How to deserialize JSON data in asp.net?

Question

I have following JSON data, class and code but it doesn't working. I am getting List of 3 object but all are NULL. Can anybody please suggest me what I am missing here?

JSON data:

[
    {
        "donotpostalmail": {
            "Do Not Allow": {
                "Do Not Allow": 1
            },
            "Allow": {
                "Allow": 0
            }
        }
    },
    {
        "familystatuscode": {
            "Single": {
                "Single": 1
            },
            "Married": {
                "Married": 2
            },
            "Divorced": {
                "Divorced": 3
            },
            "Widowed": {
                "Widowed": 4
            }
        }
    },
    {
        "preferredcontactmethodcode": {
            "Any": {
                "Any": 1
            },
            "Email": {
                "Email": 2
            },
            "Phone": {
                "Phone": 3
            },
            "Fax": {
                "Fax": 4
            },
            "Mail": {
                "Mail": 5
            }
        }
    }
]

Class:

public class ResponseDataOfOptions
{
    public OptionsList mainList { get; set; }
}
public class OptionsList
{
    public Dictionary<string, Options> optionList { get; set; }
}
public class Options
{
    public Dictionary<string, int> options { get; set; }
}

.cs file Code:

List<ResponseDataOfOptions> optionList = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<ResponseDataOfOptions>>(objResponse.ResponseDataOfOptions);

I believe your issue is mapping the response to a dictionary. Have you tried using something like json2csharp.com to build the classes? Admittedly I haven't worked with Json -> dict before, but that should be the issue. — James Gould
– James Gould, Commented Nov 16, 2016 at 10:02
I have tried. It has provided me really poor class for above JSON. So, I tried by my self. Usually, json2csharp.com doesn't provide better solution if JSON is based on Dictionary. — Nanji Mange
– Nanji Mange, Commented Nov 16, 2016 at 10:05
Your object model in no way represents your JSON data - how do you expect any deserializer to know where to put what values? — Jamiec
– Jamiec, Commented Nov 16, 2016 at 10:07
@Jamiec Can you please suggest Class which can represent above JSON? — Nanji Mange
– Nanji Mange, Commented Nov 16, 2016 at 10:10
@NanjiMange no, because there isnt one. Your only option is a hierarchy of dictionaries or a JObject as described in one of the answers. — Jamiec
– Jamiec, Commented Nov 16, 2016 at 10:12

jorgonor · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-16 12:09:37Z

2

You cannot use objects in this case because every object has different property names. The only way to deserialize this JSON is as follows.

 JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<
      Dictionary<string, 
          Dictionary<string, 
              Dictionary<string, int>
          >
      >
 >>(objResponse.ResponseDataOfOptions);

It is a list of dictionaries, in fact there are three levels of dictionaries. It's not a very friendly structure to work with data but that would do the deserialize.

You might also be interested in using some property detection using JObject and JToken and then inflate appropriate data transfer objects.

JObject list = JObject.Parse(objResponse.ResponseDataOfOptions);
foreach (var item in list) {
    JToken token = jobj["donotpostalmail"];
    if (token != null) {
        // inflate the corresponding data type.
    }
}

edited Nov 16, 2016 at 12:09

answered Nov 16, 2016 at 10:11

jorgonor

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3 Comments

Nanji Mange Over a year ago

I have created Dictionary in separate class same way you have represented here. I think I have tried this already. Let me try again.

jorgonor Over a year ago

You cannot use data transfer objects because of the different property names. Even though, there is a less neat way to parse JSON that might help you, I just added it to the answer.

Nanji Mange Over a year ago

I have used first method. It is working fine. It would be greatly helpful if class structure is possible. Well, this is greate solution. Thank you.

makzr · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-16 10:14:44Z

1

You cannot use an array that contains 3 different objects types. If you want to do this, I recommend to use a container object instead of an array:

{
    "responseDataOfOptions": {
        "donotpostalmail": {
            "Do Not Allow": {
                "Do Not Allow": 1
            },
            "Allow": {
                "Allow": 0
            }
        }
    },
    "optionsList": {
        "familystatuscode": {
            "Single": {
                "Single": 1
            },
            "Married": {
                "Married": 2
            },
            "Divorced": {
                "Divorced": 3
            },
            "Widowed": {
                "Widowed": 4
            }
        }
    },
    "options": {
        "preferredcontactmethodcode": {
            "Any": {
                "Any": 1
            },
            "Email": {
                "Email": 2
            },
            "Phone": {
                "Phone": 3
            },
            "Fax": {
                "Fax": 4
            },
            "Mail": {
                "Mail": 5
            }
        }
    }
}

The corresponding C# class must look like this:

public class JsonResponse {
    public ResponseDataOfOptions responseDataOfOptions{ get; set; }
    public OptionsList optionsList{ get; set; }
    public Options options { get; set; }
}

answered Nov 16, 2016 at 10:14

makzr

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1 Comment

Nanji Mange Over a year ago

Thanks. It is one of the way if there is no solution. But I got solution.

Winson · Accepted Answer · 2016-11-16 10:04:02Z

0

please check your json string objResponse.ResponseDataOfOptions format whether is correct, maybe there are some " in your string, if yes, you need to replace these " as below:

List<ResponseDataOfOptions> optionList = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<ResponseDataOfOptions>>(objResponse.ResponseDataOfOptions.Replace("&quot;", "\""));

answered Nov 16, 2016 at 10:04

Winson

7876 silver badges19 bronze badges

1 Comment

James Gould Over a year ago

The issue is the JSON string to a dictionary, rather than optionList being null.

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