JSON.Net deserialize object containing xml

Question

I have a JSON object with a specific field whose value is always XML, as follows:

{
    ...
    "XmlValue": "<tag1><etc></etc></tag1>"
    ...
}

I'm using JSON.Net as the deserializer. I want to make this deserialize to a class like this:

public class ObjectContainingXml
{
    ...
    public XElement XmlValue { get;set; }
    ...
}

When I try, using JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ObjectContainingXml>(input), I get this exception: XmlNodeConverter can only convert JSON that begins with an object.

Is there a way to make this natively work in JSON.Net without treating that field as a string and then parsing the field to XML manually?

dodexahedron · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-18 19:22:30Z

1

There's currently no built-in way to perform that kind of deserialization with JSON.Net.

Background:

XmlNodeConverter is meant to serialize XML as JSON. For example, a node like

<root><p>Text1<span>Span1</span> <span>Span2</span> Text2</p></root>

will be serialized as

{"root":{"p":{"#text":["Text1"," Text2"],"span":["Span1","Span2"]}}}

If you need XML to be serialized to string and back, you'll need to implement a custom JsonConverter.

edited Aug 18, 2014 at 19:22

dodexahedron

4,6832 gold badges31 silver badges41 bronze badges

answered Aug 18, 2014 at 19:12

Athari

33.9k17 gold badges111 silver badges153 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

dodexahedron Over a year ago

Thanks for the response. That's not quite what I'm asking about. I have JSON already. The JSON contains XML, as shown in the question. I am calling the native JsonConvert.DeserializeObject function on that JSON object, and the exception I noted is what comes back. JsonConvert.SerializeObject works on this class.

Athari Over a year ago

@dodexahedron What is not clear? There is no built-in way to do what you want. If you need this, you'll have to implement your JsonConverter class (two methods, one line of code each). Then either pass converter to DeserializeObject method or decorate properties in your object with your converter.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

JSON.Net deserialize object containing xml

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related