Serialize class object to JSON with a custom format - c#

Running this program..
using System;
using System.Text.Json;
using System.Collections.Generic;
namespace XmlConsoleApp
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
CampaignAccountMap campaignAccountMap = new CampaignAccountMap();
CampaignAccountMapItem campaignAccountMapItem = new CampaignAccountMapItem();
campaignAccountMapItem.CampaignId = #"dfdf-fdfdd-fdfd-dfdfd-dfdfd";
campaignAccountMapItem.AccountIds.Add(1245345);
campaignAccountMapItem.AccountIds.Add(1345675);
campaignAccountMap.Campaigns.Add(campaignAccountMapItem);
string jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize<CampaignAccountMap>(campaignAccountMap);
Console.Write(jsonString);
}
}
}
class CampaignAccountMap
{
public List<CampaignAccountMapItem> Campaigns { get; set; }
public CampaignAccountMap()
{
Campaigns = new List<CampaignAccountMapItem>();
}
}
class CampaignAccountMapItem
{
public string CampaignId { get; set; }
public List<int> AccountIds { get; set; }
public CampaignAccountMapItem()
{
AccountIds = new List<int>();
}
}
Outputs this JSON:
{
"Campaigns": [
{
"CampaignId": "dfdf-fdfdd-fdfd-dfdfd-dfdfd",
"AccountIds": [
1245345,
1345675
]
}
]
}
How can I customize the serialized output such that it produces this output instead?
{
"dfdf-fdfdd-fdfd-dfdfd-dfdfd": [
1245345,
1345675
]
}
Changing the name of the properties in from the class to the JSON seems doable using sterilizing annotations and such but I cant find any examples where those names are dynamic, ie I need the keys in the JSON output to be the dynamic values from the CampaignId property in the class.
I'm also open to doing this without using classes if I need to.

One way is to just use a Dictionary.
var dict = new Dictionary<string, List<int>>();
foreach (var item in campaignAccountMap.Campaigns)
{
dict[item.CampaignId] = item.AccountIds;
}
var jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(dict);
Console.Write(jsonString);

The desired json format can be represented by Dictionary<string, List<int>>.
So, you could add a ToDictionary method to your class, something like this:
class CampaignAccountMapItem
{
public string CampaignId { get; set; }
public List<int> AccountIds { get; set; }
public CampaignAccountMapItem()
{
AccountIds = new List<int>();
}
public Dictionary<string, List<int>> ToDictionary()
{
return new Dictionary<string, List<int>> {{ CampaignId, AccountIds }};
}
}
And use it like:
string jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(campaignAccountMapItem.ToDictionary());
Console.Write(jsonString);

Related

JSON deserialize throws exception

I have a C# code that defines a constant JSON string and a corresponding POCO class. however i get an exception:
The JSON value could not be converted Path: $ | LineNumber: 0 | BytePositionInLine: 1.
Code
try
{
var filters = JsonSerializer.Deserialize <CmsContactsFilter>(FilterJson);
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
}
JSON
#"[{""cms"":""us-its"",""group"":[""ciso"",""cloudAdminsDistributionList"",""cloudAdmins""]},""cms"":""us-csdaudit"",""abc"":[""biso"",""costManagement""]},]";
POCO Class
public class CmsContactsFilter
{
public string Cms { get; set; }
public List<string> Group { get; set; }
}
Your json is not valid, here is the valid version of your json:
[
{
"cms": "us-its",
"group": [
"ciso",
"cloudAdminsDistributionList",
"cloudAdmins"
]
},
{
"cms": "us-csdaudit",
"group": [
"biso",
"costManagement"
]
}
]
Your code should be looks like this:
using System.Text.Json;
string filterJson = System.IO.File.ReadAllText("data.json");
var filters = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<List<CmsContactsFilter>>(filterJson);
foreach (var item in filters)
{
Console.WriteLine(item.cms+":");
foreach (var y in item.group)
{
Console.WriteLine("----"+y);
}
}
public class CmsContactsFilter
{
public string cms { get; set; }
public List<string> group { get; set; }
}
the name of the properties of the the CmsContactsFilter should be same with your json attributes names. if they are in lower-case format, your attribute name in the C# should be in the lower-case too.
your json is not valid, you need to add { to the second array item, and use an object collection for deserialization
var FilterJson = #"[{""cms"":""us-its"",""group"":[""ciso"",""cloudAdminsDistributionList"",""cloudAdmins""]},{""cms"":""us-csdaudit"",""abc"":[""biso"",""costManagement""]}]";
var filters = System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.Deserialize <List<CmsContactsFilter>>(FilterJson);
and fix class
public class CmsContactsFilter
{
public string cms { get; set; }
public List<string> group { get; set; }
public List<string> abc { get; set; }
}
but as I understand your array has much more objects then 2. So you can try this code for the big json with different array names (if you had used Newtonsoft.Json this code could be significanly simplier)
JsonArray array = JsonNode.Parse(FilterJson).AsArray();
List<CmsContactsFilter> filters = new List<CmsContactsFilter>();
foreach (JsonObject item in array)
{
var obj = new CmsContactsFilter();
foreach (var prom in item.AsObject())
{
var name = prom.Key;
if (name == "cms")
{
obj.cms = prom.Value.ToString();
continue;
}
obj.groupName = name;
obj.group = System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.Deserialize<List<string>>(prom.Value.ToString());
}
filters.Add(obj);
}
}
class
public class CmsContactsFilter
{
public string cms { get; set; }
public string groupName { get; set; }
public List<string> group { get; set; }
}

How do I access a structures component in the Sorted list. sortedList.GetByIndes(i).name?

Basically how do I access the component of a structure in my Sorted List (keys are strings and values are the structure). The structure is Section and one of the components of it is called name. How do I access that component. linkedList.GetByIndex(i).name doesn't work.
To illustrate my comment:
struct A
{
public string name;
}
static void Demo()
{
// using System.Collections.Generic;
SortedList<string, A> list = new SortedList<string, A>();
list.Add("k0", new A { name = "name0" });
var name0 = list.Values[0].name;
}
To access the first struct in the example list, use list.Values[0] or list["k0"]. You can then access the .name property of the struct.
As far as I understood, the Post from #AxelKemper should help.
A simple example:
public struct Section
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public SortedList<string, string> List { get; set; }
}
public class SectionsClass
{
public string Indentifier { get; set; }
public SortedList<string, Section> Sections { get; set; }
}
public class MyTestClass
{
public MyTestClass()
{
var sc = new SectionsClass
{
Indentifier = "A",
Sections = new SortedList<string, Section> {
{"1", new Section { Name = "AA" } },
{"2", new Section { Name = "AB" } },
}
};
Debug.WriteLine(sc.Sections.ElementAt(0).Value.Name); // AA
}
}
UPDATE: insert "using System.Linq;" as "ElementAt" is an extension method from Linq

Converting JSON array

I am attempting to use the Newtonsoft JSON library to parse a JSON string dynamically using C#. In the JSON is a named array. I would like to remove the square brackets from this array and then write out the modified JSON.
The JSON now looks like the following. I would like to remove the square bracket from the ProductDescription array.
{
"Product": "123",
"to_Description": [
{
"ProductDescription": "Product 1"
}
]
}
Desired result
{
"Product": "123",
"to_Description":
{
"ProductDescription": "Product 1"
}
}
I believe I can use the code below to parse the JSON. I just need some help with making the modification.
JObject o1 = JObject.Parse(File.ReadAllText(#"output.json"));
The to_Description property starts off as List<Dictionary<string,string>> and you want to take the first element from the List.
So, given 2 classes
public class Source
{
public string Product {get;set;}
public List<Dictionary<string,string>> To_Description{get;set;}
}
public class Destination
{
public string Product {get;set;}
public Dictionary<string,string> To_Description{get;set;}
}
You could do it like this:
var src = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Source>(jsonString);
var dest = new Destination
{
Product = src.Product,
To_Description = src.To_Description[0]
};
var newJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(dest);
Note: You might want to check there really is just 1 item in the list!
Live example: https://dotnetfiddle.net/vxqumd
You do not need to create classes for this task. You can modify your object like this:
// Load the JSON from a file into a JObject
JObject o1 = JObject.Parse(File.ReadAllText(#"output.json"));
// Get the desired property whose value is to be replaced
var prop = o1.Property("to_Description");
// Replace the property value with the first child JObject of the existing value
prop.Value = prop.Value.Children<JObject>().FirstOrDefault();
// write the changed JSON back to the original file
File.WriteAllText(#"output.json", o1.ToString());
Fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/M83zv3
I have used json2csharp to convert the actual and desired output to classes and manipulated the input json.. this will help in the maintenance in future
First defined the model
public class ToDescription
{
public string ProductDescription { get; set; }
}
public class ActualObject
{
public string Product { get; set; }
public List<ToDescription> to_Description { get; set; }
}
public class ChangedObject
{
public string Product { get; set; }
public ToDescription to_Description { get; set; }
}
Inject the logic
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string json = "{\"Product\": \"123\", \"to_Description\": [ { \"ProductDescription\": \"Product 1\" } ]} ";
ActualObject actualObject = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ActualObject>(json);
ChangedObject changedObject = new ChangedObject();
changedObject.Product = actualObject.Product;
changedObject.to_Description = actualObject.to_Description[0];
string formattedjson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(changedObject);
Console.WriteLine(formattedjson);
}
Why not:
public class EntityDescription
{
public string ProductDescription { get; set; }
}
public class Entity
{
public string Product { get; set; }
}
public class Source : Entity
{
[JsonProperty("to_Description")]
public EntityDescription[] Description { get; set; }
}
public class Target : Entity
{
[JsonProperty("to_Description")]
public EntityDescription Description { get; set; }
}
var raw = File.ReadAllText(#"output.json");
var source = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Source>(raw);
var target = new Target { Product = source.Product, Description = source.Description.FirstOrDefault() };
var rawResult = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(target);
Update For dynamic JSON
var jObject = JObject.Parse(File.ReadAllText(#"output.json"));
var newjObject = new JObject();
foreach(var jToken in jObject) {
if(jToken.Value is JArray) {
List<JToken> l = jToken.Value.ToObject<List<JToken>>();
if(l != null && l.Count > 0) {
newjObject.Add(jToken.Key, l.First());
}
} else {
newjObject.Add(jToken.Key, jToken.Value);
}
}
var newTxt = newjObject.ToString();

How do you serialize non-standard JSON with JSON.net? [duplicate]

I have to read a JSON stream (which I have no control over), which is in the form:
{"files":
{
"/some_file_path.ext": {"size":"1000", "data":"xxx", "data2":"yyy"},
"/other_file_path.ext": {"size":"2000", "data":"xxx", "data2":"yyy"},
"/another_file_path.ext": {"size":"3000", "data":"xxx", "data2":"yyy"},
}
}
So, I have an object named files, which has a number of properties, which have 1) different names every time, 2) different number of them every time, and 3) names with characters which can't be used in C# properties.
How do I deserialize this?
I'm putting this into a Portable Library, so I can't use the JavaScriptSerializer, in System.Web.Script.Serialization, and I'm not sure about JSON.NET. I was hoping to use the standard DataContractJsonSerializer.
UPDATE: I've changed the sample data to be closer to the actual data, and corrected the JSON syntax in the area the wasn't important. (Still simplified quite a bit, but the other parts are fairly standard)
You can model your "files" object as a Dictionary keyed by the JSON property name:
public class RootObject
{
public Dictionary<string, PathData> files { get; set; }
}
public class PathData
{
public int size { get; set; }
public string data { get; set; }
public string data2 { get; set; }
}
Then, only if you are using .Net 4.5 or later, you can deserialize using DataContractJsonSerializer, but you must first set DataContractJsonSerializerSettings.UseSimpleDictionaryFormat = true:
var settings = new DataContractJsonSerializerSettings { UseSimpleDictionaryFormat = true };
var root = DataContractJsonSerializerHelper.GetObject<RootObject>(jsonString, settings);
With the helper method:
public static class DataContractJsonSerializerHelper
{
public static T GetObject<T>(string json, DataContractJsonSerializer serializer = null)
{
using (var stream = GenerateStreamFromString(json))
{
var obj = (serializer ?? new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(T))).ReadObject(stream);
return (T)obj;
}
}
public static T GetObject<T>(string json, DataContractJsonSerializerSettings settings)
{
return GetObject<T>(json, new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(T), settings));
}
private static MemoryStream GenerateStreamFromString(string value)
{
return new MemoryStream(Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(value ?? ""));
}
}
Alternatively, you can install Json.NET and do:
var root = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(jsonString);
Json.NET automatically serializes dictionaries to JSON objects without needing to change settings.
We need to first convert this Invalid JSON to a Valid JSON. So a Valid JSON should look like this
{
"files":
{
"FilePath" : "C:\\some\\file\\path",
"FileData" : {
"size": 1000,
"data": "xxx",
"data2": "yyy"
},
"FilePath" :"C:\\other\\file\\path",
"FileData" : {
"size": 2000,
"data": "xxx",
"data2": "yyy"
},
"FilePath" :"C:\\another\\file\\path",
"FileData" : {
"size": 3000,
"data": "xxx",
"data2": "yyy"
}
}
}
To make it a valid JSON we might use some string functions to make it looks like above. Such as
MyJSON = MyJSON.Replace("\\", "\\\\");
MyJSON = MyJSON.Replace("files", "\"files\"");
MyJSON = MyJSON.Replace("data:", "\"data:\"");
MyJSON = MyJSON.Replace("data2", "\"data2\"");
MyJSON = MyJSON.Replace(": {size", ",\"FileData\" : {\"size\"");
MyJSON = MyJSON.Replace("C:", "\"FilePath\" :\"C:");
Than we can create a class like below to read the
public class FileData
{
public int size { get; set; }
public string data { get; set; }
public string data2 { get; set; }
}
public class Files
{
public string FilePath { get; set; }
public FileData FileData { get; set; }
}
public class RootObject
{
public Files files { get; set; }
}
Assuming you have a valid JSON you could use JavaScriptSerializer to return a list of objects
string json = "{}"
var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var deserializedValues = (Dictionary<string, object>)serializer.Deserialize(json, typeof(object));
Alternatively you could specify Dictionary<string, List<string>> as the type argument
strign json = "{}";
JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var deserializedValues = serializer.Deserialize<Dictionary<string, List<string>>>(json);
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, List<string>> kvp in deserializedValues)
{
Console.WriteLine(kvp.Key + ": " + string.Join(",", kvp.Value));
}

Create Json Array with ServiceStack

Quite new to .NET. Still haven't gotten the hang of how to do dictionaries, lists, arrays, etc.
I need to produce this JSON in order to talk to SugarCRM's REST API:
{
"name_value_list": {
"assigned_user_name": {
"name": "assigned_user_name",
"value": "joe"
},
"modified_by_name": {
"name": "modified_by_name",
"value": "jill"
},
"created_by_name": {
"name": "created_by_name",
"value": "jack"
}
}
}
from this C# POCO, which plays nicely with ServiceStack:
public class lead {
public string assigned_user_name { get; set; }
public string modified_by_name { get; set; }
public string created_by_name { get; set; }
}
I have to do this sort of conversion for lots of different classes, so I don't think it's wise to create another strongly typed class (ala Costomising the serialisation/serialised JSON in service stack)
I've looked through the ServiceStack docs, but maybe I missed an example of this somewhere.
How do I build this JSON in a way that I can extend to other ServiceStack POCOs?
This produces the right JSON:
Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, string>> nameValues = new Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, string>>();
// Deal with all the properties on the object
IList<PropertyInfo> props = new List<PropertyInfo>(this.GetType().GetProperties());
foreach (PropertyInfo prop in props)
{
Dictionary<string, string> nameValue = new Dictionary<string, string>();
nameValue.Add("name", prop.Name);
object propValue = prop.GetValue(this, null);
if (propValue == null)
{
nameValue.Add("value", string.Empty);
}
else
{
nameValue.Add("value", prop.GetValue(this, null).ToString());
}
nameValues.Add(prop.Name, nameValue);
}
Dictionary<string, object> nameValuesArray = new Dictionary<string, object>();
nameValuesArray.Add("name_value_list", nameValues);
string jsonString = JsonSerializer.SerializeToString<Dictionary<string, object>>(nameValuesArray);
The reflection stuff is so that I can use it on any object later.
It's just a matter of constructing the right dictionary for the desired JSON output - in this case a dictionary -> dictionary -> dictionary. Trial and error... :/
Update
Altered it slightly (thanks paaschpa) to use a generic NameValue class because Dictionaries look ugly. I also got the requirements wrong. The JSON should be this:
[
{
"name": "id",
"value": "60e03cb3-df91-02bd-91ae-51cb04f937bf"
},
{
"name": "first_name",
"value": "FancyPants"
}
]
which you can do like this:
public class NameValue
{
public string name { get; set; }
public string value { get; set; }
}
public class Lead
{
public string assigned_user_name { get; set; }
public string modified_by_name { get; set; }
public string modified_user_name { get; set; }
public List<NameValue> toNameValues()
{
List<NameValue> nameValues = new List<NameValue>();
IList<PropertyInfo> props = new List<PropertyInfo>(this.GetType().GetProperties());
foreach (PropertyInfo prop in props)
{
NameValue nameValue = new NameValue();
object propValue = prop.GetValue(this, null);
if (propValue != null && !String.IsNullOrEmpty(propValue.ToString()))
{
nameValue.name = prop.Name;
nameValue.value = propValue.ToString();
nameValues.Add(nameValue);
}
}
return nameValues;
}
}
I'm leaving my original question as is (and my above answer) because it's still a legit example and proper JSON.
Well, I don't think .NET dictionaries, lists, arrays, etc. will be helpful since the JSON you listed doesn't appear to have any arrays (square brackets) it in. I'm guessing most .NET JSON serializers will use square brackets when it hits these types. So, I think this leaves creating your own classes or doing some type of 'string magic' to produce to JSON you need.
Not exactly sure how you are using ServiceStack to talk to SugarCRM, but doing something like below should have ServiceStack.Text.JsonSerializer produce the JSON string you listed.
public class NameValue
{
public string name { get; set; }
public string value { get; set; }
}
public class Lead
{
public NameValue assigned_user_name { get; set; }
public NameValue modified_by_name { get; set; }
public NameValue created_by_name { get; set; }
}
public class LeadRequest
{
public Lead name_value_list { get; set; }
}
public void JsonTest()
{
var req = new LeadRequest
{
name_value_list = new Lead
{
assigned_user_name = new NameValue {name = "assigned_user_name", value = "joe"},
modified_by_name = new NameValue {name = "modified_by_name", value = "jill"},
created_by_name = new NameValue {name = "created_by_name", value = "jack"}
}
};
var jsonReq = ServiceStack.Text.JsonSerializer.SerializeToString(req);
}
You could create a custom serializer for the lead class.
JsConfig<lead>.SerializeFn = lead => {
// Use reflection to loop over the properties of the `lead` object and build a dictionary
var data = new Dictionary<string, object>();
foreach (var property in typeof(lead).GetProperties()) {
data[property.Name] = new {
name: property.Name,
value: property.GetValue(lead, null);
};
}
return data.ToJson();
};
You could make this generic by having all classes that you want to serialize in this way implement a marker interface, for example ISugarCrmRequest, and register this custom serializer for all implementations of that interface.

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