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Json Convert all elements as key value pair [duplicate]

I have a simple key/value list in JSON being sent back to ASP.NET via POST. Example:
{ "key1": "value1", "key2": "value2"}
I AM NOT TRYING TO DESERIALIZE INTO STRONGLY-TYPED .NET OBJECTS
I simply need a plain old Dictionary(Of String, String), or some equivalent (hash table, Dictionary(Of String, Object), old-school StringDictionary--hell, a 2-D array of strings would work for me.
I can use anything available in ASP.NET 3.5, as well as the popular Json.NET (which I'm already using for serialization to the client).
Apparently neither of these JSON libraries have this forehead-slapping obvious capability out of the box--they are totally focused on reflection-based deserialization via strong contracts.
Any ideas?
Limitations:
I don't want to implement my own JSON parser
Can't use ASP.NET 4.0 yet
Would prefer to stay away from the older, deprecated ASP.NET class for JSON

Json.NET does this...
string json = #"{""key1"":""value1"",""key2"":""value2""}";
var values = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, string>>(json);
More examples: Serializing Collections with Json.NET

I did discover .NET has a built in way to cast the JSON string into a Dictionary<String, Object> via the System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer type in the 3.5 System.Web.Extensions assembly. Use the method DeserializeObject(String).
I stumbled upon this when doing an ajax post (via jquery) of content type 'application/json' to a static .net Page Method and saw that the method (which had a single parameter of type Object) magically received this Dictionary.

System.Text.Json
This can now be done using System.Text.Json which is built-in to .NET Core 3.0. It's now possible to deserialize JSON without using third-party libraries.
var json = #"{""key1"":""value1"",""key2"":""value2""}";
var values = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Dictionary<string, string>>(json);
Also available in NuGet package System.Text.Json if using .NET Standard or .NET Framework.
Make sure to read and understand:
https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/issues/30452

For those searching the internet and stumbling upon this post, I wrote a blog post on how to use the JavaScriptSerializer class.
Read more...
http://procbits.com/2011/04/21/quick-json-serializationdeserialization-in-c/
Here is an example:
var json = "{\"id\":\"13\", \"value\": true}";
var jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var table = jss.Deserialize<dynamic>(json);
Console.WriteLine(table["id"]);
Console.WriteLine(table["value"]);

I had the same problem, so I wrote this my self. This solution is differentiated from other answers because it can deserialize in to multiple levels.
Just send JSON string in to deserializeToDictionary function it will return non strongly-typed Dictionary<string, object> object.
Old code
private Dictionary<string, object> deserializeToDictionary(string jo)
{
var values = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, object>>(jo);
var values2 = new Dictionary<string, object>();
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, object> d in values)
{
// if (d.Value.GetType().FullName.Contains("Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject"))
if (d.Value is JObject)
{
values2.Add(d.Key, deserializeToDictionary(d.Value.ToString()));
}
else
{
values2.Add(d.Key, d.Value);
}
}
return values2;
}
Ex: This will return Dictionary<string, object> object of a Facebook JSON response.
Test
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string responsestring = "{\"id\":\"721055828\",\"name\":\"Dasun Sameera Weerasinghe\",\"first_name\":\"Dasun\",\"middle_name\":\"Sameera\",\"last_name\":\"Weerasinghe\",\"username\":\"dasun\",\"gender\":\"male\",\"locale\":\"en_US\", hometown: {id: \"108388329191258\", name: \"Moratuwa, Sri Lanka\",}}";
Dictionary<string, object> values = deserializeToDictionary(responsestring);
}
Note: hometown further deserilize into a Dictionary<string, object>
object.
Update
My old answer works great if there is no array on JSON string. This one further deserialize in to a List<object> if an element is an array.
Just send a JSON string in to deserializeToDictionaryOrList function it will return non strongly-typed Dictionary<string, object> object or List<object>.
private static object deserializeToDictionaryOrList(string jo,bool isArray=false)
{
if (!isArray)
{
isArray = jo.Substring(0, 1) == "[";
}
if (!isArray)
{
var values = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, object>>(jo);
var values2 = new Dictionary<string, object>();
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, object> d in values)
{
if (d.Value is JObject)
{
values2.Add(d.Key, deserializeToDictionary(d.Value.ToString()));
}
else if (d.Value is JArray)
{
values2.Add(d.Key, deserializeToDictionary(d.Value.ToString(), true));
}
else
{
values2.Add(d.Key, d.Value);
}
}
return values2;
}else
{
var values = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<object>>(jo);
var values2 = new List<object>();
foreach (var d in values)
{
if (d is JObject)
{
values2.Add(deserializeToDictionary(d.ToString()));
}
else if (d is JArray)
{
values2.Add(deserializeToDictionary(d.ToString(), true));
}
else
{
values2.Add(d);
}
}
return values2;
}
}

Tried to not use any external JSON implementation so i deserialised like this:
string json = "{\"id\":\"13\", \"value\": true}";
var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer(); //using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
Dictionary<string, string> values = serializer.Deserialize<Dictionary<string, string>>(json);

I just needed to parse a nested dictionary, like
{
"x": {
"a": 1,
"b": 2,
"c": 3
}
}
where JsonConvert.DeserializeObject doesn't help. I found the following approach:
var dict = JObject.Parse(json).SelectToken("x").ToObject<Dictionary<string, int>>();
The SelectToken lets you dig down to the desired field. You can even specify a path like "x.y.z" to step further down into the JSON object.

If you're after a lightweight, no-added-references kind of approach, maybe this bit of code I just wrote will work (I can't 100% guarantee robustness though).
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
public Dictionary<string, object> ParseJSON(string json)
{
int end;
return ParseJSON(json, 0, out end);
}
private Dictionary<string, object> ParseJSON(string json, int start, out int end)
{
Dictionary<string, object> dict = new Dictionary<string, object>();
bool escbegin = false;
bool escend = false;
bool inquotes = false;
string key = null;
int cend;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
Dictionary<string, object> child = null;
List<object> arraylist = null;
Regex regex = new Regex(#"\\u([0-9a-z]{4})", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase);
int autoKey = 0;
for (int i = start; i < json.Length; i++)
{
char c = json[i];
if (c == '\\') escbegin = !escbegin;
if (!escbegin)
{
if (c == '"')
{
inquotes = !inquotes;
if (!inquotes && arraylist != null)
{
arraylist.Add(DecodeString(regex, sb.ToString()));
sb.Length = 0;
}
continue;
}
if (!inquotes)
{
switch (c)
{
case '{':
if (i != start)
{
child = ParseJSON(json, i, out cend);
if (arraylist != null) arraylist.Add(child);
else
{
dict.Add(key, child);
key = null;
}
i = cend;
}
continue;
case '}':
end = i;
if (key != null)
{
if (arraylist != null) dict.Add(key, arraylist);
else dict.Add(key, DecodeString(regex, sb.ToString()));
}
return dict;
case '[':
arraylist = new List<object>();
continue;
case ']':
if (key == null)
{
key = "array" + autoKey.ToString();
autoKey++;
}
if (arraylist != null && sb.Length > 0)
{
arraylist.Add(sb.ToString());
sb.Length = 0;
}
dict.Add(key, arraylist);
arraylist = null;
key = null;
continue;
case ',':
if (arraylist == null && key != null)
{
dict.Add(key, DecodeString(regex, sb.ToString()));
key = null;
sb.Length = 0;
}
if (arraylist != null && sb.Length > 0)
{
arraylist.Add(sb.ToString());
sb.Length = 0;
}
continue;
case ':':
key = DecodeString(regex, sb.ToString());
sb.Length = 0;
continue;
}
}
}
sb.Append(c);
if (escend) escbegin = false;
if (escbegin) escend = true;
else escend = false;
}
end = json.Length - 1;
return dict; //theoretically shouldn't ever get here
}
private string DecodeString(Regex regex, string str)
{
return Regex.Unescape(regex.Replace(str, match => char.ConvertFromUtf32(Int32.Parse(match.Groups[1].Value, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber))));
}
[I realise that this violates the OP Limitation #1, but technically, you didn't write it, I did]

Mark Rendle posted this as a comment, I wanted to post it as an answer since it's the only solution that has worked so far to return the success and the error-codes json results from the Google reCaptcha response.
string jsonReponseString= wClient.DownloadString(requestUrl);
IDictionary<string, object> dict = new JavaScriptSerializer().DeserializeObject(jsonReponseString) as IDictionary<string, object>;
Thanks again, Mark!

For anyone who is trying to convert JSON to dictionary just for retrieving some value out of it. There is a simple way using Newtonsoft.JSON
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq
...
JObject o = JObject.Parse(#"{
'CPU': 'Intel',
'Drives': [
'DVD read/writer',
'500 gigabyte hard drive'
]
}");
string cpu = (string)o["CPU"];
// Intel
string firstDrive = (string)o["Drives"][0];
// DVD read/writer
IList<string> allDrives = o["Drives"].Select(t => (string)t).ToList();
// DVD read/writer
// 500 gigabyte hard drive

I've added upon the code submitted by jSnake04 and Dasun herein. I've added code to create lists of objects from JArray instances. It has two-way recursion but as it is functioning on a fixed, finite tree model, there is no risk of stack overflow unless the data is massive.
/// <summary>
/// Deserialize the given JSON string data (<paramref name="data"/>) into a
/// dictionary.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="data">JSON string.</param>
/// <returns>Deserialized dictionary.</returns>
private IDictionary<string, object> DeserializeData(string data)
{
var values = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, object>>(data);
return DeserializeData(values);
}
/// <summary>
/// Deserialize the given JSON object (<paramref name="data"/>) into a dictionary.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="data">JSON object.</param>
/// <returns>Deserialized dictionary.</returns>
private IDictionary<string, object> DeserializeData(JObject data)
{
var dict = data.ToObject<Dictionary<String, Object>>();
return DeserializeData(dict);
}
/// <summary>
/// Deserialize any elements of the given data dictionary (<paramref name="data"/>)
/// that are JSON object or JSON arrays into dictionaries or lists respectively.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="data">Data dictionary.</param>
/// <returns>Deserialized dictionary.</returns>
private IDictionary<string, object> DeserializeData(IDictionary<string, object> data)
{
foreach (var key in data.Keys.ToArray())
{
var value = data[key];
if (value is JObject)
data[key] = DeserializeData(value as JObject);
if (value is JArray)
data[key] = DeserializeData(value as JArray);
}
return data;
}
/// <summary>
/// Deserialize the given JSON array (<paramref name="data"/>) into a list.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="data">Data dictionary.</param>
/// <returns>Deserialized list.</returns>
private IList<Object> DeserializeData(JArray data)
{
var list = data.ToObject<List<Object>>();
for (int i = 0; i < list.Count; i++)
{
var value = list[i];
if (value is JObject)
list[i] = DeserializeData(value as JObject);
if (value is JArray)
list[i] = DeserializeData(value as JArray);
}
return list;
}

Edit: This works, but the accepted answer using Json.NET is much more straightforward. Leaving this one in case someone needs BCL-only code.
It’s not supported by the .NET framework out of the box. A glaring oversight – not everyone needs to deserialize into objects with named properties. So I ended up rolling my own:
VB.NET:
<Serializable()> Public Class StringStringDictionary
Implements ISerializable
Public dict As System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary(Of String, String)
Public Sub New()
dict = New System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary(Of String, String)
End Sub
Protected Sub New(info As SerializationInfo, _
context As StreamingContext)
dict = New System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary(Of String, String)
For Each entry As SerializationEntry In info
dict.Add(entry.Name, DirectCast(entry.Value, String))
Next
End Sub
Public Sub GetObjectData(info As SerializationInfo, context As StreamingContext) Implements ISerializable.GetObjectData
For Each key As String in dict.Keys
info.AddValue(key, dict.Item(key))
Next
End Sub
End Class
same on C#:
public class StringStringDictionary : ISerializable
{
public System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary<string, string> dict;
public StringStringDictionary()
{
dict = new System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary<string, string>();
}
protected StringStringDictionary(SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context)
{
dict = new System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary<string, string>();
foreach (SerializationEntry entry in info)
dict.Add(entry.Name, (string)entry.Value);
}
public void GetObjectData(SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context)
{
foreach (string key in dict.Keys)
info.AddValue(key, dict[key]);
}
}
Called with:
string MyJsonString = "{ \"key1\": \"value1\", \"key2\": \"value2\"}";
System.Runtime.Serialization.Json.DataContractJsonSerializer dcjs = new
System.Runtime.Serialization.Json.DataContractJsonSerializer(
typeof(StringStringDictionary));
System.IO.MemoryStream ms = new
System.IO.MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(MyJsonString));
StringStringDictionary myfields = (StringStringDictionary)dcjs.ReadObject(ms);
Response.Write("Value of key2: " + myfields.dict["key2"]);
Sorry for the mix of C# and VB.NET…

I added a check for null values in the JSON to the other answer
I had same problem so I wrote this my self. This solution is
differentiated from other answers because it can deserialize in to
multiple levels.
Just send json string in to deserializeToDictionary function it
will return non strongly-typed Dictionary<string, object> object.
private Dictionary<string, object> deserializeToDictionary(string jo)
{
var values = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, object>>(jo);
var values2 = new Dictionary<string, object>();
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, object> d in values)
{
if (d.Value != null && d.Value.GetType().FullName.Contains("Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject"))
{
values2.Add(d.Key, deserializeToDictionary(d.Value.ToString()));
}
else
{
values2.Add(d.Key, d.Value);
}
}
return values2;
}
Ex: This will return Dictionary<string, object> object of a Facebook
JSON response.
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string responsestring = "{\"id\":\"721055828\",\"name\":\"Dasun Sameera
Weerasinghe\",\"first_name\":\"Dasun\",\"middle_name\":\"Sameera\",\"last_name\":\"Weerasinghe\",\"username\":\"dasun\",\"gender\":\"male\",\"locale\":\"en_US\",
hometown: {id: \"108388329191258\", name: \"Moratuwa, Sri Lanka\",}}";
Dictionary<string, object> values = deserializeToDictionary(responsestring);
}
Note: hometown further deserialize into a Dictionary<string, object> object.

It seems all of these answers here just assume you can get that little string out of a bigger object... for people looking to simply deserealize a large object with such a dictionary somewhere inside the mapping, and who are using the System.Runtime.Serialization.Json DataContract system, here's a solution:
An answer on gis.stackexchange.com had this interesting link. I had to recover it with archive.org, but it offers a pretty much perfect solution: a custom IDataContractSurrogate class in which you implement exactly your own types. I was able to expand it easily.
I made a bunch of changes in it, though. Since the original source is no longer available, I'll post the entire class here:
using System;
using System.CodeDom;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Json;
using System.Text;
namespace JsonTools
{
/// <summary>
/// Allows using Dictionary<String,String> and Dictionary<String,Boolean> types, and any others you'd like to add.
/// Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20100317222656/my6solutions.com/post/2009/06/30/DataContractSerializer-DataContractJsonSerializer-JavaScriptSerializer-XmlSerializer-for-serialization.aspx
/// </summary>
public class JsonSurrogate : IDataContractSurrogate
{
/// <summary>
/// Deserialize an object with added support for the types defined in this class.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T">Contract class</typeparam>
/// <param name="json">JSON String</param>
/// <param name="encoding">Text encoding</param>
/// <returns>The deserialized object of type T</returns>
public static T Deserialize<T>(String json, Encoding encoding)
{
if (encoding == null)
encoding = new UTF8Encoding(false);
DataContractJsonSerializer deserializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(
typeof(T), new Type[0], int.MaxValue, true, new JsonSurrogate(), false);
using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(encoding.GetBytes(json)))
{
T result = (T)deserializer.ReadObject(stream);
return result;
}
}
// make sure all values in this are classes implementing JsonSurrogateObject.
private static Dictionary<Type, Type> KnownTypes =
new Dictionary<Type, Type>()
{
{typeof(Dictionary<String, String>), typeof(SSDictionary)},
{typeof(Dictionary<String, Boolean>), typeof(SBDictionary)}
};
#region Implemented surrogate dictionary classes
[Serializable]
public class SSDictionary : SurrogateDictionary<String>
{
public SSDictionary() : base() {}
protected SSDictionary (SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context) : base(info, context) {}
}
[Serializable]
public class SBDictionary : SurrogateDictionary<Boolean>
{
public SBDictionary() : base() {}
protected SBDictionary (SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context) : base(info, context) {}
}
#endregion
/// <summary>Small interface to easily extract the final value from the object.</summary>
public interface JsonSurrogateObject
{
Object DeserializedObject { get; }
}
/// <summary>
/// Class for deserializing any simple dictionary types with a string as key.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T">Any simple type that will be deserialized correctly.</typeparam>
[Serializable]
public abstract class SurrogateDictionary<T> : ISerializable, JsonSurrogateObject
{
public Object DeserializedObject { get { return dict; } }
private Dictionary<String, T> dict;
public SurrogateDictionary()
{
dict = new Dictionary<String, T>();
}
// deserialize
protected SurrogateDictionary(SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context)
{
dict = new Dictionary<String, T>();
foreach (SerializationEntry entry in info)
{
// This cast will only work for base types, of course.
dict.Add(entry.Name, (T)entry.Value);
}
}
// serialize
public void GetObjectData(SerializationInfo info, StreamingContext context)
{
foreach (String key in dict.Keys)
{
info.AddValue(key, dict[key]);
}
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Uses the KnownTypes dictionary to get the surrogate classes.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="type"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
public Type GetDataContractType(Type type)
{
Type returnType;
if (KnownTypes.TryGetValue(type, out returnType))
{
return returnType;
}
return type;
}
public object GetObjectToSerialize(object obj, Type targetType)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets the object out of the surrogate datacontract object. This function is the reason all surrogate objects need to implement the JsonSurrogateObject class.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="obj">Result of the deserialization</param>
/// <param name="targetType">Expected target type of the deserialization</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public object GetDeserializedObject(object obj, Type targetType)
{
if (obj is JsonSurrogateObject)
{
return ((JsonSurrogateObject)obj).DeserializedObject;
}
return obj;
}
public Type GetReferencedTypeOnImport(string typeName, string typeNamespace, object customData)
{
return null;
}
#region not implemented
public object GetCustomDataToExport(MemberInfo memberInfo, Type dataContractType)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
public object GetCustomDataToExport(Type clrType, Type dataContractType)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
public void GetKnownCustomDataTypes(Collection<Type> customDataTypes)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
public CodeTypeDeclaration ProcessImportedType(CodeTypeDeclaration typeDeclaration, CodeCompileUnit compileUnit)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
#endregion
}
}
To add new supported types to the class, you just need to add your class, give it the right constructors and functions (look at SurrogateDictionary for an example), make sure it inherits JsonSurrogateObject, and add its type mapping to the KnownTypes dictionary. The included SurrogateDictionary can serve as basis for any Dictionary<String,T> types where T is any type that does deserialize correctly.
Calling it is really simple:
MyObjtype newObj = JsonSurrogate.Deserialize<MyObjtype>(jsonStr, encoding);
Note that for some reason this thing has trouble using key strings which contain spaces; they were simply not present in the final list. Might just be it's simply against json specs and the api I was calling was poorly implemented, mind you; I dunno. Anyway, I solved this by regex-replacing them with underscores in the raw json data and fixing the dictionary after the deserialization.

Based on comments above try JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string,dynamic>>(json)
var json = #"{""key1"":1,""key2"":""value2"", ""object1"":{""property1"":""value1"",""property2"":[2,3,4,5,6,7]}}";
var parsedObject = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string,dynamic>>(json);
seems to work even for complex objects and lists.

My approach directly deserializes to IDictionary, without JObject or ExpandObject in between. The code uses converter, which is basically copied from ExpandoObjectConverter class found in JSON.NET sourcecode, but using IDictionary instead of ExpandoObject.
Usage:
var settings = new JsonSerializerSettings()
{
Converters = { new DictionaryConverter() },
};
var result = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<IDictionary<string, object>>(json, settings);
Code:
// based on ExpandoObjectConverter, but using arrays instead of IList, to behave similar to System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer
public class DictionaryConverter : JsonConverter
{
public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
{
}
public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
{
return ReadValue(reader);
}
public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
{
return (objectType == typeof(IDictionary<string, object>));
}
public override bool CanWrite
{
get { return false; }
}
private object ReadValue(JsonReader reader)
{
while (reader.TokenType == JsonToken.Comment)
{
if (!reader.Read())
throw JsonSerializationExceptionCreate(reader, "Unexpected end when reading IDictionary<string, object>.");
}
switch (reader.TokenType)
{
case JsonToken.StartObject:
return ReadObject(reader);
case JsonToken.StartArray:
return ReadList(reader);
default:
if (IsPrimitiveToken(reader.TokenType))
return reader.Value;
throw JsonSerializationExceptionCreate(reader, string.Format(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, "Unexpected token when converting IDictionary<string, object>: {0}", reader.TokenType));
}
}
private object ReadList(JsonReader reader)
{
List<object> list = new List<object>();
while (reader.Read())
{
switch (reader.TokenType)
{
case JsonToken.Comment:
break;
default:
object v = ReadValue(reader);
list.Add(v);
break;
case JsonToken.EndArray:
return list;
}
}
throw JsonSerializationExceptionCreate(reader, "Unexpected end when reading IDictionary<string, object>.");
}
private object ReadObject(JsonReader reader)
{
IDictionary<string, object> dictionary = new Dictionary<string, object>();
while (reader.Read())
{
switch (reader.TokenType)
{
case JsonToken.PropertyName:
string propertyName = reader.Value.ToString();
if (!reader.Read())
throw JsonSerializationExceptionCreate(reader, "Unexpected end when reading IDictionary<string, object>.");
object v = ReadValue(reader);
dictionary[propertyName] = v;
break;
case JsonToken.Comment:
break;
case JsonToken.EndObject:
return dictionary;
}
}
throw JsonSerializationExceptionCreate(reader, "Unexpected end when reading IDictionary<string, object>.");
}
//based on internal Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReader.IsPrimitiveToken
internal static bool IsPrimitiveToken(JsonToken token)
{
switch (token)
{
case JsonToken.Integer:
case JsonToken.Float:
case JsonToken.String:
case JsonToken.Boolean:
case JsonToken.Undefined:
case JsonToken.Null:
case JsonToken.Date:
case JsonToken.Bytes:
return true;
default:
return false;
}
}
// based on internal Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializationException.Create
private static JsonSerializationException JsonSerializationExceptionCreate(JsonReader reader, string message, Exception ex = null)
{
return JsonSerializationExceptionCreate(reader as IJsonLineInfo, reader.Path, message, ex);
}
// based on internal Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializationException.Create
private static JsonSerializationException JsonSerializationExceptionCreate(IJsonLineInfo lineInfo, string path, string message, Exception ex)
{
message = JsonPositionFormatMessage(lineInfo, path, message);
return new JsonSerializationException(message, ex);
}
// based on internal Newtonsoft.Json.JsonPosition.FormatMessage
internal static string JsonPositionFormatMessage(IJsonLineInfo lineInfo, string path, string message)
{
if (!message.EndsWith(Environment.NewLine))
{
message = message.Trim();
if (!message.EndsWith(".", StringComparison.Ordinal))
message += ".";
message += " ";
}
message += string.Format(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, "Path '{0}'", path);
if (lineInfo != null && lineInfo.HasLineInfo())
message += string.Format(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, ", line {0}, position {1}", lineInfo.LineNumber, lineInfo.LinePosition);
message += ".";
return message;
}
}

Annoyingly enough, if you want to use the default model binders, it looks like you will have to use numerical index values like a form POST.
See the following excerpt from this article http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/hh781022.aspx:
Though it’s somewhat counterintuitive, JSON requests have the same
requirements—they, too, must adhere to the form post naming syntax.
Take, for example, the JSON payload for the previous UnitPrice
collection. The pure JSON array syntax for this data would be
represented as:
[
{ "Code": "USD", "Amount": 100.00 },
{ "Code": "EUR", "Amount": 73.64 }
]
However, the default value providers and model binders require the
data to be represented as a JSON form post:
{
"UnitPrice[0].Code": "USD",
"UnitPrice[0].Amount": 100.00,
"UnitPrice[1].Code": "EUR",
"UnitPrice[1].Amount": 73.64
}
The complex object collection scenario is perhaps one of the most
widely problematic scenarios that developers run into because the
syntax isn’t necessarily evident to all developers. However, once you
learn the relatively simple syntax for posting complex collections,
these scenarios become much easier to deal with.

I just implemented this in RestSharp. This post was helpful to me.
Besides the code in the link, here is my code. I now get a Dictionary of results when I do something like this:
var jsonClient = new RestClient(url.Host);
jsonClient.AddHandler("application/json", new DynamicJsonDeserializer());
var jsonRequest = new RestRequest(url.Query, Method.GET);
Dictionary<string, dynamic> response = jsonClient.Execute<JObject>(jsonRequest).Data.ToObject<Dictionary<string, dynamic>>();
Be mindful of the sort of JSON you're expecting - in my case, I was retrieving a single object with several properties. In the attached link, the author was retrieving a list.

A bit late to the game, but non of the above solutions pointed me in the direction of a pure and simple .NET, no json.net solution. So here it is, ended up being very simple. Below a full running example of how it is done with standard .NET Json serialization, the example has dictionary both in the root object and in the child objects.
The golden bullet is this cat, parse the settings as second parameter to the serializer:
DataContractJsonSerializerSettings settings =
new DataContractJsonSerializerSettings();
settings.UseSimpleDictionaryFormat = true;
Full code below:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Json;
namespace Kipon.dk
{
public class JsonTest
{
public const string EXAMPLE = #"{
""id"": ""some id"",
""children"": {
""f1"": {
""name"": ""name 1"",
""subs"": {
""1"": { ""name"": ""first sub"" },
""2"": { ""name"": ""second sub"" }
}
},
""f2"": {
""name"": ""name 2"",
""subs"": {
""37"": { ""name"": ""is 37 in key""}
}
}
}
}
";
[DataContract]
public class Root
{
[DataMember(Name ="id")]
public string Id { get; set; }
[DataMember(Name = "children")]
public Dictionary<string,Child> Children { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
public class Child
{
[DataMember(Name = "name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
[DataMember(Name = "subs")]
public Dictionary<int, Sub> Subs { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
public class Sub
{
[DataMember(Name = "name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public static void Test()
{
var array = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(EXAMPLE);
using (var mem = new System.IO.MemoryStream(array))
{
mem.Seek(0, System.IO.SeekOrigin.Begin);
DataContractJsonSerializerSettings settings =
new DataContractJsonSerializerSettings();
settings.UseSimpleDictionaryFormat = true;
var ser = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(Root), settings);
var data = (Root)ser.ReadObject(mem);
Console.WriteLine(data.Id);
foreach (var childKey in data.Children.Keys)
{
var child = data.Children[childKey];
Console.WriteLine(" Child: " + childKey + " " + child.Name);
foreach (var subKey in child.Subs.Keys)
{
var sub = child.Subs[subKey];
Console.WriteLine(" Sub: " + subKey + " " + sub.Name);
}
}
}
}
}
}

You could use Tiny-JSON
string json = "{\"key1\":\"value1\", \"key2\":\"value2\"}";
IDictionary<string, string> dict = Tiny.Json.Decode<Dictionary<string, string>>(json);

I would suggest using System.Runtime.Serialization.Json that is part of .NET 4.5.
[DataContract]
public class Foo
{
[DataMember(Name = "data")]
public Dictionary<string,string> Data { get; set; }
}
Then use it like this:
var serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(List<Foo>));
var jsonParams = #"{""data"": [{""Key"":""foo"",""Value"":""bar""}] }";
var stream = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(jsonParams));
var obj = serializer.ReadObject(stream);
Console.WriteLine(obj);

Here is my solution with System.Text.Json. You get a json string for the nested objects which in own turn can be converted to needed type later on.
public static Dictionary<string,string> JsonToDictionary(this string json)
{
var objectValues = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Dictionary<string, object>>(json);
var stringValues = objectValues.Select(o => new KeyValuePair<string, string>(o.Key, o.Value?.ToString()));
return stringValues.ToDictionary(pair => pair.Key, pair => pair.Value);
}
Here is the usage example to fetch values from a nested object:
var result= json.JsonToDictionary()["outerField"]
.JsonToDictionary()["innerField"];
Note that this solution does not cover the json objects starting as an array like [12, 13]. These objects can be read as an array in the begining and then the extension method can be applied on each item, in case the items are complex objects with their own properties.

Customizing JSON serialization in MVC action output

Long ago, I set a coding standard for my app that all actions returning JSON would have their results put into a top-level wrapper object:
var result = {
success: false,
message: 'Something went wrong',
data: {} // or []
}
That has worked well, and provided me with good code standardization happiness.
Today, however, I realized that my server-side code assumes that it always gets to do the full serialization of what's getting returned. Now I would like to serialize one of these guys where the "data" payload is already a well-formed JSON string of its own.
This is the general pattern that had been working:
bool success = false;
string message = "Something went wrong";
object jsonData = "[{\"id\":\"0\",\"value\":\"1234\"}]"; // Broken
dynamic finalData = new { success = success, message = message, data = jsonData };
JsonResult output = new JsonResult
{
Data = finalData,
JsonRequestBehavior = JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet,
MaxJsonLength = int.MaxValue
};
return output;
Where it breaks is that the "data" element will be received as a string when it gets to the browser, and not as the proper JSON object (or array in the example above) it should be.
Is there some way I can decorate a property with an attribute that says "serialize as raw", or am I in the realm of writing a custom JSON serializer to make this work?

You're serializing it twice (jsonData + output). You can't do that and expect to only deserialize it once (output).
You could set the "data" object in your dynamic to be the real c# object, that would work. Or you can re-name your property to "jsonData":
dynamic finalData = new { success = success, message = message, jsonData = jsonData };
...so it reflects what you're really doing :).

I would think that you just need to serialize the string being returned from the SQL table into an object, using a JSON serializer, like NewtonSoft.
bool success = false;
string message = "Something went wrong";
string rawData = "[{\"id\":\"0\",\"value\":\"1234\"}]"; // Broken
object jsonData = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(rawData);
dynamic finalData = new { success = success, message = message, data = jsonData };
JsonResult output = new JsonResult
{
Data = finalData,
JsonRequestBehavior = JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet,
MaxJsonLength = int.MaxValue
};
return output;

Here's what I ended up with....
// Wrap "String" in a container class
public class JsonStringWrapper
{
// Hey Microsoft - This is where it would be nice if "String" wasn't marked "sealed"
public string theString { get; set; }
public JsonStringWrapper() { }
public JsonStringWrapper(string stringToWrap) { theString = stringToWrap; }
}
// Custom JsonConverter that will just dump the raw string into
// the serialization process. Loosely based on:
// http://www.newtonsoft.com/json/help/html/CustomJsonConverter.htm
public class JsonStringWrapperConverter : JsonConverter
{
private readonly Type _type = typeof(JsonStringWrapper);
public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
{
JToken t = JToken.FromObject(value);
if (t.Type != JTokenType.Object)
{
t.WriteTo(writer);
}
else
{
string rawValue = ((JsonStringWrapper)value).theString;
writer.WriteRawValue((rawValue == null) ? "null" : rawValue);
}
}
public override bool CanWrite
{
get { return true; }
}
public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
{
throw new NotImplementedException("Unnecessary because CanRead is false. The type will skip the converter.");
}
public override bool CanRead
{
get { return false; }
}
public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
{
return _type == objectType;
}
}
// Custom JsonResult that will use the converter above, largely based on:
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17244774/proper-json-serialization-in-mvc-4
public class PreSerializedJsonResult : JsonResult
{
private static readonly JsonSerializerSettings Settings = new JsonSerializerSettings
{
Converters = new List<JsonConverter> { new JsonStringWrapperConverter() }
};
public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
{
if (this.JsonRequestBehavior == JsonRequestBehavior.DenyGet &&
string.Equals(context.HttpContext.Request.HttpMethod, "GET", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
{
throw new InvalidOperationException("GET request not allowed");
}
var response = context.HttpContext.Response;
response.ContentType = !string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.ContentType) ? this.ContentType : "application/json";
if (this.ContentEncoding != null)
{
response.ContentEncoding = this.ContentEncoding;
}
if (this.Data == null)
{
return;
}
response.Write(JsonConvert.SerializeObject(this.Data, Settings));
}
}
// My base controller method that overrides Json()...
protected JsonResult Json(string message, object data)
{
PreSerializedJsonResult output = new PreSerializedJsonResult();
object finalData = (data is string && (new char[] { '[', '{' }.Contains(((string)data).First())))
? new JsonStringWrapper(data as string)
: data;
output.Data = new
{
success = string.IsNullOrEmpty(message),
message = message,
data = finalData
};
output.JsonRequestBehavior = JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet;
output.MaxJsonLength = int.MaxValue;
return output;
}
// Aaaand finally, here's how it might get called from an Action method:
...
return Json("This was a failure", null);
...
return Json(null, yourJsonStringVariableHere);
With this, I'm not doing any Json parsing on the server. My string comes out of the database and goes straight to the client without MVC touching it.
EDIT: Updated version now also supports serializing objects that have individual properties somewhere in their hierarchy that are of type JsonStringWrapper. This is useful in my scenario to support a "hybrid" model. If object A has a property B that is one of my pre-baked JSON strings, the code above will properly handle that.

You could accomplish this by forming the JSON package yourself using the JsonWriter class from Newtonsoft. It would look something like this:
using(var textWriter = new StringWriter())
using(var jsonWriter = new JsonTextWriter(textWriter))
{
jsonWriter.WriteStartObject();
jsonWriter.WritePropertyName("success");
jsonWriter.WriteValue(success);
jsonWriter.WritePropertyName("message");
jsonWriter.WriteValue(message);
jsonWriter.WritePropertyName("data");
jsonWriter.WriteRaw(jsonData);
jsonWriter.WriteEndObject();
var result = new ContentResult();
result.Content = textWriter.ToString();
result.ContentType = "application/json";
return result;
}

How to use Mapper.cs with Instasharp

I'm a french student and I have to do a project for the semester.
I have to get medias from Instagram (with the api) and put them in a database. I use instasharp for now and I can do a request with the HttpClient class.
This returns a string with the content of the JSON request. But I've seen a class named Mapper.cs, which should match the result of the request with the different class of instasharp.
For example, if I search for a media, the mapper class should read the JSON string a create an appropriate instance of Media.
I do this kind of request: https://api.instagram.com/v1/media/search?lat=45.759723&lng=4.842223&distance=5000&client_id=My-Id&count=5
But I'm not sure of it, is somebody able to tell me what the Mapper class really does.
Here is the Mapper class, I do not understand all of the method, so I can't use it.
class Mapper {
public static object Map<T>(string json) where T : new() {
//var t = new T();
var j = JObject.Parse(json);
var t = typeof(T);
try {
var instance = Map(t, j);
// add the pure json back
if (instance != null) {
var prop = instance.GetType().GetProperty("Json");
if (prop != null) {
prop.SetValue(instance, json, null);
}
}
return instance;
}
catch (Exception ex) {
Debug.WriteLine(ex.Message);
return null;
}
}
private static object Map(Type t, JObject json) {
var instance = Activator.CreateInstance(t);
Array.ForEach(instance.GetType().GetProperties(), prop => {
var attribute = prop.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(Model.JsonMapping), false);
if (attribute.Length > 0) {
var propertyType = prop.PropertyType;
var mapsTo = ((Model.JsonMapping)attribute[0]).MapsTo;
var mappingType = ((Model.JsonMapping)attribute[0]).MapType;
switch (mappingType) {
case Model.JsonMapping.MappingType.Class:
if (json[mapsTo] != null) {
if (json[mapsTo].HasValues) {
var obj = Map(propertyType, (JObject)json[mapsTo]);
prop.SetValue(instance, obj, null);
}
}
break;
case Model.JsonMapping.MappingType.Collection:
var col = Map(propertyType, (JArray)json[mapsTo]);
prop.SetValue(instance, col, null);
break;
default:
if (json != null) {
if (json[mapsTo] != null) {
// special case for datetime because it comes in Unix format
if (prop.PropertyType == typeof(DateTime))
prop.SetValue(instance, UnixTimeStampToDateTime(json[mapsTo].ToString()), null);
else
prop.SetValue(instance, Convert.ChangeType(json[mapsTo].ToString(), prop.PropertyType), null);
}
}
break;
}
}
});
return instance;
}
private static IList Map(Type t, JArray json) {
var type = t.GetGenericArguments()[0];
// This will produce List<Image> or whatever the original element type is
var listType = typeof(List<>).MakeGenericType(type);
var result = (IList)Activator.CreateInstance(listType);
if (json != null) {
foreach (var j in json)
if (type.Name == "String" || type.Name == "Int32")
result.Add(j.ToString());
else result.Add(Map(type, (JObject)j));
}
return result;
}
private static DateTime UnixTimeStampToDateTime(string unixTimeStamp) {
// Unix timestamp is seconds past epoch
double unixTime = Convert.ToDouble(unixTimeStamp);
System.DateTime dtDateTime = new DateTime(1970, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0);
dtDateTime = dtDateTime.AddSeconds(unixTime).ToLocalTime();
return dtDateTime;
}
private static void SetPropertyValue(PropertyInfo prop, object instance, object value) {
prop.SetValue(instance, Convert.ChangeType(value, prop.PropertyType), null);
}
}
And that is what I tried, but it doesn't work, "Erreur 540 'InstaSharp.Mapper.Map(string)' is not accessible" (something like this, I translated the error myself)
And this one "Error 539 The type or namespace name 'media' is not found ( a using directive or an assembly reference is it missing ?"
InstaSharp.Model.Media media = new InstaSharp.Model.Media();
InstaSharp.Mapper.Map<media>(reponse);
I really don't know how to use the Mapper class because I never saw a class like that (I started to use C# only 6 month ago)

The Map<T> method is expecting a type, so the type of media, not the instance media. Your usage should be something like:
InstaSharp.Mapper.Map<InstaSharp.Model.Media>(response);
As for what the class does, it exposes one static method Map<T>(string) and looks like it uses JSON.net to deserialize the string parameter into an instance of the type T with data values mapped from the JSON.
If you wanted a List<T> of Media, you'd do much the same thing as before:
InstaSharp.Mapper.Map<List<InstaSharp.Model.Media>>(response);
Lastly, because the result of Map<T> is an object, you'll need to cast it or use a dynamic variable to actually do anything.
var x = (List<Model.Media>)Mapper.Map<List<Model.Media>>(response);
To specify what class properties map to what json property, you'll need to add the Model.JsonMapping attribute to your properties and specify the MapTo attribute option.
[Model.JsonMapping(MapTo="someJsonProperty")]
public string SomeProperty {get;set;}

MVC 3 doesn't bind nullable long

I made a test website to debug an issue I'm having, and it appears that either I'm passing in the JSON data wrong or MVC just can't bind nullable longs. I'm using the latest MVC 3 release, of course.
public class GetDataModel
{
public string TestString { get; set; }
public long? TestLong { get; set; }
public int? TestInt { get; set; }
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult GetData(GetDataModel model)
{
// Do stuff
}
I'm posting a JSON string with the correct JSON content type:
{ "TestString":"test", "TestLong":12345, "TestInt":123 }
The long isn't bound, it's always null. It works if I put the value in quotes, but I shouldn't have to do that, should I? Do I need to have a custom model binder for that value?

I created a testproject just to test this. I put your code into my HomeController and added this to index.cshtml:
<script type="text/javascript">
$(function () {
$.post('Home/GetData', { "TestString": "test", "TestLong": 12345, "TestInt": 123 });
});
</script>
I put a breakpoint in the GetData method, and the values were binded to the model like they should:
So I think there's something wrong with the way you send the values. Are you sure the "TestLong" value is actually sent over the wire? You can check this using Fiddler.

If you don't want to go with Regex and you only care about fixing long?, the following will also fix the problem:
public class JsonModelBinder : DefaultModelBinder {
public override object BindModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext, PropertyDescriptor propertyDescriptor, IModelBinder propertyBinder)
{
var propertyType = propertyDescriptor.PropertyType;
if (propertyType.IsGenericType && propertyType.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(Nullable<>))
{
var provider = bindingContext.ValueProvider.GetValue(bindingContext.ModelName);
if (provider != null
&& provider.RawValue != null
&& Type.GetTypeCode(provider.RawValue.GetType()) == TypeCode.Int32)
{
var value = new System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer().Deserialize(provider.AttemptedValue, bindingContext.ModelMetadata.ModelType);
return value;
}
}
return base.GetPropertyValue(controllerContext, bindingContext, propertyDescriptor, propertyBinder);
}
}

My colleague came up with a workaround for this. The solution is to take the input stream and use a Regex to wrap all numeric variables in quotes to trick the JavaScriptSerializer into deserialising the longs properly. It's not a perfect solution, but it takes care of the issue.
This is done in a custom model binder. I used Posting JSON Data to ASP.NET MVC as an example. You have to take care, though, if the input stream is accessed anywhere else.
public class JsonModelBinder : DefaultModelBinder
{
public override object BindModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
{
if (!IsJSONRequest(controllerContext))
return base.BindModel(controllerContext, bindingContext);
// Get the JSON data that's been posted
var jsonStringData = new StreamReader(controllerContext.HttpContext.Request.InputStream).ReadToEnd();
// Wrap numerics
jsonStringData = Regex.Replace(jsonStringData, #"(?<=:)\s{0,4}(?<num>[\d\.]+)\s{0,4}(?=[,|\]|\}]+)", "\"${num}\"");
// Use the built-in serializer to do the work for us
return new JavaScriptSerializer().Deserialize(jsonStringData, bindingContext.ModelMetadata.ModelType);
}
private static bool IsJSONRequest(ControllerContext controllerContext)
{
var contentType = controllerContext.HttpContext.Request.ContentType;
return contentType.Contains("application/json");
}
}
Then put this in the Global:
ModelBinders.Binders.DefaultBinder = new JsonModelBinder();
Now the long gets bound successfully. I would call this a bug in the JavaScriptSerializer. Also note that arrays of longs or nullable longs get bound just fine without the quotes.

You can use this model binder class
public class LongModelBinder : IModelBinder
{
public object BindModel(ControllerContext controllerContext, ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
{
var valueResult = bindingContext.ValueProvider.GetValue(bindingContext.ModelName);
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(valueResult.AttemptedValue))
{
return (long?)null;
}
var modelState = new ModelState { Value = valueResult };
object actualValue = null;
try
{
actualValue = Convert.ToInt64(
valueResult.AttemptedValue,
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture
);
}
catch (FormatException e)
{
modelState.Errors.Add(e);
}
bindingContext.ModelState.Add(bindingContext.ModelName, modelState);
return actualValue;
}
}
In Global.asax Application_Start add these lines
ModelBinders.Binders.Add(typeof(long), new LongModelBinder());
ModelBinders.Binders.Add(typeof(long?), new LongModelBinder());

I wanted to incorporate the solution presented by Edgar but still have the features of the DefaultModelBinder. So instead of creating a new model binder I went with a different approach and replaced the JsonValueProviderFactory with a custom one. There's only a minor change in the code from the original MVC3 source code:
public sealed class NumericJsonValueProviderFactory : ValueProviderFactory
{
private static void AddToBackingStore(Dictionary<string, object> backingStore, string prefix, object value)
{
IDictionary<string, object> d = value as IDictionary<string, object>;
if (d != null)
{
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, object> entry in d)
{
AddToBackingStore(backingStore, MakePropertyKey(prefix, entry.Key), entry.Value);
}
return;
}
IList l = value as IList;
if (l != null)
{
for (int i = 0; i < l.Count; i++)
{
AddToBackingStore(backingStore, MakeArrayKey(prefix, i), l[i]);
}
return;
}
// primitive
backingStore[prefix] = value;
}
private static object GetDeserializedObject(ControllerContext controllerContext)
{
if (!controllerContext.HttpContext.Request.ContentType.StartsWith("application/json", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
{
// not JSON request
return null;
}
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(controllerContext.HttpContext.Request.InputStream);
string bodyText = reader.ReadToEnd();
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(bodyText))
{
// no JSON data
return null;
}
JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
// below is the code that Edgar proposed and the only change to original source code
bodyText = Regex.Replace(bodyText, #"(?<=:)\s{0,4}(?<num>[\d\.]+)\s{0,4}(?=[,|\]|\}]+)", "\"${num}\"");
object jsonData = serializer.DeserializeObject(bodyText);
return jsonData;
}
public override IValueProvider GetValueProvider(ControllerContext controllerContext)
{
if (controllerContext == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("controllerContext");
}
object jsonData = GetDeserializedObject(controllerContext);
if (jsonData == null)
{
return null;
}
Dictionary<string, object> backingStore = new Dictionary<string, object>(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
AddToBackingStore(backingStore, String.Empty, jsonData);
return new DictionaryValueProvider<object>(backingStore, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);
}
private static string MakeArrayKey(string prefix, int index)
{
return prefix + "[" + index.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) + "]";
}
private static string MakePropertyKey(string prefix, string propertyName)
{
return (String.IsNullOrEmpty(prefix)) ? propertyName : prefix + "." + propertyName;
}
}
Then to register the new value provider you need to add the following lines to your Global.asax:
ValueProviderFactories.Factories.Remove(ValueProviderFactories.Factories.OfType<JsonValueProviderFactory>().FirstOrDefault());
ValueProviderFactories.Factories.Add(new NumericJsonValueProviderFactory());

Deserialize JSON into C# dynamic object?

Is there a way to deserialize JSON content into a C# dynamic type? It would be nice to skip creating a bunch of classes in order to use the DataContractJsonSerializer.

If you are happy to have a dependency upon the System.Web.Helpers assembly, then you can use the Json class:
dynamic data = Json.Decode(json);
It is included with the MVC framework as an additional download to the .NET 4 framework. Be sure to give Vlad an upvote if that's helpful! However if you cannot assume the client environment includes this DLL, then read on.
An alternative deserialisation approach is suggested here. I modified the code slightly to fix a bug and suit my coding style. All you need is this code and a reference to System.Web.Extensions from your project:
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Dynamic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
public sealed class DynamicJsonConverter : JavaScriptConverter
{
public override object Deserialize(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary, Type type, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
{
if (dictionary == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("dictionary");
return type == typeof(object) ? new DynamicJsonObject(dictionary) : null;
}
public override IDictionary<string, object> Serialize(object obj, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
public override IEnumerable<Type> SupportedTypes
{
get { return new ReadOnlyCollection<Type>(new List<Type>(new[] { typeof(object) })); }
}
#region Nested type: DynamicJsonObject
private sealed class DynamicJsonObject : DynamicObject
{
private readonly IDictionary<string, object> _dictionary;
public DynamicJsonObject(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary)
{
if (dictionary == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("dictionary");
_dictionary = dictionary;
}
public override string ToString()
{
var sb = new StringBuilder("{");
ToString(sb);
return sb.ToString();
}
private void ToString(StringBuilder sb)
{
var firstInDictionary = true;
foreach (var pair in _dictionary)
{
if (!firstInDictionary)
sb.Append(",");
firstInDictionary = false;
var value = pair.Value;
var name = pair.Key;
if (value is string)
{
sb.AppendFormat("{0}:\"{1}\"", name, value);
}
else if (value is IDictionary<string, object>)
{
new DynamicJsonObject((IDictionary<string, object>)value).ToString(sb);
}
else if (value is ArrayList)
{
sb.Append(name + ":[");
var firstInArray = true;
foreach (var arrayValue in (ArrayList)value)
{
if (!firstInArray)
sb.Append(",");
firstInArray = false;
if (arrayValue is IDictionary<string, object>)
new DynamicJsonObject((IDictionary<string, object>)arrayValue).ToString(sb);
else if (arrayValue is string)
sb.AppendFormat("\"{0}\"", arrayValue);
else
sb.AppendFormat("{0}", arrayValue);
}
sb.Append("]");
}
else
{
sb.AppendFormat("{0}:{1}", name, value);
}
}
sb.Append("}");
}
public override bool TryGetMember(GetMemberBinder binder, out object result)
{
if (!_dictionary.TryGetValue(binder.Name, out result))
{
// return null to avoid exception. caller can check for null this way...
result = null;
return true;
}
result = WrapResultObject(result);
return true;
}
public override bool TryGetIndex(GetIndexBinder binder, object[] indexes, out object result)
{
if (indexes.Length == 1 && indexes[0] != null)
{
if (!_dictionary.TryGetValue(indexes[0].ToString(), out result))
{
// return null to avoid exception. caller can check for null this way...
result = null;
return true;
}
result = WrapResultObject(result);
return true;
}
return base.TryGetIndex(binder, indexes, out result);
}
private static object WrapResultObject(object result)
{
var dictionary = result as IDictionary<string, object>;
if (dictionary != null)
return new DynamicJsonObject(dictionary);
var arrayList = result as ArrayList;
if (arrayList != null && arrayList.Count > 0)
{
return arrayList[0] is IDictionary<string, object>
? new List<object>(arrayList.Cast<IDictionary<string, object>>().Select(x => new DynamicJsonObject(x)))
: new List<object>(arrayList.Cast<object>());
}
return result;
}
}
#endregion
}
You can use it like this:
string json = ...;
var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
serializer.RegisterConverters(new[] { new DynamicJsonConverter() });
dynamic obj = serializer.Deserialize(json, typeof(object));
So, given a JSON string:
{
"Items":[
{ "Name":"Apple", "Price":12.3 },
{ "Name":"Grape", "Price":3.21 }
],
"Date":"21/11/2010"
}
The following code will work at runtime:
dynamic data = serializer.Deserialize(json, typeof(object));
data.Date; // "21/11/2010"
data.Items.Count; // 2
data.Items[0].Name; // "Apple"
data.Items[0].Price; // 12.3 (as a decimal)
data.Items[1].Name; // "Grape"
data.Items[1].Price; // 3.21 (as a decimal)

It's pretty simple using Json.NET:
dynamic stuff = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject("{ 'Name': 'Jon Smith', 'Address': { 'City': 'New York', 'State': 'NY' }, 'Age': 42 }");
string name = stuff.Name;
string address = stuff.Address.City;
Also using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq:
dynamic stuff = JObject.Parse("{ 'Name': 'Jon Smith', 'Address': { 'City': 'New York', 'State': 'NY' }, 'Age': 42 }");
string name = stuff.Name;
string address = stuff.Address.City;
Documentation: Querying JSON with dynamic

You can do this using System.Web.Helpers.Json - its Decode method returns a dynamic object which you can traverse as you like.
It's included in the System.Web.Helpers assembly (.NET 4.0).
var dynamicObject = Json.Decode(jsonString);

.NET 4.0 has a built-in library to do this:
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
JavaScriptSerializer jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var d = jss.Deserialize<dynamic>(str);
This is the simplest way.

Simple "string JSON data" to object without any third-party DLL file:
WebClient client = new WebClient();
string getString = client.DownloadString("https://graph.facebook.com/zuck");
JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
dynamic item = serializer.Deserialize<object>(getString);
string name = item["name"];
//note: JavaScriptSerializer in this namespaces
//System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer
Note: You can also using your custom object.
Personel item = serializer.Deserialize<Personel>(getString);

You can achieve that with the help of Newtonsoft.Json. Install it from NuGet and then:
using Newtonsoft.Json;
dynamic results = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(YOUR_JSON);

JsonFx can deserialize JSON content into dynamic objects.
Serialize to/from dynamic types (default for .NET 4.0):
var reader = new JsonReader(); var writer = new JsonWriter();
string input = #"{ ""foo"": true, ""array"": [ 42, false, ""Hello!"", null ] }";
dynamic output = reader.Read(input);
Console.WriteLine(output.array[0]); // 42
string json = writer.Write(output);
Console.WriteLine(json); // {"foo":true,"array":[42,false,"Hello!",null]}

Another way using Newtonsoft.Json:
dynamic stuff = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject("{ color: 'red', value: 5 }");
string color = stuff.color;
int value = stuff.value;

I came here to find an answer for .NET Core, without any third-party or additional references. It works fine if you use ExpandoObject with the standard JsonSerializer class. Here is the example that worked for me:
using System.Text.Json;
using System.Dynamic;
dynamic json = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<ExpandoObject>(jsonText);
Console.WriteLine(json.name);
This code prints out the string value of a name property that exists within the JSON text passed into the Deserialize method. Voila - no additional libraries, no nothing. Just .NET core.
Edit: May have a problem for several levels of json with nested elements. Worked for a single-level flat object.

I made a new version of the DynamicJsonConverter that uses Expando Objects. I used expando objects, because I wanted to Serialize the dynamic back into JSON using Json.NET.
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Dynamic;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
public static class DynamicJson
{
public static dynamic Parse(string json)
{
JavaScriptSerializer jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();
jss.RegisterConverters(new JavaScriptConverter[] { new DynamicJsonConverter() });
dynamic glossaryEntry = jss.Deserialize(json, typeof(object)) as dynamic;
return glossaryEntry;
}
class DynamicJsonConverter : JavaScriptConverter
{
public override object Deserialize(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary, Type type, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
{
if (dictionary == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("dictionary");
var result = ToExpando(dictionary);
return type == typeof(object) ? result : null;
}
private static ExpandoObject ToExpando(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary)
{
var result = new ExpandoObject();
var dic = result as IDictionary<String, object>;
foreach (var item in dictionary)
{
var valueAsDic = item.Value as IDictionary<string, object>;
if (valueAsDic != null)
{
dic.Add(item.Key, ToExpando(valueAsDic));
continue;
}
var arrayList = item.Value as ArrayList;
if (arrayList != null && arrayList.Count > 0)
{
dic.Add(item.Key, ToExpando(arrayList));
continue;
}
dic.Add(item.Key, item.Value);
}
return result;
}
private static ArrayList ToExpando(ArrayList obj)
{
ArrayList result = new ArrayList();
foreach (var item in obj)
{
var valueAsDic = item as IDictionary<string, object>;
if (valueAsDic != null)
{
result.Add(ToExpando(valueAsDic));
continue;
}
var arrayList = item as ArrayList;
if (arrayList != null && arrayList.Count > 0)
{
result.Add(ToExpando(arrayList));
continue;
}
result.Add(item);
}
return result;
}
public override IDictionary<string, object> Serialize(object obj, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
public override IEnumerable<Type> SupportedTypes
{
get { return new ReadOnlyCollection<Type>(new List<Type>(new[] { typeof(object) })); }
}
}
}

Creating dynamic objects with Newtonsoft.Json works really great.
//json is your string containing the JSON value
dynamic data = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(json);
Now you can access the data object just like if it was a regular object. This is the JSON object we currently have as an example:
{ "ID":123,"Name":"Jack","Numbers":[1, 2, 3] }
This is how you access it after deserialization:
data.ID //Retrieve the int
data.Name //Retrieve the string
data.Numbers[0] //Retrieve the first element in the array

I use http://json2csharp.com/ to get a class representing the JSON object.
Input:
{
"name":"John",
"age":31,
"city":"New York",
"Childs":[
{
"name":"Jim",
"age":11
},
{
"name":"Tim",
"age":9
}
]
}
Output:
public class Child
{
public string name { get; set; }
public int age { get; set; }
}
public class Person
{
public string name { get; set; }
public int age { get; set; }
public string city { get; set; }
public List<Child> Childs { get; set; }
}
After that I use Newtonsoft.Json to fill the class:
using Newtonsoft.Json;
namespace GitRepositoryCreator.Common
{
class JObjects
{
public static string Get(object p_object)
{
return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(p_object);
}
internal static T Get<T>(string p_object)
{
return JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(p_object);
}
}
}
You can call it like this:
Person jsonClass = JObjects.Get<Person>(stringJson);
string stringJson = JObjects.Get(jsonClass);
PS:
If your JSON variable name is not a valid C# name (name starts with $) you can fix that like this:
public class Exception
{
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "$id")]
public string id { get; set; }
public object innerException { get; set; }
public string message { get; set; }
public string typeName { get; set; }
public string typeKey { get; set; }
public int errorCode { get; set; }
public int eventId { get; set; }
}

The simplest way is:
Just include this DLL file.
Use the code like this:
dynamic json = new JDynamic("{a:'abc'}");
// json.a is a string "abc"
dynamic json = new JDynamic("{a:3.1416}");
// json.a is 3.1416m
dynamic json = new JDynamic("{a:1}");
// json.a is
dynamic json = new JDynamic("[1,2,3]");
/json.Length/json.Count is 3
// And you can use json[0]/ json[2] to get the elements
dynamic json = new JDynamic("{a:[1,2,3]}");
//json.a.Length /json.a.Count is 3.
// And you can use json.a[0]/ json.a[2] to get the elements
dynamic json = new JDynamic("[{b:1},{c:1}]");
// json.Length/json.Count is 2.
// And you can use the json[0].b/json[1].c to get the num.

Another option is to "Paste JSON as classes" so it can be deserialised quick and easy.
Simply copy your entire JSON
In Visual Studio: Click Edit → Paste Special → Paste JSON as classes
Here is a better explanation n piccas... ‘Paste JSON As Classes’ in ASP.NET and Web Tools 2012.2 RC

You can extend the JavaScriptSerializer to recursively copy the dictionary it created to expando object(s) and then use them dynamically:
static class JavaScriptSerializerExtensions
{
public static dynamic DeserializeDynamic(this JavaScriptSerializer serializer, string value)
{
var dictionary = serializer.Deserialize<IDictionary<string, object>>(value);
return GetExpando(dictionary);
}
private static ExpandoObject GetExpando(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary)
{
var expando = (IDictionary<string, object>)new ExpandoObject();
foreach (var item in dictionary)
{
var innerDictionary = item.Value as IDictionary<string, object>;
if (innerDictionary != null)
{
expando.Add(item.Key, GetExpando(innerDictionary));
}
else
{
expando.Add(item.Key, item.Value);
}
}
return (ExpandoObject)expando;
}
}
Then you just need to having a using statement for the namespace you defined the extension in (consider just defining them in System.Web.Script.Serialization... another trick is to not use a namespace, then you don't need the using statement at all) and you can consume them like so:
var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var value = serializer.DeserializeDynamic("{ 'Name': 'Jon Smith', 'Address': { 'City': 'New York', 'State': 'NY' }, 'Age': 42 }");
var name = (string)value.Name; // Jon Smith
var age = (int)value.Age; // 42
var address = value.Address;
var city = (string)address.City; // New York
var state = (string)address.State; // NY

You can use using Newtonsoft.Json
var jRoot =
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(Encoding.UTF8.GetString(resolvedEvent.Event.Data));
resolvedEvent.Event.Data is my response getting from calling core Event .

Try this:
var units = new { Name = "Phone", Color= "White" };
var jsonResponse = JsonConvert.DeserializeAnonymousType(json, units);

I am using like this in my code and it's working fine
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
JavaScriptSerializer oJS = new JavaScriptSerializer();
RootObject oRootObject = new RootObject();
oRootObject = oJS.Deserialize<RootObject>(Your JSon String);

Look at the article I wrote on CodeProject, one that answers the question precisely:
Dynamic types with JSON.NET
There is way too much for re-posting it all here, and even less point since that article has an attachment with the key/required source file.

For that I would use JSON.NET to do the low-level parsing of the JSON stream and then build up the object hierarchy out of instances of the ExpandoObject class.

To get an ExpandoObject:
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Converters;
Container container = JsonConvert.Deserialize<Container>(jsonAsString, new ExpandoObjectConverter());

Deserializing in JSON.NET can be dynamic using the JObject class, which is included in that library. My JSON string represents these classes:
public class Foo {
public int Age {get;set;}
public Bar Bar {get;set;}
}
public class Bar {
public DateTime BDay {get;set;}
}
Now we deserialize the string WITHOUT referencing the above classes:
var dyn = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<JObject>(jsonAsFooString);
JProperty propAge = dyn.Properties().FirstOrDefault(i=>i.Name == "Age");
if(propAge != null) {
int age = int.Parse(propAge.Value.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("age=" + age);
}
//or as a one-liner:
int myage = int.Parse(dyn.Properties().First(i=>i.Name == "Age").Value.ToString());
Or if you want to go deeper:
var propBar = dyn.Properties().FirstOrDefault(i=>i.Name == "Bar");
if(propBar != null) {
JObject o = (JObject)propBar.First();
var propBDay = o.Properties().FirstOrDefault (i => i.Name=="BDay");
if(propBDay != null) {
DateTime bday = DateTime.Parse(propBDay.Value.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("birthday=" + bday.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy"));
}
}
//or as a one-liner:
DateTime mybday = DateTime.Parse(((JObject)dyn.Properties().First(i=>i.Name == "Bar").First()).Properties().First(i=>i.Name == "BDay").Value.ToString());
See post for a complete example.

The object you want DynamicJSONObject is included in the System.Web.Helpers.dll from the ASP.NET Web Pages package, which is part of WebMatrix.

There is a lightweight JSON library for C# called SimpleJson.
It supports .NET 3.5+, Silverlight and Windows Phone 7.
It supports dynamic for .NET 4.0
It can also be installed as a NuGet package
Install-Package SimpleJson

Use DataSet(C#) with JavaScript. A simple function for creating a JSON stream with DataSet input. Create JSON content like (multi table dataset):
[[{a:1,b:2,c:3},{a:3,b:5,c:6}],[{a:23,b:45,c:35},{a:58,b:59,c:45}]]
Just client side, use eval. For example,
var d = eval('[[{a:1,b:2,c:3},{a:3,b:5,c:6}],[{a:23,b:45,c:35},{a:58,b:59,c:45}]]')
Then use:
d[0][0].a // out 1 from table 0 row 0
d[1][1].b // out 59 from table 1 row 1
// Created by Behnam Mohammadi And Saeed Ahmadian
public string jsonMini(DataSet ds)
{
int t = 0, r = 0, c = 0;
string stream = "[";
for (t = 0; t < ds.Tables.Count; t++)
{
stream += "[";
for (r = 0; r < ds.Tables[t].Rows.Count; r++)
{
stream += "{";
for (c = 0; c < ds.Tables[t].Columns.Count; c++)
{
stream += ds.Tables[t].Columns[c].ToString() + ":'" +
ds.Tables[t].Rows[r][c].ToString() + "',";
}
if (c>0)
stream = stream.Substring(0, stream.Length - 1);
stream += "},";
}
if (r>0)
stream = stream.Substring(0, stream.Length - 1);
stream += "],";
}
if (t>0)
stream = stream.Substring(0, stream.Length - 1);
stream += "];";
return stream;
}

How to parse easy JSON content with dynamic & JavaScriptSerializer
Please add reference of System.Web.Extensions and add this namespace using System.Web.Script.Serialization; at top:
public static void EasyJson()
{
var jsonText = #"{
""some_number"": 108.541,
""date_time"": ""2011-04-13T15:34:09Z"",
""serial_number"": ""SN1234""
}";
var jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var dict = jss.Deserialize<dynamic>(jsonText);
Console.WriteLine(dict["some_number"]);
Console.ReadLine();
}
How to parse nested & complex json with dynamic & JavaScriptSerializer
Please add reference of System.Web.Extensions and add this namespace using System.Web.Script.Serialization; at top:
public static void ComplexJson()
{
var jsonText = #"{
""some_number"": 108.541,
""date_time"": ""2011-04-13T15:34:09Z"",
""serial_number"": ""SN1234"",
""more_data"": {
""field1"": 1.0,
""field2"": ""hello""
}
}";
var jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var dict = jss.Deserialize<dynamic>(jsonText);
Console.WriteLine(dict["some_number"]);
Console.WriteLine(dict["more_data"]["field2"]);
Console.ReadLine();
}

I want to do this programmatically in unit tests, I do have the luxury of typing it out.
My solution is:
var dict = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ExpandoObject>(json) as IDictionary<string, object>;
Now I can assert that
dict.ContainsKey("ExpectedProperty");

With Cinchoo ETL - an open source library available to parse JSON into a dynamic object:
string json = #"{
""key1"": [
{
""action"": ""open"",
""timestamp"": ""2018-09-05 20:46:00"",
""url"": null,
""ip"": ""66.102.6.98""
}
]
}";
using (var p = ChoJSONReader.LoadText(json)
.WithJSONPath("$..key1")
)
{
foreach (var rec in p)
{
Console.WriteLine("Action: " + rec.action);
Console.WriteLine("Timestamp: " + rec.timestamp);
Console.WriteLine("URL: " + rec.url);
Console.WriteLine("IP address: " + rec.ip);
}
}
Output:
Action: open
Timestamp: 2018-09-05 20:46:00
URL: http://www.google.com
IP address: 66.102.6.98
Sample fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/S0ehSV
For more information, please visit codeproject articles
Disclaimer: I'm the author of this library.

try this way!
JSON example:
[{
"id": 140,
"group": 1,
"text": "xxx",
"creation_date": 123456,
"created_by": "xxx#gmail.co",
"tags": ["xxxxx"]
}, {
"id": 141,
"group": 1,
"text": "xxxx",
"creation_date": 123456,
"created_by": "xxx#gmail.com",
"tags": ["xxxxx"]
}]
C# code:
var jsonString = (File.ReadAllText(Path.Combine(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory(),"delete_result.json")));
var objects = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(jsonString);
foreach(var o in objects)
{
Console.WriteLine($"{o.id.ToString()}");
}

I really like System.Web.Helpers,
dynamic data = Json.Decode(json);
as it supports usage like
var val = data.Members.NumberTen;
or
var val data.Members["10"];
The reference to System.Web.Helpers.DLL is really crazy, it is not even console and desktop app friendly. Here is my attempt to extract the same functionalities as a standalone file directly from https://github.com/mono/aspnetwebstack/tree/master/src/System.Web.Helpers
(Share this as for education purpose only)
// Copyright (c) Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
using System.Dynamic;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using Microsoft.CSharp.RuntimeBinder;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
using System.IO;
using System.Collections;
using System.Linq;
using System.Globalization;
namespace System.Web.Helpers
{
public static class Json
{
private static readonly JavaScriptSerializer _serializer = CreateSerializer();
public static string Encode(object value)
{
// Serialize our dynamic array type as an array
DynamicJsonArray jsonArray = value as DynamicJsonArray;
if (jsonArray != null)
{
return _serializer.Serialize((object[])jsonArray);
}
return _serializer.Serialize(value);
}
public static void Write(object value, TextWriter writer)
{
writer.Write(_serializer.Serialize(value));
}
public static dynamic Decode(string value)
{
return WrapObject(_serializer.DeserializeObject(value));
}
public static dynamic Decode(string value, Type targetType)
{
return WrapObject(_serializer.Deserialize(value, targetType));
}
public static T Decode<T>(string value)
{
return _serializer.Deserialize<T>(value);
}
private static JavaScriptSerializer CreateSerializer()
{
JavaScriptSerializer serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
serializer.RegisterConverters(new[] { new DynamicJavaScriptConverter() });
return serializer;
}
internal class DynamicJavaScriptConverter : JavaScriptConverter
{
public override IEnumerable<Type> SupportedTypes
{
get
{
yield return typeof(IDynamicMetaObjectProvider);
yield return typeof(DynamicObject);
}
}
public override object Deserialize(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary, Type type, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
{
throw new NotSupportedException();
}
public override IDictionary<string, object> Serialize(object obj, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
{
Dictionary<string, object> dictionary = new Dictionary<string, object>(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
IEnumerable<string> memberNames = DynamicHelper.GetMemberNames(obj);
foreach (string item in memberNames)
{
dictionary[item] = DynamicHelper.GetMemberValue(obj, item);
}
return dictionary;
}
}
internal static dynamic WrapObject(object value)
{
// The JavaScriptSerializer returns IDictionary<string, object> for objects
// and object[] for arrays, so we wrap those in different dynamic objects
// so we can access the object graph using dynamic
var dictionaryValues = value as IDictionary<string, object>;
if (dictionaryValues != null)
{
return new DynamicJsonObject(dictionaryValues);
}
var arrayValues = value as object[];
if (arrayValues != null)
{
return new DynamicJsonArray(arrayValues);
}
return value;
}
}
// REVIEW: Consider implementing ICustomTypeDescriptor and IDictionary<string, object>
public class DynamicJsonObject : DynamicObject
{
private readonly IDictionary<string, object> _values;
public DynamicJsonObject(IDictionary<string, object> values)
{
Debug.Assert(values != null);
_values = values.ToDictionary(p => p.Key, p => Json.WrapObject(p.Value),
StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
}
public override bool TryConvert(ConvertBinder binder, out object result)
{
result = null;
if (binder.Type.IsAssignableFrom(_values.GetType()))
{
result = _values;
}
else
{
throw new InvalidOperationException(String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "HelpersResources.Json_UnableToConvertType", binder.Type));
}
return true;
}
public override bool TryGetMember(GetMemberBinder binder, out object result)
{
result = GetValue(binder.Name);
return true;
}
public override bool TrySetMember(SetMemberBinder binder, object value)
{
_values[binder.Name] = Json.WrapObject(value);
return true;
}
public override bool TrySetIndex(SetIndexBinder binder, object[] indexes, object value)
{
string key = GetKey(indexes);
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(key))
{
_values[key] = Json.WrapObject(value);
}
return true;
}
public override bool TryGetIndex(GetIndexBinder binder, object[] indexes, out object result)
{
string key = GetKey(indexes);
result = null;
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(key))
{
result = GetValue(key);
}
return true;
}
private static string GetKey(object[] indexes)
{
if (indexes.Length == 1)
{
return (string)indexes[0];
}
// REVIEW: Should this throw?
return null;
}
public override IEnumerable<string> GetDynamicMemberNames()
{
return _values.Keys;
}
private object GetValue(string name)
{
object result;
if (_values.TryGetValue(name, out result))
{
return result;
}
return null;
}
}
[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Naming", "CA1710:IdentifiersShouldHaveCorrectSuffix", Justification = "This class isn't meant to be used directly")]
public class DynamicJsonArray : DynamicObject, IEnumerable<object>
{
private readonly object[] _arrayValues;
public DynamicJsonArray(object[] arrayValues)
{
Debug.Assert(arrayValues != null);
_arrayValues = arrayValues.Select(Json.WrapObject).ToArray();
}
public int Length
{
get { return _arrayValues.Length; }
}
public dynamic this[int index]
{
get { return _arrayValues[index]; }
set { _arrayValues[index] = Json.WrapObject(value); }
}
public override bool TryConvert(ConvertBinder binder, out object result)
{
if (_arrayValues.GetType().IsAssignableFrom(binder.Type))
{
result = _arrayValues;
return true;
}
return base.TryConvert(binder, out result);
}
public override bool TryGetMember(GetMemberBinder binder, out object result)
{
// Testing for members should never throw. This is important when dealing with
// services that return different json results. Testing for a member shouldn't throw,
// it should just return null (or undefined)
result = null;
return true;
}
public IEnumerator GetEnumerator()
{
return _arrayValues.GetEnumerator();
}
private IEnumerable<object> GetEnumerable()
{
return _arrayValues.AsEnumerable();
}
IEnumerator<object> IEnumerable<object>.GetEnumerator()
{
return GetEnumerable().GetEnumerator();
}
[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Usage", "CA2225:OperatorOverloadsHaveNamedAlternates", Justification = "This class isn't meant to be used directly")]
public static implicit operator object[](DynamicJsonArray obj)
{
return obj._arrayValues;
}
[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Usage", "CA2225:OperatorOverloadsHaveNamedAlternates", Justification = "This class isn't meant to be used directly")]
public static implicit operator Array(DynamicJsonArray obj)
{
return obj._arrayValues;
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Helper to evaluate different method on dynamic objects
/// </summary>
public static class DynamicHelper
{
// We must pass in "object" instead of "dynamic" for the target dynamic object because if we use dynamic, the compiler will
// convert the call to this helper into a dynamic expression, even though we don't need it to be. Since this class is internal,
// it cannot be accessed from a dynamic expression and thus we get errors.
// Dev10 Bug 914027 - Changed the first parameter from dynamic to object, see comment at top for details
public static bool TryGetMemberValue(object obj, string memberName, out object result)
{
try
{
result = GetMemberValue(obj, memberName);
return true;
}
catch (RuntimeBinderException)
{
}
catch (RuntimeBinderInternalCompilerException)
{
}
// We catch the C# specific runtime binder exceptions since we're using the C# binder in this case
result = null;
return false;
}
// Dev10 Bug 914027 - Changed the first parameter from dynamic to object, see comment at top for details
[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Design", "CA1031:DoNotCatchGeneralExceptionTypes", Justification = "We want to swallow exceptions that happen during runtime binding")]
public static bool TryGetMemberValue(object obj, GetMemberBinder binder, out object result)
{
try
{
// VB us an instance of GetBinderAdapter that does not implement FallbackGetMemeber. This causes lookup of property expressions on dynamic objects to fail.
// Since all types are private to the assembly, we assume that as long as they belong to CSharp runtime, it is the right one.
if (typeof(Binder).Assembly.Equals(binder.GetType().Assembly))
{
// Only use the binder if its a C# binder.
result = GetMemberValue(obj, binder);
}
else
{
result = GetMemberValue(obj, binder.Name);
}
return true;
}
catch
{
result = null;
return false;
}
}
// Dev10 Bug 914027 - Changed the first parameter from dynamic to object, see comment at top for details
public static object GetMemberValue(object obj, string memberName)
{
var callSite = GetMemberAccessCallSite(memberName);
return callSite.Target(callSite, obj);
}
// Dev10 Bug 914027 - Changed the first parameter from dynamic to object, see comment at top for details
public static object GetMemberValue(object obj, GetMemberBinder binder)
{
var callSite = GetMemberAccessCallSite(binder);
return callSite.Target(callSite, obj);
}
// dynamic d = new object();
// object s = d.Name;
// The following code gets generated for this expression:
// callSite = CallSite<Func<CallSite, object, object>>.Create(Binder.GetMember(CSharpBinderFlags.None, "Name", typeof(Program), new CSharpArgumentInfo[] { CSharpArgumentInfo.Create(CSharpArgumentInfoFlags.None, null) }));
// callSite.Target(callSite, d);
// typeof(Program) is the containing type of the dynamic operation.
// Dev10 Bug 914027 - Changed the callsite's target parameter from dynamic to object, see comment at top for details
public static CallSite<Func<CallSite, object, object>> GetMemberAccessCallSite(string memberName)
{
var binder = Binder.GetMember(CSharpBinderFlags.None, memberName, typeof(DynamicHelper), new[] { CSharpArgumentInfo.Create(CSharpArgumentInfoFlags.None, null) });
return GetMemberAccessCallSite(binder);
}
// Dev10 Bug 914027 - Changed the callsite's target parameter from dynamic to object, see comment at top for details
public static CallSite<Func<CallSite, object, object>> GetMemberAccessCallSite(CallSiteBinder binder)
{
return CallSite<Func<CallSite, object, object>>.Create(binder);
}
// Dev10 Bug 914027 - Changed the first parameter from dynamic to object, see comment at top for details
public static IEnumerable<string> GetMemberNames(object obj)
{
var provider = obj as IDynamicMetaObjectProvider;
Debug.Assert(provider != null, "obj doesn't implement IDynamicMetaObjectProvider");
Expression parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(object));
return provider.GetMetaObject(parameter).GetDynamicMemberNames();
}
}
}