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Json.Net Deserialize dictionary without property name

I already looked at a lot of other questions with the same problem but never found a definitive solution that actually works for me. I tried using the JsonExtensionData Attribute, that doesn't work though since I can't convert my other data class to an object and it throws the Invalid extension data attribute on 'NAMESPACE'. Member 'Sols' type must implement IDictionary<string, JToken>. error.
My current data model class looks like this
public partial class Mars
{
public Dictionary<string, Sol> Sols { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("sol_keys")]
public List<long> SolKeys { get; set; }
}
public partial class Sol
{
[JsonProperty("AT")]
public At At { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("First_UTC")]
public DateTimeOffset FirstUtc { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("Last_UTC")]
public DateTimeOffset LastUtc { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("Season")]
public string Season { get; set; }
}
public partial class At
{
[JsonProperty("av")]
public double Av { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("ct")]
public long Ct { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("mn")]
public double Mn { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("mx")]
public double Mx { get; set; }
}
The json data looks like this
{
"651":
{
"AT":
{
"av": -61.957,
"ct": 302204,
"mn": -96.733,
"mx": -15.877
},
"First_UTC": "2020-09-25T02:42:14Z",
"Last_UTC": "2020-09-26T03:21:49Z",
"Season": "summer"
},
"652": {
"AT": {
"av": -65.002,
"ct": 278608,
"mn": -96.111,
"mx": -15.653
},
"First_UTC": "2020-09-26T03:21:50Z",
"Last_UTC": "2020-09-27T04:01:24Z",
"Season": "summer"
},
"sol_keys": [
"646",
"647",
"648",
"649",
"650",
"651",
"652"
]
}
I can't really modify the json data since I get it from an api.
I basically just want to select one of the numbers and then get the Sol data of that object.
Any help would be appreciated.

The JSON doesn't fit well with the C# type system. However, you can still use Json.Net to parse it. You just need to introduce some extra steps.
First step is to parse the JSON to a JObject:
var jObject = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<JObject>(json);
Then you can extract the sol_keys:
var solKeys = jObject.GetValue("sol_keys").ToObject<long[]>();
Now it becomes a bit tricky. If you remove the sol_keys from the JSON (in this case the parsed JSON) it has the structure of a dictionary of Sol objects that you are able to parse:
jObject.Remove("sol_keys");
var mars = jObject.ToObject<Dictionary<long, Sol>>();
Now you have both solKeys and mars parsed from the JSON. Furthermore the solKeys and the keys in the dictionary share the same type (long).

Is it possible to deserialize JSON with an unknown parameter name without using a custom converter?

I apologize if this is a duplicate, but none of the related answers I saw had JSON similar to the format I'm dealing with. I'm consuming an API response that has the following JSON format:
{
"KnownPropName": [
{
"DynamicPropName": [
{
"KnownProp1": "value",
"KnownProp2": "value"
},
{
"KnownProp1": "value",
"KnownProp2": "value"
}]
}]
}
I know the names of the parameters for each object except for "DynamicPropName", which I cannot know ahead of time.
I have the below classes setup:
private class TestResponse
{
public TestOuter[] KnownPropName { get; set; }
}
private class TestOuter
{
public TestInner[] TestInners { get; set; }
}
private class TestInner
{
public string KnownProp1 { get; set; }
public string KnownProp2 { get; set; }
}
If I change the property name "TestInners" to "DynamicPropName" everything deserializes with no issues. However, since I will not know the actual property name ahead of time I need to somehow have this work when "TestInners" does not match the corresponding property name.
I don't believe I can use a dictionary because the arrays don't contain string keys, but instead objects.
I know I can use a custom converter to solve this, but I'd like to know if it is at all possible without using one. Is there a way to have JSON deserialize based on the order of the parameters instead of depending on the name?

From the JSON sample you've given, I don't see why a dictionary wouldn't work here. As I see it, KnownPropName is actually an array of dictionaries where each dictionary has string keys, representing the dynamic property name(s), and values which are arrays of TestInner objects.
In other words, declare your classes like this:
private class TestResponse
{
public Dictionary<string, TestInner[]>[] KnownPropName { get; set; }
}
private class TestInner
{
public string KnownProp1 { get; set; }
public string KnownProp2 { get; set; }
}
You don't need the TestOuter class.
Fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/MHOYwm

Deserialize JSON array of values in C#

I've got some difficulties with this json script:
{
"insured_agent_flag": "a",
"id": "1",
"agent": {
"fullName": "John Travolta",
"mobileNumberPdf": "+987654321",
"mobileNumber": "",
"identityCard": {
"identityCardExpirationDate": null
},
"secondIdentityCard": {
"identityCardExpirationDate": null
},
"notes": {},
"sign": "ADVANCED"
},
"basicData": {
"personType": "PERSON",
"agreeWithCompleteAnalysis": false,
"investmentInterest": false
},
"nonOfferedProducts": [
"PROD_A",
"PROD_B",
"PROD_C"
]
}
I would like to get some parameters from this script and put it into sql server table.
In order to do that, I used and transformed a C# script shared by https://mycontraption.com:
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Pipeline.Wrapper;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.Wrapper;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Pipeline;
namespace SC_c7e2d8c3918d46a5a07a1b438ddc7642
{
public class BasicData
{
public string agreeWithCompleteAnalysis { get; set; }
public string inOtherSystem { get; set; }
public string investmentInterest { get; set; }
}
public class ParentObject
{
public BasicData BasicData { get; set; }
public int id { get; set; }
public string insured_agent_flag { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<string> NonOfferedProducts { get; set; }
}
[Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Pipeline.SSISScriptComponentEntryPointAttribute]
public class ScriptMain : UserComponent
{
public override void Input0_ProcessInputRow(Input0Buffer Row)
{
JavaScriptSerializer js = new JavaScriptSerializer();
// Give the input column a variable to make it easier to reference.
BlobColumn combinedColumn = Row.parameterscon;
// Convert from blob to string
string reviewConverted = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetString(combinedColumn.GetBlobData(0, Convert.ToInt32(combinedColumn.Length)));
// Deserialize the string
ParentObject obj = js.Deserialize<ParentObject>(reviewConverted);
var rows = obj.NonOfferedProducts.ToList();
Row.agreeWithCompleteAnalysis = obj.BasicData.agreeWithCompleteAnalysis;
Row.inOtherSystem = obj.BasicData.inOtherSystem;
Row.investmentInterest = obj.BasicData.investmentInterest;
Row.projectionid = obj.id;
Row.insuredagentflag = obj.insured_agent_flag;
//Row.nonOfferedProducts =
}
}
}
For 'standard' objects it works fine, but there is a problem with array "nonOfferedProducts". After compiling I get an error:
„object reference not set to an instance of an object”.
Here are my questions:
1. How should I handle 'nonOfferedProducts' array in C# script?
2. Why do I get foregoing error?
3. Unfortunately there exists a possibility, that json scripts would have some errors, like missing braces. How should I handle that?
Thank you!
Thanks a lot for your answers. According to your comments I'll try to give you more explanations:
1. The json script I have added in this post - it's only small part of whole script. In complete script there is a lot of different parameters. What is more, my C# code should scan about 40.000 json scripts (stored in sql server table in one column). These scripts has got similiar structure - but not the same.
So I thought about C# resolution, that will be searching for the parameters that I need. For json scripts without these parameters the c# code will put nulls to the right output columns.
Here are my output columns:
-agreeWithCompleteAnalysis
-inOtherSystem
-investmentInterest
-projectionId
-insuredAgentFflag
-nonOfferedProducts
I understood, that structure of my classes were wrong - I'll improve that.
But I've got one doubt - is it possible to prepare c# code structure, that will handle only these parameters I need?
And finally, I would like to put the results into my database.
For example if nonOfferedProducts property will have 3 values (not always!), I'd like to send to my database table 3 records (3 different values for nonOfferedProducts column and 3 the same values for the rest columns -agreeWithCompleteAnalysis, inOtherSystem etc).
I hope that will be clear now.
Thanks a lot for your help!
J

Use https://quicktype.io and paste json, it will generate c# model and serializer code.

As I said in my comment, your c# model doesn't match the JSON object.
If the model was made up of various nested objects to better reflect the actual JSON then you'll have more luck:
public class IdentityCard
{
public DateTime? IdentityCardExpirationDate { get; set; }
}
public class Notes
{
//No idea what should be in here...
}
public class BasicData
{
public string PersonType { get; set; }
public bool AgreeWithCompleteAnalysis { get; set; }
public bool InvestmentInterest { get; set; }
}
public class Agent
{
public string FullName { get; set; }
public string MobileNumberPdf { get; set; }
public string MobileNumber { get; set; }
public IdentityCard IdentityCard { get; set; }
public IdentityCard SecondIdentityCard { get; set; }
public Notes Notes { get; set; }
public string Sign { get; set; }
}
//Note: THIS is the actual class that matches the JSON sample given.
public class ParentObject
{
public string insured_agent_flag { get; set; }
public int Id { get; set; }
public Agent Agent { get; set; }
public BasicData BasicData { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<string> NonOfferedProducts { get; set; }
}
Once the model is correct, then Deserialization works fine for me with the given example (I did this in a unit test, but assuming your string matches your example this should be fine)
//get json
string json = #"
{
""insured_agent_flag"": ""a"",
""id"": ""1"",
""agent"": {
""fullName"": ""John Travolta"",
""mobileNumberPdf"": ""+987654321"",
""mobileNumber"": """",
""identityCard"": {
""identityCardExpirationDate"": null
},
""secondIdentityCard"": {
""identityCardExpirationDate"": null
},
""notes"": {},
""sign"": ""ADVANCED""
},
""basicData"": {
""personType"": ""PERSON"",
""agreeWithCompleteAnalysis"": false,
""investmentInterest"": false
},
""nonOfferedProducts"": [
""PROD_A"",
""PROD_B"",
""PROD_C""
]
}";
var js = new JavaScriptSerializer();
ParentObject obj = js.Deserialize<ParentObject>(json);
//do things...
var rows = obj.NonOfferedProducts.ToList();
Assert.AreEqual(3, rows.Count);
Assert.AreEqual("PROD_A", rows.First());
The asserts pass - This code happily gets the list of strings in the NonOfferedProducts property with the given example.
Obviously if you cannot rely on the consistency of the JSON (either structure or how well-formed it is) then you'll have problems, but that's a different issue.

To answer your question no 2) you are getting the object reference error because the BasicDataClass.nonOfferedProducts is null and you are trying iterate over it , this may be a reason that you are sending the wrong json which JavaScriptSerializer is not able to deserilize.
your 3rd question you can always validate your json with json validators which are there online like https://jsonformatter.org/

How to Deserialize JSON data? C#

Im getting a Json Data from an API and i have been trying to deserialize.
Json data:
{
   "items": [
      {
         "id": "1",
         "name": "samplename",
         "AddressList1": {
            "City": "Hyd",
            "State": "TN",
            "Country": "IN"
         },
         "Age": "10"
      },
      {
         "id": "2",
         "name": "samplename2",
         "AddressList1": {
            "City": "Hydd",
            "State": "TN",
            "Country": "IN"
         },
         "Age": "10"
      }
   ],
   "paging": {
      "cursors": {}
   }
}
Entities:
public class AddressList1
{
public string City { get; set; }
public string State { get; set; }
public string Country { get; set; }
}
public class Item
{
public string id { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
public AddressList1 addressList1 { get; set; }
public string Age { get; set; }
}
public class Cursors
{
}
public class Paging
{
public Cursors cursors { get; set; }
}
public class Users
{
public List<Item> items { get; set; }
public Paging paging { get; set; }
}
C# code:
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<Users>>(content);
Error Message:
Cannot deserialize the current JSON object (e.g. {"name":"value"})
into type 'System.Collections.Generic.List`1[Entities.Users]'
because the type requires a JSON array (e.g. [1,2,3]) to deserialize
correctly.
where am i doing wrong?

The following is a JSON-object; in your case a User
{ ... }
The following is a JSON-array; in your case an array of User
[ { ... }, { ... } ]
Thus if you want to deserialize the JSON you got into an array of Users this is not possible because you have no array in JSON.
Therefore the right code to deserialize is:
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Users>(content);
Furthermore your mapping is erroneous because in JSON there is a property AddressList1 and in the class it is called addressList1

Given your JSON, you would need a POCO object that contains a items member and a paging member.
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Users>(content);
should work.

Your Json string is good formatted and the entities are according to Json2Csharp good too.
but your problem is with the instruction JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<Users>>(content);
all that json that you have is only ONE User, and you are trying to get a list of them, there is the issue,
you can try instead with:
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Users>(content);

Try Below Code
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Users>(content);

Your entities(models) look just fine. If you are using, or were to use ASP.NET Web API 2, and your client is using the http verb post for example, this setup would work as Web API takes care of the object deserialization:
public HttpStatusCode Post(Item item)
{
Debug.Write(item.toString());
return HttpStatusCode.OK;
}
If you insist in deserializing manually then use the JavaScriptSerializer library which allows you to do things like:
Item item = new JavaScriptSerializer().Deserialize<Item>(content);
Notice that .Deserialize<T>() takes a generic which in your case it Item.
Hope that helps.

Deserializing JSON data to C# using JSON.NET

I'm relatively new to working with C# and JSON data and am seeking guidance. I'm using C# 3.0, with .NET3.5SP1, and JSON.NET 3.5r6.
I have a defined C# class that I need to populate from a JSON structure. However, not every JSON structure for an entry that is retrieved from the web service contains all possible attributes that are defined within the C# class.
I've been being doing what seems to be the wrong, hard way and just picking out each value one by one from the JObject and transforming the string into the desired class property.
JsonSerializer serializer = new JsonSerializer();
var o = (JObject)serializer.Deserialize(myjsondata);
MyAccount.EmployeeID = (string)o["employeeid"][0];
What is the best way to deserialize a JSON structure into the C# class and handling possible missing data from the JSON source?
My class is defined as:
public class MyAccount
{
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "username")]
public string UserID { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "givenname")]
public string GivenName { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "sn")]
public string Surname { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "passwordexpired")]
public DateTime PasswordExpire { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "primaryaffiliation")]
public string PrimaryAffiliation { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "affiliation")]
public string[] Affiliation { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "affiliationstatus")]
public string AffiliationStatus { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "affiliationmodifytimestamp")]
public DateTime AffiliationLastModified { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "employeeid")]
public string EmployeeID { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "accountstatus")]
public string AccountStatus { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "accountstatusexpiration")]
public DateTime AccountStatusExpiration { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "accountstatusexpmaxdate")]
public DateTime AccountStatusExpirationMaxDate { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "accountstatusmodifytimestamp")]
public DateTime AccountStatusModified { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "accountstatusexpnotice")]
public string AccountStatusExpNotice { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "accountstatusmodifiedby")]
public Dictionary<DateTime, string> AccountStatusModifiedBy { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "entrycreatedate")]
public DateTime EntryCreatedate { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "entrydeactivationdate")]
public DateTime EntryDeactivationDate { get; set; }
}
And a sample of the JSON to parse is:
{
"givenname": [
"Robert"
],
"passwordexpired": "20091031041550Z",
"accountstatus": [
"active"
],
"accountstatusexpiration": [
"20100612000000Z"
],
"accountstatusexpmaxdate": [
"20110410000000Z"
],
"accountstatusmodifiedby": {
"20100214173242Z": "tdecker",
"20100304003242Z": "jsmith",
"20100324103242Z": "jsmith",
"20100325000005Z": "rjones",
"20100326210634Z": "jsmith",
"20100326211130Z": "jsmith"
},
"accountstatusmodifytimestamp": [
"20100312001213Z"
],
"affiliation": [
"Employee",
"Contractor",
"Staff"
],
"affiliationmodifytimestamp": [
"20100312001213Z"
],
"affiliationstatus": [
"detached"
],
"entrycreatedate": [
"20000922072747Z"
],
"username": [
"rjohnson"
],
"primaryaffiliation": [
"Staff"
],
"employeeid": [
"999777666"
],
"sn": [
"Johnson"
]
}

Use
var rootObject = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(string json);
Create your classes on JSON 2 C#
Json.NET documentation: Serializing and Deserializing JSON with Json.NET

Have you tried using the generic DeserializeObject method?
JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<MyAccount>(myjsondata);
Any missing fields in the JSON data should simply be left NULL.
UPDATE:
If the JSON string is an array, try this:
var jarray = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<MyAccount>>(myjsondata);
jarray should then be a List<MyAccount>.
ANOTHER UPDATE:
The exception you're getting isn't consistent with an array of objects- I think the serializer is having problems with your Dictionary-typed accountstatusmodifiedby property.
Try excluding the accountstatusmodifiedby property from the serialization and see if that helps. If it does, you may need to represent that property differently.
Documentation: Serializing and Deserializing JSON with Json.NET

You can use:
JsonConvert.PopulateObject(json, obj);
here: json is the json string,obj is the target object. See: example
Note: PopulateObject() will not erase obj's list data, after Populate(), obj's list member will contains its original data and data from json string

Building off of bbant's answer, this is my complete solution for deserializing JSON from a remote URL.
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using System.Net.Http;
namespace Base
{
public class ApiConsumer<T>
{
public T data;
private string url;
public CalendarApiConsumer(string url)
{
this.url = url;
this.data = getItems();
}
private T getItems()
{
T result = default(T);
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
// This allows for debugging possible JSON issues
var settings = new JsonSerializerSettings
{
Error = (sender, args) =>
{
if (System.Diagnostics.Debugger.IsAttached)
{
System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Break();
}
}
};
using (HttpResponseMessage response = client.GetAsync(this.url).Result)
{
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
result = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result, settings);
}
}
return result;
}
}
}
Usage would be like:
ApiConsumer<FeedResult> feed = new ApiConsumer<FeedResult>("http://example.info/feeds/feeds.aspx?alt=json-in-script");
Where FeedResult is the class generated using the Xamasoft JSON Class Generator
Here is a screenshot of the settings I used, allowing for weird property names which the web version could not account for.

I found my I had built my object incorrectly. I used http://json2csharp.com/ to generate me my object class from the JSON. Once I had the correct Oject I was able to cast without issue. Norbit, Noob mistake. Thought I'd add it in case you have the same issue.

You can try checking some of the class generators online for further information. However, I believe some of the answers have been useful. Here's my approach that may be useful.
The following code was made with a dynamic method in mind.
dynObj = (JArray) JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(nvm);
foreach(JObject item in dynObj) {
foreach(JObject trend in item["trends"]) {
Console.WriteLine("{0}-{1}-{2}", trend["query"], trend["name"], trend["url"]);
}
}
This code basically allows you to access members contained in the Json string. Just a different way without the need of the classes. query, trend and url are the objects contained in the Json string.
You can also use this website. Don't trust the classes a 100% but you get the idea.

Assuming your sample data is correct, your givenname, and other entries wrapped in brackets are arrays in JS... you'll want to use List for those data types. and List for say accountstatusexpmaxdate... I think you example has the dates incorrectly formatted though, so uncertain as to what else is incorrect in your example.
This is an old post, but wanted to make note of the issues.