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Reading/Deserializing json File in WP8.1 C#

I'm currently trying to read Json file (named initial_data.json) which reside in the folder DataModels in my Project folder. The problem I'm having is it won't read the file. I have tried the following code to read the file to json string (which I will use it to deserialize later, so I've tried to display it into resultTextBlock) and nothing has came out.
Here's my Json file format
{
"brands": [
{
"id": "AUD",
"name": "AUDI",
"sort": "99",
"active": true
},
{
"id": "BEN",
"name": "MERCEDES-BENZ",
"sort": "6",
"active": true
},
{
"id": "BMW",
"name": "BMW",
"sort": "7",
"active": true
},
{
"id": "CHE",
"name": "CHEVROLET",
"sort": "8",
"active": true
}
],
"models": [
{
"id": "100",
"name": "CIVIC",
"brandID": "HON",
"size": null,
"year": "-",
"active": true
},
{
"id": "101",
"name": "CRV",
"brandID": "HON",
"size": null,
"year": "-",
"active": true
},
{
"id": "102",
"name": "CRVEXI",
"brandID": "HON",
"size": null,
"year": "-",
"active": true
},
{
"id": "103",
"name": "GDYSSEY",
"brandID": "HON",
"size": null,
"year": "-",
"active": true
}
]
}
Here's my json Class
public class Brand
{
[JsonProperty("id")]
public string id { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("name")]
public string name { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("sort")]
public string sort { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("active")]
public bool active { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("path")]
public string path { get; set; }
}
public class Model
{
[JsonProperty("id")]
public string id { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("name")]
public string name { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("brandID")]
public string brandID { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("size")]
public object size { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("year")]
public string year { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("active")]
public bool active { get; set; }
}
And here's how I write my reading function
private async Task readJsonAsync()
{
// Notice that the write **IS** identical ... except for the serializer.
string content = String.Empty;
var myStream = await ApplicationData.Current.LocalFolder.OpenStreamForReadAsync(JSONFILENAME);
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(myStream))
{
content = await reader.ReadToEndAsync();
}
resultTextBlock.Text = content;
}
Any help would be appreciated

think there might be some issue with the path you specified for the file name.
Please put your file in assets folder and follow the below code
var fileStream = File.OpenRead("Assets/" + "sampleJson.txt");//You can specify your file name here.
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(fileStream))
{
var content = await reader.ReadToEndAsync();
}

Cannot deserialize the current JSON array

First: I'm new to using JSON, and I used the answers on here to use Json.Net to deserialize data from a Pokemon API into a C# class (Pokemon class). I used http://json2csharp.com to help me define my class and it looks like this:
public class Pokemon
{
public Pokemon(string json)
{
JsonConvert.PopulateObject(json, this, PokeApi.JsonSerializerSettings);
}
[JsonProperty("name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("evolutions")]
public Evolutions evolutions { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("national_id")]
public int national_id { get; set; }
}
with a bunch of other properties like resource_uri, attack stat, etc.
As the answer offered on the aforementioned link said, I used JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(json) like so:
public Pokemon GetPokemon(int nationalId)
{
using (WebClient client = new WebClient())
{
var json = client.DownloadString("http://pokeapi.co/api/v1/pokemon/" + nationalId + "/");
var output = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Pokemon>(json);
return output;
}
}
However I keep getting an exception that says "Cannot deserialize the current JSON array (e.g.[1,2,3]) into type 'Evolutions' because the type requires a JSON object..."
I found a lot of other questions asking the same exact thing, but I was confused with the top answers - sometimes the answer was to use JsonProperty, sometimes it was to use JsonConverter, without really an explanation on what all these meant. Do I need both?
Edit: sample json (call: http://pokeapi.co/api/v1/pokemon/1/)
{
"abilities": [
{
"name": "overgrow",
"resource_uri": "/api/v1/ability/1/"
},
{
"name": "chlorophyll",
"resource_uri": "/api/v1/ability/2/"
}
],
"attack": 49,
"catch_rate": 45,
"created": "2013-11-02T12:08:25.745455",
"defense": 49,
"egg_cycles": 21,
"egg_groups": [
{
"name": "Monster",
"resource_uri": "/api/v1/egg/1/"
},
{
"name": "Grass",
"resource_uri": "/api/v1/egg/8/"
}
],
"ev_yield": "1 Sp Atk",
"evolutions": {
"level": 16,
"method": "level up",
"resource_uri": "/api/v1/pokemon/2/",
"to": "Ivysaur"
},
"exp": 64,
"growth_rate": "ms",
"happiness": 70,
"height": "2'4",
"hp": 45,
"male_female_ratio": "87.5/12.5",
"modified": "2013-11-02T13:28:04.914889",
"moves": [
{
"learn_type": "other",
"name": "Tackle",
"resource_uri": "/api/v1/move/1/"
},
{
"learn_type": "other",
"name": "Growl",
"resource_uri": "/api/v1/move/2/"
},
{
"learn_type": "level up",
"level": 10,
"name": "Vine whip",
"resource_uri": "/api/v1/move/3/"
}
],
"name": "Bulbasaur",
"national_id": 1,
"resource_uri": "/api/v1/pokemon/4/",
"sp_atk": 65,
"sp_def": 65,
"species": "seed pokemon",
"speed": 45,
"total": 318,
"types": [
{
"name": "grass",
"resource_uri": "/api/v1/type/5/"
},
{
"name": "poison",
"resource_uri": "/api/v1/type/8/"
}
],
"weight": "15.2lbs"
}
Evolutions class:
public class Evolutions
{
public int level { get; set; }
public string method { get; set; }
public string resource_uri { get; set; }
public string to { get; set; }
}

I tried http://json2csharp.com/ with http://pokeapi.co/api/v1/pokemon/19/ and what I see is
public class RootObject
{
//...
public List<Evolution> evolutions { get; set; }
//...
}
This pretty mush is your Pokemon class. So you need to declare Evolutions as list.

JSON Deserialization C#

I'm trying to parse out some information I've retrieved from RottenTomatoes that's in a JSON format
{
"cast": [
{
"id": "162655641",
"name": "Tom Hanks",
"characters": [
"Woody"
]
},
{
"id": "162655909",
"name": "Tim Allen",
"characters": [
"Buzz Lightyear"
]
},
{
"id": "162655020",
"name": "Joan Cusack",
"characters": [
"Jessie the Cowgirl"
]
},
{
"id": "162672460",
"name": "Ned Beatty",
"characters": [
"Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear",
"Lotso"
]
},
{
"id": "162657445",
"name": "Richard Kind",
"characters": [
"Bookworm"
]
},
{
"id": "162654813",
"name": "Erik von Detten",
"characters": [
"Sid"
]
},
{
"id": "770713272",
"name": "James Anthony Cotton",
"characters": []
}
],
"links": {
"rel": "http://api.rottentomatoes.com/api/public/v1.0/movies/770672122.json"
}
}
I'm just trying to get this code to work but I'm getting an InvalidOperationException and this error
"Type 'System.String' is not supported for deserialization of an array."
Here's my code in main
string json = File.ReadAllText("json.txt");
CastInfo castMember = new JavaScriptSerializer().Deserialize<CastInfo>(json);
Here are my classes
public class CastInfo
{
public List<CustomCastInfo> cast { get; set; }
}
public class CustomCastInfo
{
public string id { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
public List<string> characters { get; set; }
}
And advice? And I realize I need to do something about the "links" in the bottom, but even when I delete that it still doesn't work.

I just tried running this with the json you provided and it worked fine.
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
namespace JsonDeserialization
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string json = File.ReadAllText("json.txt");
CastInfo castMember = new JavaScriptSerializer().Deserialize<CastInfo>(json);
}
}
public class CastInfo
{
public List<CustomCastInfo> cast { get; set; }
}
public class CustomCastInfo
{
public string id { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
public List<string> characters { get; set; }
}
}

How can I deserialize JSON data that have indexed references into strongly typed C# objects?

I want to deserialize JSON data (using Newtonsoft) similar to following, and convert to a strongly-typed object/list in C#, but can't figure out how to define the class such that indexed references are converted to the referenced objects.
{
"Countries": [
{
"Name": "USA",
},
{
"Name": "UK",
},
{
"Name": "JAPAN",
},
],
"Authors": [
{
"DisplayName": "John Doe",
"RealName": "Not John Doe"
},
{
"DisplayName": "Jane Doe",
"RealName": "Not Jane Doe"
},
],
"Books": [
{
"Author": 0,
"Title": "A good read",
"PublishedCountries": "0,1",
},
{
"Author": 0,
"Title": "Another good read",
"PublishedCountries": "0,1",
},
{
"Author": 1,
"Title": "This one is even better",
"PublishedCountries": "0,1,2",
},
],
}
Ideally, I'd like to use classes similar to following:
public class Country
{
public string Name { get; set;}
}
public class AuthorDetails
{
public string DisplayName { get; set; }
public string RealName { get; set; }
}
public class Book
{
public AuthorDetails Author { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<Country> PublishedCountries { get; set; }
}
public class ListOfBooks
{
public IEnumerable<Book> Books { get; set; }
}
And deserialize like this:
var listOfBooks = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ListOfBooks>(jsonAsString);
I'm stuck as how to tell Json.Net that the Author property in the book JObject is an index, rather than an integer. Same goes for the PublishedCountries (that's comma-separated list of indexes)

I can't see a way other than helping the deserialization process a little bit.
var dynObj = (JObject)JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(json);
var authors = dynObj["Authors"]
.Select(j => new AuthorDetails {
RealName = (string)j["RealName"],
DisplayName = (string)j["DisplayName"]
})
.ToList();
var countries = dynObj["Countries"]
.Select(j => new Country { Name = (string)j["Name"]})
.ToList();
var books = dynObj["Books"].Select(x => new Book
{
Author = authors[(int)x["Author"]],
Title = (string)x["Title"],
PublishedCountries = x["PublishedCountries"].ToString().Split(',')
.Select(i =>countries[int.Parse(i)])
.ToList()
})
.ToList();
public class Country
{
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public class AuthorDetails
{
public string DisplayName { get; set; }
public string RealName { get; set; }
}
public class Book
{
public AuthorDetails Author { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public List<Country> PublishedCountries { get; set; }
}

I believe what you want to do is 'preserve object references'.
You can mark-up your C# object with attributes to describe when to utilise a reference, rather than duplicate the content of the object all over again:
[JsonObject(IsReference = true)] (use on the type declaration)
However, your generated Javascript will not look quite like what you have demonstrated, take a look here to see how to do it.
http://james.newtonking.com/projects/json/help/?topic=html/PreserveObjectReferences.htm
Instead, your JSON will look more like this:
{
"Countries": [
{
"Name": "USA",
},
{
"Name": "UK",
},
{
"Name": "JAPAN",
},
],
"Authors": [
{
"DisplayName": "John Doe",
"RealName": "Not John Doe"
},
{
"DisplayName": "Jane Doe",
"RealName": "Not Jane Doe"
},
],
"Books": [
{
"$id": 1,
"Author": 0,
"Title": "A good read",
"PublishedCountries": "0,1",
},
{
"$ref": 1
},
{
"Author": 1,
"Title": "This one is even better",
"PublishedCountries": "0,1,2",
},
],
}

SerializationException: End element 'caption' from namespace '' expected

I'm trying to deserialize a json string and I'm getting the error End element 'caption' from namespace '' expected. Found element 'created_time' from namespace ''. when calling
InstagramObject test = (InstagramObject) instagramObject.ReadObject(instagramWebResponse.GetResponseStream());
The json from Instagram returns many elements but there are only a few that I need. My DataContract will be posted below.
Basically I need {data:[{caption: string, link: string, images: {...}}]}
Here's an example of the json...
{
"data": [{
"comments": {
"data": [],
"count": 0
},
"caption": {
"created_time": "1296710352",
"text": "Inside le truc #foodtruck",
"from": {
"username": "kevin",
"full_name": "Kevin Systrom",
"type": "user",
"id": "3"
},
"id": "26621408"
},
"likes": {
"count": 15,
"data": [{
"username": "mikeyk",
"full_name": "Mike Krieger",
"id": "4",
"profile_picture": "..."
}, {...subset of likers...}]
},
"link": "http://instagr.am/p/BWrVZ/",
"user": {
"username": "kevin",
"profile_picture": "http://distillery.s3.amazonaws.com/profiles/profile_3_75sq_1295574122.jpg",
"id": "3"
},
"created_time": "1296710327",
"images": {
"low_resolution": {
"url": "http://distillery.s3.amazonaws.com/media/2011/02/02/6ea7baea55774c5e81e7e3e1f6e791a7_6.jpg",
"width": 306,
"height": 306
},
"thumbnail": {
"url": "http://distillery.s3.amazonaws.com/media/2011/02/02/6ea7baea55774c5e81e7e3e1f6e791a7_5.jpg",
"width": 150,
"height": 150
},
"standard_resolution": {
"url": "http://distillery.s3.amazonaws.com/media/2011/02/02/6ea7baea55774c5e81e7e3e1f6e791a7_7.jpg",
"width": 612,
"height": 612
}
},
"type": "image",
"filter": "Earlybird",
"tags": ["foodtruck"],
"id": "22721881",
"location": {
"latitude": 37.778720183610183,
"longitude": -122.3962783813477,
"id": "520640",
"street_address": "",
"name": "Le Truc"
}
}]
}
and here's my DataContract...
[DataContract]
public class InstagramObject {
[DataMember(Name = "data")]
public IEnumerable<InstagramData> instagramData { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
public class InstagramData {
[DataMember(Name = "images")]
public List<InstagramImage> instagramImages { get; set; }
[DataMember(Name = "caption")]
public string caption { get; set; }
[DataMember(Name = "link")]
public string link { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
public class InstagramImage {
[DataMember(Name = "low_resolution")]
public InstagramImageInfo lowResolutionImage { get; set; }
[DataMember(Name = "thumbnail")]
public InstagramImageInfo thumbnail { get; set; }
[DataMember(Name = "standard_resolution")]
public InstagramImageInfo standardResolution { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
public class InstagramImageInfo {
[DataMember(Name = "url")]
public string url { get; set; }
[DataMember(Name = "width")]
public int width { get; set; }
[DataMember(Name = "height")]
public int height { get; set; }
}

In the data contract caption is declared as a string, but in the JSON caption is a record with various fields - caption should be declared to be an object with a compatible structure:
[DataContract]
public class InstagramCaption {
[DataMember(Name = "text")]
public string Text {get; set;}
}
. . .
[DataMember(Name = "caption")]
public InstagramCaption caption { get; set; }
. . .

No need to declare those clases If you want to go with Json.Net + Linq
var obj = (JObject)JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(json);
var result = obj["data"]
.Select(x => new {
Caption = (string)x["caption"]["text"],
Link = (string)x["link"],
Images = x["images"].Children()
.Select(y=>(string)y.First()["url"]).ToArray()
})
.ToArray();