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Change value in Dynamic array based on string input

I am trying to create a dynamic array using JSON.net, My idea is pretty simple but I have encountered an issue I don't know how to get around.
static dynamic SaveValue <T> (dynamic JsonArray, string Object, T Value) {
JsonArray.Object = Value;
return JsonArray;
}
Now the object is where the string should be used to get the element, It will contain the value to be serialized later
Json = SaveValue<bool>(Json, "Bhop.Enabled", true);
The usage is like this
I have tried:
Googling this and looking for functions but I'm stuck, Any help would be appreciated.

I am still not getting fully what you are trying to achieve but the following code will help to dynamically generate the json object based on string key and the value.
static void Main(string[] args)
{
dynamic Json = new JObject() as dynamic;
Json = SaveValue<bool>(Json, "Bhop.Enabled", true);
Console.ReadLine();
}
static dynamic SaveValue<T>(dynamic jsonArray, string Object, T Value)
{
jsonArray = new JObject();
jsonArray.Add(Object,Value);
return jsonArray;
}

Getting a specific field from a JSON string without deserializing in C#

I currently have a REST app which returns a JSON string something like:
[{error: "Account with that email exists"}]
For when an error is thrown. I don't want to deserialize it into a custom "error" object, because it seems a bit wasteful and pointless. Is there a simple way to just extract a specific field out of a JSON string without making a custom class to reflect it.
Thanks

You have a couple of options if you don't want to create a custom class, you can deserialize to dynamic:
dynamic tmp = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(yourString);
string error = (string)tmp.error;
Or deserialize to a dictionary:
var dic = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, string>>();
string error = dic["error"];

No need third party libraries. Use native JavaScriptSerializer.
string input = "[{error: \"Account with that email exists\"}]";
var jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var array = jss.Deserialize<object[]>(input);
var dict = array[0] as Dictionary<string, object>;
Console.WriteLine(dict["error"]);
// More short with dynamic
dynamic d = jss.DeserializeObject(input);
Console.WriteLine(d[0]["error"]);

Have a look at JObject.
dynamic obj = JObject.Parse("{ myerrors: [{error: \"Account with that email exists\"}] }");
var a = obj.myerrors[0];
string error = a.error;

Deserialize JSON string into class with reflection

I'm trying to deserialize a JSON string into a custom class. I have to use reflection. I have a dictionary that I serialize, send over to an HttpPut method, deserialize the JSON string, and read the dictionary fields. Here's what I have so far:
I'm putting values into the Dictionary like this:
Dictionary<string, object> valuesToUpdate = new Dictionary<string, object>();
Person p = new Person();
p.personName = "OrigName";
p.age = "25";
p.isAlive = true;
valuesToUpdate.Add("Person", p);
valuesToUpdate.Add("Length", 64.0);
I'm using JSON to serialize it like this:
string jsonString = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(valuesToUpdate);
I then take the jsonString and send it over to a REST API PUT method. The PUT method updates various variables on a custom object based on the Key values in the dictionary using reflection (In this example I'm updating customObject.Person and customObject.Length).
The PUT call deserializes the jsonString like this:
Dictionary<string, object> newFields = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, object>>(jsonString);
I iterate through newFields and want to use reflection to update customObject's "Person" class. This is my HttpPut method that reads the jsonString:
[HttpPut("/test/stuff")]
public string PutContact([FromBody]dynamic jsonString)
{
Dictionary<string, object> newFields = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, object>>(jsonString);
foreach (var field in newFields)
{
Console.WriteLine("\nField key: " + field.Key);
Console.WriteLine("Field value: " + field.Value + "\n");
PropertyInfo propInfo = typeof(Contact).GetProperty(field.Key);
Type propertyType = propInfo.PropertyType;
var value = propInfo.GetValue(contactToUpdate, null);
if (propertyType.IsClass)
{
propInfo.SetValue(contactToUpdate, field.Value, null);
}
}
}
This generates the error:
Object of type Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject' cannot be converted to type 'Person';
I've also tried using JSON's PopulateObject method but it returned this error:
Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializationException: Cannot populate JSON object onto type 'Person'. Path 'personName', line 1....
So basically, how can you go about taking a JSON string, converting it to a class (in my case the 'Person' class), and setting it to customObject's Person field with reflection?

if (propertyType.IsClass)
{
propInfo.SetValue(contactToUpdate, ((JObject)field.Value).ToObject(propertyType), null);
}

Referring to dynamic members of C# 'dynamic' object

I'm using JSON.NET to deserialize a JSON file to a dynamic object in C#.
Inside a method, I would like to pass in a string and refer to that specified attribute in the dynamic object.
For example:
public void Update(string Key, string Value)
{
File.Key = Value;
}
Where File is the dynamic object, and Key is the string that gets passed in. Say I'd like to pass in the key "foo" and a value of "bar", I would do:
Update("foo", "bar");, however due to the nature of the dynamic object type, this results in
{
"Key":"bar"
}
As opposed to:
{
"foo":"bar"
}
Is it possible to do what I'm asking here with the dynamic object?

I suspect you could use:
public void Update(string key, string Value)
{
File[key] = Value;
}
That depends on how the dynamic object implements indexing, but if this is a Json.NET JObject or similar, I'd expect that to work. It's important to understand that it's not guaranteed to work for general dynamic expressions though.
If you only ever actually need this sort of operation (at least within the class) you might consider using JObject as the field type, and then just exposing it as dynamic when you need to.

Okay so it turns out I'm special. Here's the answer for those that may stumble across this in future,
Turns out you can just use the key like an array index and it works perfectly. So:
File[Key] = Value; Works the way I need as opposed to
File.Key = Value;
Thanks anyway!

You can do it, if you're using JObject from JSON.NET. It does not work with an ExpandoObject.
Example:
void Main()
{
var j = new Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject();
var key = "myKey";
var value = "Hello World!";
j[key] = value;
Console.WriteLine(j["myKey"]);
}
This simple example prints "Hello World!" as expected. Hence
var File = new Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject();
public void Update(string key, string Value)
{
File[key] = Value;
}
does what you expect. If you would declare File in the example above as
dynamic File = new ExpandoObject();
you would get a runtime error:
CS0021 Cannot apply indexing with [] to an expression of type 'ExpandoObject'

c# check if key exists in dictionary then pass on its value

In my desktop C# application I start with a dictionary. I want to be able to check this dictionary for a key. If the dictionary has this key, I would like to pass it on to a method. If the dictionary doesn't have this key, I would like to create a blank list and just pass that on instead. How can I do this?
I get the error "given key was not present in the dictionary". Can I add a default so it is never null maybe?
// myDic was declared as a Dictionary<string, List<string>
// Here is how I call someFunction
string text = SomeFunction(stringValue1, stringValue2, myDic[field1.field2]);
// SomeFunction looks like this
string SomeFunction (string string1, string string2, List<string> ra)
{
// method
return stringResult;
}

Updated based on comments. To pass one key that may or may not exist you may do this(assuming the value is a List):
// assuming the method we are calling is defined like this:
// public String SomeFunction(string string1, String string2, List<String> ra)
List<string> valueToPassOn;
if (_ra.ContainsKey(lc.Lc))
{
valueToPassOn = _ra[lc.Lc]
}
else
{
valueToPassOn = new List<string>();
}
string text = tooltip.SomeFunction(something1, something2, valueToPassOn);
Should you want to pass an entire dictionary (as the question originally read), regardless of whether or not the dictionary exists:
You have two options. Either create the dictionary regardless like this:
if (myDic == null)
{
// change var and var2 to the types of variable they should be, ex:
myDic = new Dictionary<string, List<string>>();
}
string text = SomeFunction(stringValue1, stringValue2, myDic);
or, what is probably the better option, in the declaration of the function SomeFunction add a dictionary as a variable with a default parameter. Just be sure that your function knows what to do if the dictionary is null.
string SomeFunction(string string1, string string2, Dictionary dictionary = null)
{
// method here
}

You can check if the key exists using ContainsKey method and if it returns false you can pass a default value you want:
// replace default(string) with the value you want to pass
// if the key doesn't exist
var value = myDic.ContainsKey(field1.field2) ? myDic[field1.field2] : default(string);
string text = SomeFunction(stringValue1, stringValue2, value);

What you need to do is make sure the dictionary actually contains the given key in the dictionary.
If you need to extract the value by key, use TryGetValue method:
string value;
if (myDict.TryGetValue(key, out value))
{
// Key exists in the dictionary, do something with value.
}

Use one of the following snippets in order to check if dictionary is empty and take some action:
var x = new Dictionary<string, string>();
if (x.Any())
{
//....
}
if (x.ContainsKey("my key"))
{
}
if (x.ContainsValue("my value"))
{
}
if (x.Count > 0)
{
}