We Keep Coding

Deserializing a JSON file with c#

My problem is
i have this JSON file:
and i have to save it in a list but when i try to print the first element of the list I get a System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException, as if my list is empty. this is my code:
JavaScriptSerializer ser = new JavaScriptSerializer();
Causali o = new Causali();
List<CausaliList> lista = new List<CausaliList>();
WebRequest causali = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("http://trackrest.cgestmobile.it/causali");
WebResponse risposta = (HttpWebResponse)CreateCausaliRequest(causali).GetResponse();
Stream data = risposta.GetResponseStream();
StreamReader Leggi = new StreamReader(data);
string output = Leggi.ReadToEnd();
lista = ser.Deserialize<List<CausaliList>>(output);
lst2.Items.Add(lista[0]);
and these are my two class for the saves:
class Causali
{
public int id;
public string causaliname;
public string identificationcode;
public string expired;
}
and
class CausaliList
{
public Causali causali;
}
can you help me solve it?

please try this as your root object:
public class CausaliList
{
public List<Causali> causali { get; set; }
}
then deserilize your object like this:
lista = ser.Deserialize<CausaliList>(output);
finally you can access to list like this:
lst2.Items.Add(lista.causali[0]);
Note: i strongly recommend to use json.NET.

To deserialize the code in c#:
Lets assume you have data in var getContent then you may use this:
dynamic getDesearilize = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(getContent);

Change XML opener(reader) to JSON

I have followed a good tutorial that shows how to make an Automation Framework in C# Selenium.
The config file is in XML at the moment, but I wanted some more practice and change it to a .json file.
At the moment we are using the namespace System.Xml.XPath; and my question is, are there a similar for JSON? Lets say "System.Json;" that works the same as my XML reader. So I don't need to refactor to much code, or is it unavoidably?
This is how it works at the moment.
//Initialize
ConfigReader.SetFrameworkSettings();
public class ConfigReader
{
public static void SetFrameworkSettings()
{
XPathItem aut;
string strFilename = Environment.CurrentDirectory.ToString() + "\\Config\\GlobalConfig.xml";
FileStream stream = new FileStream(strFilename, FileMode.Open);
XPathDocument document = new XPathDocument(stream);
XPathNavigator navigator = document.CreateNavigator();
//Get XML Details and pass it in XPathItem type variables
aut = navigator.SelectSingleNode("AutoFramework/RunSettings/AUT");
Settings.AUT = aut.Value.ToString();
}
}
public class Settings
{
public static string AUT { get; set; }
}
Would be awesome if you could just change this two lines
XPathDocument document = new XPathDocument(stream);
XPathNavigator navigator = document.CreateNavigator()
And the XpathItem
Cheers

I would recommend using Newtonsoft.Json which is available from Nuget.
To "reuse" your current code you would have to make some basic SettingsConverter first:
public static class SettingsConverter
{
public static string FromXmlToJson(string xml)
{
Settings settings = null;
// read your xml file and assign values to the settings object
// now you can "serialize" settings object into Json
return JsonSerialization.Serialize(settings);
}
public static string FromJsonToXml(string json)
{
Settings settings = JsonSerialization.Deserialize<MeSettings>(json);
// save settings using your "xml" serialization
return xmlString; // return xml string
}
}
To use these methods I'm using this JsonSerialization helper class :
public static class JsonSerialiation
{
public static string Serialize<T>(T obj)
{
using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream())
{
using (JsonTextWriter writer = new JsonTextWriter(new StreamWriter(stream))
{
JsonSerializer serializer = new JsonSerializer();
serializer.Serializer(writer, obj);
writer.Flush();
stream.Position = 0;
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamREader(stream))
{
return reader.ReadToEnd();
}
}
}
}
public static T Deserialize<T>(string jsonString)
{
using (JsonTextReader reader = new JsonTextReader(new StringReader(str)))
{
JsonSerializer serializer = new JsonSerializer();
return serializer.Deserialize<T>(reader)
}
}
}
Above example requires from you to change your Settings class from static :
public class Settings
{
public static string AUT { get; set; }
}
To instance :
public class Settings
{
public string AUT { get; set; }
}
If you prefer to keep it as static. You should use JObject from Newtonsoft.Json library :
JObject obj = JObject.Parse(jsonString);
Settings.AUT = obj.SelectToken("AUT").Value<string>();
You can always use JsonConvert.Serialize<T>() and JsonConvert.Deserialize<T>() methods instead of the JsonSerialization helper class that I've made but in my opinion the less control you have over your code the bigger the problems will be.

Serialization: Dynamic class names

I have already tried various possibilities but maybe I am just too tired of seeing the solution -.-
I have an xml structure like this:
<diagnosisList>
<diagnosis>
<surgery1>
<date>1957-08-13</date>
<description>a</description>
<ops301>0-000</ops301>
</surgery1>
<surgery2>
<date>1957-08-13</date>
<description>a</description>
<ops301>0-000</ops301>
</surgery2>
<surgery...>
</surgery...>
</diagnosis>
</diagnosisList>
As you see there is a variable number of surgeries. I have a class "surgery" containing the XML elements.
class Surgery
{
[XmlElement("date")]
public string date { get; set; }
[XmlElement("description")]
public string description { get; set; }
[XmlElement("ops301")]
public string ops301 { get; set; }
public Surgery()
{
}
}
and a class diagnosis creating the structure by adding the surgery class to the constructor.
diagnosis.cs
class Diagnosis
{
[XmlElement("surgery")]
public Surgery surgery
{
get;
set;
}
public Diagnosis(Surgery Surgery)
{
surgery = Surgery;
}
}
I need to be able to serialize the class name of the surgery dynamically by adding a number before serialization happens.
does anybody know a way to achieve that?
any help is really appreciated :)
Kind regards
Sandro
-- EDIT
I create the whole structure starting from my root class "Import". this class then will be passed to the serializer. So I cannot use XMLWriter in the middle of creation of the structure. I Need to create the whole structure first and finally it will be serialized:
private static void XmlFileSerialization(Import import)
{
string filename = #"c:\dump\trauma.xml";
// default file serialization
XmlSerializer<Import>.SerializeToFile(import, filename);
XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces = new XmlSerializerNamespaces();
namespaces.Add("", "");
XmlWriterSettings settings = new XmlWriterSettings();
settings.Encoding = Encoding.UTF8;
settings.Indent = true;
settings.IndentChars = "\t";
XmlSerializer<Import>.SerializeToFile(import, filename, namespaces, settings);
}
and then in the Method "SerializeToFile"
public static void SerializeToFile(T source, string filename, XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces, XmlWriterSettings settings)
{
if (source == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("source", "Object to serialize cannot be null");
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(source.GetType());
using (XmlWriter xmlWriter = XmlWriter.Create(filename, settings))
{
System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer x = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
x.Serialize(xmlWriter, source, namespaces);
}
}
}
What I Need is to be able to instantiate a variable number of classes based on the main class "Surgery". The class must have a variable Name, i.e.
surgery1, surgery2, surgery3, etc.
This cannot be changed because this is given by the Institution defining the XML structure.
the class must be accessible by its dynamic Name because the property in the class must be set.
so:
surgery1.Property = "blabla";
surgery2. Property = "babla";
etc.
I am even thinking about using T4 methods to create this part of code, but there must be another way to achieve dynamic class names.
I also thought of creating instances with variable names of the class by using reflection:
System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().CreateInstance(string className)
But this doesn't work actually -.-
Does anybody have a hint and could put me in the right direction?

I think, you could try implement methods from IXmlSerializable in object contains diagnosisList.

Try to use custom xml writer and reader.
public class SurgeryWriter : XmlTextWriter
{
public SurgeryWriter(string url) : base(url, Encoding.UTF8) { }
private int counter = 1;
public override void WriteStartElement(string prefix, string localName, string ns)
{
if (localName == "surgery")
{
base.WriteStartElement(prefix, "surgery" + counter, ns);
counter++;
}
else
base.WriteStartElement(prefix, localName, ns);
}
}
public class SurgeryReader : XmlTextReader
{
public SurgeryReader(string url) : base(url) { }
public override string LocalName
{
get
{
if (base.LocalName.StartsWith("surgery"))
return "surgery";
return base.LocalName;
}
}
}
Classes:
[XmlRoot("diagnosisList")]
public class DiagnosisList
{
[XmlArray("diagnosis")]
[XmlArrayItem("surgery")]
public Surgery[] Diagnosis { get; set; }
}
[XmlRoot("surgery")]
public class Surgery
{
[XmlElement("date", DataType = "date")]
public DateTime Date { get; set; }
[XmlElement("description")]
public string Description { get; set; }
[XmlElement("ops301")]
public string Ops301 { get; set; }
}
Use:
var xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(DiagnosisList));
DiagnosisList diagnosisList;
using (var reader = new SurgeryReader("test.xml"))
diagnosisList = (DiagnosisList)xs.Deserialize(reader);
using (var writer = new SurgeryWriter("test2.xml"))
xs.Serialize(writer, diagnosisList);
Don't mix XML and C#.
You don't need dynamic names in the C# code!
If you need an arbitrary number of instances of a class, create them in a loop and place it in any collection.
var surgeries = new List<Surgery>();
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
var surgery = new Surgery();
surgeries.Add(surgery);
}
Later you can access them by index or by enumerating.
surgeries[5]
foreach (var surgery in surgeries)
{
// use surgery
}
As you can see no need dynamic names!
Alternatively, use the dictionary with arbitrary names as keys.
var surgeryDict = new Dictionary<string, Surgery>();
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
var surgery = new Surgery();
surgeryDict["surgery" + i] = surgery;
}
Access by name:
surgeryDict["surgery5"]

Deserialize property with a different name?

I have an interface with exposes a property called Pages:
public interface INameSet
{
IQueryable<string> Names { get; }
}
I have this class which implements the interface and must also be parsed from a JSON object:
[DataContract(Name = "surveyPageSet")]
public class SurveyPage : INameSet
{
[DataMember(Name = "names")]
public List<string> SurveyNames { get; set; }
public IQueryable<string> Names
{
get
{
//Returns SurveyNames after some filtration logic
}
}
}
My problem is that when I pass in this object:
{
"names": ["testname"]
}
The JSON interpreter is trying to deserialize it to match the Names property instead of the SurveyNames property. I know this happens because when removing the implementation of the interface and changing SurveyNames to Names it populates the property fine. Is there any way to get it to serialize to the correct property or do I need to create a translator class that will generate the proper concretion of the INameSet interface?
EDIT: This is with the built-in serializer. If there is a solution with Newtonsoft/JSON.NET that would be fine with me.

JavaScriptSerializer doesn't allow for remapping of names out of the box, so don't use it.
Instead, use Json.NET or DataContractJsonSerializer. In fact, both should already work given the data contract attributes you have applied.
For instance, using Json.NET, if I do:
var page1 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<SurveyPage>(json);
Debug.Assert(page1.SurveyNames != null && page1.SurveyNames.SequenceEqual(new string [] { "testname" }));
Then there is no assert. Similarly there is no assert if I do:
var page2 = DataContractJsonSerializerHelper.GetObject<SurveyPage>(json);
Debug.Assert(page2.SurveyNames != null && page2.SurveyNames.SequenceEqual(new string[] { "testname" }));
using the helper class:
public static class DataContractJsonSerializerHelper
{
private static MemoryStream GenerateStreamFromString(string value)
{
return new MemoryStream(Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(value ?? ""));
}
public static string GetJson<T>(T obj, DataContractJsonSerializer serializer)
{
using (var memory = new MemoryStream())
{
serializer.WriteObject(memory, obj);
memory.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
using (var reader = new StreamReader(memory))
{
return reader.ReadToEnd();
}
}
}
public static string GetJson<T>(T obj) where T : class
{
DataContractJsonSerializer serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(T));
return GetJson(obj, serializer);
}
public static T GetObject<T>(string json) where T : class
{
DataContractJsonSerializer serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(T));
return GetObject<T>(json, serializer);
}
public static T GetObject<T>(string json, DataContractJsonSerializer serializer)
{
T obj = default(T);
using (var stream = GenerateStreamFromString(json))
{
obj = (T)serializer.ReadObject(stream);
}
return obj;
}
}
Update
If you really want to continue to use JavaScriptConverter, you can write your own JavaScriptConverter and deserialize each field manually. But it's a bother and I wouldn't recommend it.

Problem xml-deserializing recursive nested object

Solved: code below is not causing an infinite loop as I thought. the loop was in the code calling the deserialization. this posted code works just fine
I am trying to serialize and deserialize to xml the following object
public class MessageObjectCollection : List<MessageObject>
{
public string Serialize()
{
return XmlObjectSerializer.SerializeObject(this);
}
public static MessageObjectCollection DeSerialize(string serializedPriceHistory)
{
return XmlObjectSerializer.DeserializeObject<MessageObjectCollection>(serializedPriceHistory);
}
}
The MessageObject class looks like this
public class MessageObject
{
public string Title;
public MessageObjectCollection Responses;
}
So if I have a instance of messageobjectcollection that looks like:
var msgColl = new MessageObjectCollection
{
new MessageObject
{
Title = "Hello",
Responses = new MessageObjectCollection
{
new MessageObject
{
Title = "hi",
Responses = null
}
}
}
}
I can serialize this just fine by calling
var xml = msgColl.Serialize();
However when I try to deserialize this by calling
var msgColl = new MessageObjectCollection().Deserialize(xml);
I get an stack overflow exception in the deserialization method:
public static T DeserializeObject<T>(string xml)
{
T result;
var ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
var buffer = StringToUTF8ByteArray(xml);
using (var stream = new MemoryStream(buffer, 0, buffer.Length))
{
result = (T) ser.Deserialize(stream);
}
return result;
}
Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

Im not sure if its relevant to the problem but as the Deserialize method is static shouldn't you be calling...
var msgColl = MessageObjectCollection.Deserialize(xml);
instead of...
var msgColl = new MessageObjectCollection().Deserialize(xml);
??