":[
{
"#odata.etag":"W/\"12496866\"","accountnumber":"D00208","accountid":"30417c0f-7b8c-e611-80f3-5065f38bd4d1"
} ] }
I have tried following code
Account return = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Account>(response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result);
But this doesn't fill up the object, and it always has null values in accountnumber, and accountid fields.
Any idea of how to properly convert this response to the C# type.

you should do it like this -
public class Value
{
[JsonProperty("#odata.etag")]
public string etag { get; set; }
public string accountnumber { get; set; }
public string accountid { get; set; }
}
public class RootObject
{
[JsonProperty("#odata.context")]
public string context { get; set; }
public List<Value> value { get; set; }
}
then deserialize-
var value = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(json);

We can parse and create Anonymous Type based on that. In your case, replace the Anonymous Type with Account object.
Given the JSON string:
string json = #"{
'#odata.context':'https://APIURL/api/data/v8.1/$metadata#account(accountnumber)',
'value':[
{
'#odata.etag':'W/\'12496866\'',
'accountnumber':'D00208',
'accountid':'30417c0f-7b8c-e611-80f3-5065f38bd4d1'
}
]
}";
It can be parsed as below:
var jsonObject = JObject.Parse(json);
var dataObject = new
{
Context = jsonObject["#odata.context"],
Values = jsonObject["value"].AsEnumerable<JToken>()
.Select(v => new
{
ETag = v["#odata.etag"],
AccountNumber = v["accountnumber"],
AccountId = v["accountid"]
}).ToArray()
};
In order to convert to Account object where the object is defined as below:
public class Account
{
public string Number { get; set; }
public string Id { get; set; }
}
Then the JSON object can be parsed as below (if looking for only first node; It can also be converted to list of Accounts:
var jsonObject = JObject.Parse(json);
var account = jsonObject["value"].AsEnumerable<JToken>()
.Select(v => new Account()
{
Number = v["accountnumber"].ToString(),
Id = v["accountid"].ToString()
}).FirstOrDefault();

You can generalize the accepted answer by using a generic class to deserialize json web response:
class RootObject<T>
{
public List<T> Value { get; set; }
}
var odata = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject<POCO>>(json);
Try it with live Demo

JavaScriptDeseializer : Can not serialize array

My application is asp.net. I have to send some values back to server. For this I create a object serialize it and send it to server. At server I try to de-serialize it
Following is my code
[Serializable]
public class PassData
{
public PassData()
{
}
public List<testWh> SelectedId { get; set; }
public string SelectedControlClientId { get; set; }
public string GroupTypeId { get; set; }
public string SectionTypeId { get; set; }
}
[Serializable]
public class testWh
{
public testWh()
{
}
public string Id { get; set; }
}
JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
//this can not serialize the SelectedId and the count remains 0
PassData data = serializer.Deserialize<PassData>(jsonString);
//this serialize in an anonymous object with key value pair
var data2 = serializer.DeserializeObject(textHiddenArguments.Text);
Following is my Json Serialized String
{
"SelectedId":{"0":"ABCD","1":"JKLM"},
"SelectedControlClientId":"YTUTOOO",
"GroupTypeId":3,
"SectionTypeId":"1"
}
quotes escaped string
"{\"SelectedId\":{\"0\":\"ABCD\",\"1\":\"JKLM\"},\"SelectedControlClientId\":\"YTUTOOO\",\"GroupTypeId\":3,\"SectionTypeId\":\"1\"}"
My Problem is Selected Id is array of testWH object. But when I try to desrialize it, the SelectedId property of PassData which is list does not get serialized and count remains zero.
I tried using array instead of List, which gave an exception "no parameter less constructor..."
Could any one explain the what I am doing wrong here ?

The key problem here is that the JSON doesn't match the objects you have constructed. You can see this by writing the data you want and serializing:
var obj = new PassData
{
SelectedId = new List<testWh>
{
new testWh { Id = "ABCD"},
new testWh { Id = "JKLM"}
},
GroupTypeId = "3",
SectionTypeId = "1",
SelectedControlClientId = "YTUTOOO"
};
string jsonString = serializer.Serialize(obj);
which gives JSON like:
{"SelectedId":[{"Id":"ABCD"},{"Id":"JKLM"}],
"SelectedControlClientId":"YTUTOOO","GroupTypeId":"3","SectionTypeId":"1"}
So now you need to decide which you want to change; the JSON or the classes. The following alternative class works fine with your original JSON, for example:
public class PassData
{
public Dictionary<string,string> SelectedId { get; set; }
public string SelectedControlClientId { get; set; }
public string GroupTypeId { get; set; }
public string SectionTypeId { get; set; }
}