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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);

Json.Net Deserializing list of c# objects throwing error

I have a list of objects in below json format. I would like to deserialize using below code. It is throwing unable to convert to object error. I have tried below three options, but didnt help. jsoninput is a IEnumerable<string>converted into json object using ToJson().
Error:
{"Error converting value \"{\"id\":\"11ef2c75-9a6d-4cef-8163-94daad4f8397\",\"name\":\"bracing\",\"lastName\":\"male\",\"profilePictureUrl\":null,\"smallUrl\":null,\"thumbnailUrl\":null,\"country\":null,\"isInvalid\":false,\"userType\":0,\"profilePrivacy\":1,\"chatPrivacy\":1,\"callPrivacy\":0}\" to type 'Api.Models.UserInfo'. Path '[0]', line 1, position 271."}
var requests1 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<UsersInfo>(jsoninput);
var requests2 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<IEnumerable<UserInfo>>(jsoninput);
var requests3 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<UserInfo>>(jsoninput);
//Below are my classes,
public class UsersInfo
{
public List<UserInfo> UserInfoList { get; set; }
public UsersInfo()
{
UserInfoList = new List<UserInfo>();
}
}
public class UserInfo
{
public string Id { set; get; }
public string Name { set; get; }
public string LastName { set; get; }
public string ProfilePictureUrl { set; get; }
public string SmallUrl { set; get; }
public string ThumbnailUrl { get; set; }
public string Country { set; get; }
public bool IsInvalid { set; get; }
}
Below is my json object,
["{\"id\":\"11ef2c75-9a6d-4cef-8163-94daad4f8397\",\"name\":\"bracing\",\"lastName\":\"male\",\"profilePictureUrl\":null,\"smallUrl\":null,\"thumbnailUrl\":null,\"country\":null,\"isInvalid\":false}","{\"id\":\"318c0885-2720-472c-ba9e-1d1e120bcf65\",\"name\":\"locomotives\",\"lastName\":\"riddles\",\"profilePictureUrl\":null,\"smallUrl\":null,\"thumbnailUrl\":null,\"country\":null,\"isInvalid\":false}"]
Looping through individual items in json input and if i deserialize it like below, it works fine. But i want to deserialize the list fully. Note: jsoninput was a IEnumerable<string> before i convert in json object.
foreach (var re in jsoninput)
{
var request0 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<UserInfo>(re);
}

Please look at this fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/XpjuL4
This is the code:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
//Below are my classes,
public class UsersInfo
{
public List<UserInfo> UserInfoList { get; set; }
public UsersInfo()
{
UserInfoList = new List<UserInfo>();
}
}
public class UserInfo
{
public string Id { set; get; }
public string Name { set; get; }
public string LastName { set; get; }
public string ProfilePictureUrl { set; get; }
public string SmallUrl { set; get; }
public string ThumbnailUrl { get; set; }
public string Country { set; get; }
public bool IsInvalid { set; get; }
}
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
Console.WriteLine("Hello World");
Option1();
Option2();
}
public static void Option1(){
string json = #"{""UserInfoList"":[
{""id"":""11ef2c75 - 9a6d - 4cef - 8163 - 94daad4f8397"",""name"":""bracing"",""lastName"":""male"",""profilePictureUrl"":null,""smallUrl"":null,""thumbnailUrl"":null,""country"":null,""isInvalid"":false},
{ ""id"":""318c0885-2720-472c-ba9e-1d1e120bcf65"",""name"":""locomotives"",""lastName"":""riddles"",""profilePictureUrl"":null,""smallUrl"":null,""thumbnailUrl"":null,""country"":null,""isInvalid"":false}
]}";
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<UsersInfo>(json);
obj.UserInfoList.ForEach(e => Console.WriteLine(e.Id));
}
public static void Option2(){
string json = #"[
{""id"":""11ef2c75 - 9a6d - 4cef - 8163 - 94daad4f8397"",""name"":""bracing"",""lastName"":""male"",""profilePictureUrl"":null,""smallUrl"":null,""thumbnailUrl"":null,""country"":null,""isInvalid"":false},
{ ""id"":""318c0885-2720-472c-ba9e-1d1e120bcf65"",""name"":""locomotives"",""lastName"":""riddles"",""profilePictureUrl"":null,""smallUrl"":null,""thumbnailUrl"":null,""country"":null,""isInvalid"":false}
]";
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<UserInfo>>(json);
obj.ForEach(e => Console.WriteLine(e.Id));
}
}
Both work, and are basically very close to what you are doing. You can either serialize it as a list (based on your json, I think that's the closest to your use case, and that's Option 2).
However, put extra attention to the JSON. I had to re-parse your JSON to make it work (https://jsonformatter.org/json-parser is a nice website to do it). For the sake of explaining the example, in C#, # means raw string, and in raw string, quotes are escaped with double quotes "".
I would expect that the business logic generating this JSON is not correct, if the JSON you pasted is the direct result from it.
EDIT
Given the OP's comment:
Thanks Tu.ma for your thoughts. The other method returns
IEnumerable which is nothing but
Dictionary.Where(x => x.Value == null).Select(x =>
x.Key).ToHashSet(). The values in Dictionary are -> Key
is String, Value is UserInfo object serialized. So, in that case i
should deserialize one by one? If not, i should serialize entire list
in one shot? Am i right? – Raj 12 hours ago
The problem is in the way you are generating the list of UsersInfo. The result from Dictionary<string,string>.Where(x => x.Value == null).Select(x =>
x.Key).ToHashSet() is a bunch of strings, not of objects, so you need to serialize them one by one.
If you are worried about the linearity of the approach, you could consider running through it in parallel. Of course, you need to judge if it fits your application.
var userInfoStrings = Dictionary<string,string>.Where(x => x.Value == null).Select(x => x.Key).ToHashSet();
var UserInfoList = userInfoStrings.AsParallel().Select (u => JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<UsersInfo>(u)).ToList();

Deserialize Json an access the result

I have this Json:
{
"UpdatePack":"updatePacks\/1585654836.pack",
"Updates":[
{
"Name":"MsgBoxEx",
"version":"1.5.14.88",
"ChangeLog":"BugFix: Form didn't resize correct.",
"Hash":"5FB23ED83693A6D3147A0485CD13288315F77D3D37AAC0697E70B8F8C9AA0BB8"
},
{
"Name":"Utilities",
"version":"2.5.1.58",
"ChangeLog":"StringManagement updated.",
"Hash":"05E6B3F521225C604662916F50A701E9783E13776DE4FCA27BE4B69705491AC5"
}
]
}
I have created 2 classes to be used to Deserialize it.
class UpdatesList
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Version { get; set; }
public string ChangeLog { get; set; }
public string Hash { get; set; }
}
class JsonObjectHolder
{
public string UpdatePack { get; set; }
//public Dictionary<int, MyData> { get; set; }
public Dictionary<int, UpdatesList> Updates { get; set; }
}
But when I try to access the dictionary, I keep getting Unhandled Exception: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at " Console.WriteLine(jsonTest.Dict.Count);"
Am I Deserializing it wrong, or do I need to do some thing else to access the result of the dictionary?
I'm new to both C# and Json.
I hope that some one could point me in the right direction on how to handle this.
I'm using Visual Studio 2019 latest update, and .net 4.8.
Regards
/LR

You code doesn't work because 0 and 1 tokens just a properties, not the array items (you don't have square brackets [] around them). You can parse these values to desired structure manually using JObject
var json = JObject.Parse(your_json_string);
var dict = new Dictionary<int, UpdatesList>();
foreach (var item in json.Properties())
{
if (item.Value.Type == JTokenType.Object)
{
var index = int.Parse(item.Name);
var updateList = item.Value.ToObject<UpdatesList>();
dict.Add(index, updateList);
}
}
var holder = new JsonObjectHolder
{
UpdatePack = json["Updates"]?.Value<string>(),
Dict = dict
};
Update: According to OP changes made to JSON it might be deserialized even more simply
var list = json["Updates"]?.ToObject<List<UpdatesList>>();
var holder = new JsonObjectHolder
{
UpdatePack = json["UpdatePack"]?.Value<string>(),
Dict = list.Select((updatesList, index) => new { updatesList, index })
.ToDictionary(x => x.index, x => x.updatesList)
};
The main point here is that Updates is an array of items, not the key-value collection. It can be transformed into Dictionary<int, UpdatesList> using ToDictionary method from System.Linq (or just use List<UpdatesList> as is)

The exception you're getting essentially means the value is being accessed before the object is initialized.
A better, simpler and cleaner way to doing it is using NewtonSoft. (you can easily get it as a Nuget package)
example:
public class Account
{
public string Email { get; set; }
public bool Active { get; set; }
public DateTime CreatedDate { get; set; }
public IList<string> Roles { get; set; }
}
and then usage:
string json = #"{
'Email': 'james#example.com',
'Active': true,
'CreatedDate': '2013-01-20T00:00:00Z',
'Roles': [
'User',
'Admin'
]
}";
Account account = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Account>(json);
Console.WriteLine(account.Email);
Source: https://www.newtonsoft.com/json/help/html/DeserializeObject.htm

I don't see why you need Dictionary<int, UpdatesList> Updates, when you can easily just use List<Update> Updates, since your updates are in a JSON array.
I would model your classes like this:
public class Update
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Version { get; set; }
public string ChangeLog { get; set; }
public string Hash { get; set; }
}
public class RootObject
{
public string UpdatePack { get; set; }
public List<Update> Updates { get; set; }
}
You can then deserialize with:
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(json);
Try it out on dotnetfiddle.net
Note: To convert JSON to C# classes, you can go to Edit -> Paste Special -> Paste JSON as Classes inside Visual Studio. Make sure you have copied the JSON to your clipboard before using it. You will get classes similar to above.

your data and the class is not compatible. if you change the string like this it would work.
change "Updates" to "UpdatePack" and add "Dict" around the dictionary items.
{
"UpdatePack":"updates\/4D1D7964D5B88E5867324F575B77D2FA.zip",
"Dict":{
"0":{
"Name":"MsgBoxEx",
"Version":"1.0.123.58",
"ChangeLog":"Bugfix:Form didn't resize correct",
"hash":"AA94556C0D2C8C73DD217974D252AF3311A5BF52819B06D179D17672F21049A6"
},
"1":{
"Name":"Utilities",
"Version":"1.5.321.87",
"ChangeLog":"StringManagement updated",
"hash":"2F561B02A49376E3679ACD5975E3790ABDFF09ECBADFA1E1858C7BA26E3FFCEF"
}
}
}

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

Parsing JSON data in C#

I have a JSON data as follows
{"id": "367501354973","from": {
"name": "Bret Taylor",
"id": "220439" }
which is returned by an object(result) of IDictionary[String, Object]
In my C# code:
I have made a class for storing the JSON value which is as follows
public class SContent
{
public string id { get; set; }
public string from_name { get; set; }
public string from_id { get; set; }
}
My main C# function which stores the parses the JSON data and stores the value inside the class properties is as follows:
List<object> data = (List<object>)result["data"];
foreach (IDictionary<string, object> content in data)
{
SContent s = new SContent();
s.id = (string)content["id"];
s.from_name = (string)content["from.name"];
s.from_id = (string)content["from.id"];
}
When i execute this code, i get an exception saying System cannot find the Key "from.name" and "from.id"
When i comment the two lines (s.from_name = (string)content["from.name"];s.from_id = (string)content["from.id"];) my code runs fine.
I think i am not able to refer the nested JSON data properly.
Can anyone just validate it and please tell me how to refer nested data in JSON in C#?
Thanks

I'm not sure how you are parsing the JSON string. Are you using a class in the Framework to do the deserialization?
You could use the JavaScriptSerializer Class defined in the System.Web.Script.Serialization Namespace (you may need to add a reference to System.Web.dll)
Using that class, you would write your code like this:
public class SContent
{
public string id { get; set; }
public SFrom from { get; set; }
}
public class SFrom
{
public string name { get; set; }
public string id { get; set; }
}
Then deserialization looks like this:
var json = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var result = json.Deserialize<SContent>(/*...json text or stream...*/);
See JavaScriptSerializer on MSDN. You might also want to check out this similar question.