How to deserialize string to object (string in format in similar to object notation)

Question

I have a string that looks like this. It's not JSON and not XML.

{Foo={name=My Foo Value, active=true, some date=20170630}, Bar={name=My Bar Value}, Key With Space={name=Foo Bar, active=false}}

Here are the assumptions:

Objects are enclosed by {}
Keys can have a space in the name
Keys are separated by a space and a comma (,)
Values are assigned to keys by an equal sign
Keys can have multiple values and values are enclosed by {}, values inside the value are separated by a space and a comma (,). For example, this is a single key with three values: {My Foo Key={one=true, two=true, third value=false}}

My strategy is to deserialize to Dictionary<string, object at first, worry about recursion later. Any suggestions (existing library?) appreciated!

Here is what I have

var stringContentTrimmed = stringContent.Substring(1, stringContent.Length - 2);
var objects = stringContentTrimmed.Split(',')
    .Select(x => x.Trim())
    .Where(x => !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(x));

TLDR. The Split function is also splitting up my values, which isn't what I want.

It could help if you could provide the class you want to populate from this string... — Zohar Peled
– Zohar Peled, Commented Jul 25, 2017 at 15:38
@ZoharPeled Keys and values vary greatly; I can't make any assumptions as to what keys will be populated, or any datatype assumptions. — Kyle
– Kyle, Commented Jul 25, 2017 at 15:39
so you want to create dynamic classes? how do plan on using the data? seems to me like this is a simple key-value collection, where the value itself might also be a key-value collection... — Zohar Peled
– Zohar Peled, Commented Jul 25, 2017 at 15:43
Correct. Hence the deserializing to Dictionary<string, object>. I'll use it later as mydict.TryGetValue("Foo", out fooValue). — Kyle
– Kyle, Commented Jul 25, 2017 at 15:46
Where did you get this string? Can you control the format? Do you have to do this lots of times or just once? — Ben
– Ben, Commented Jul 25, 2017 at 15:46

Ben · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-25 19:21:19Z

2

Really you need to have a proper specification or grammar for this but I'm going to take a wild guess and say that there isn't one, and if there was, actual values would not conform to it.

Your best bet might be:

Eliminate any whitespace adjacent to = { } or , characters
Replace any , with ","
Replace any = with "="
replace any { with {"
replace any } with "}
replace any "{ with {
replace any }" with }
replace any = with :

Then treat as JSON.

I tried this with your example and it worked. Whether it will work with your actual values I have no idea - this will depend on whether they stick to the restrictions you have described. If keys or values embed any of "{}:=, or if leading or trailing spaces are significant, then it will not work.

edited Jul 25, 2017 at 19:21

answered Jul 25, 2017 at 16:22

Ben

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1 Comment

Kyle Over a year ago

Thanks. I tried this and it worked for me too. I accepted the other answer because it is more direct answer to my question and it doesn't require me to replace strings.

Peter · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-25 17:47:52Z

I created a method GetObjects below which returns a Dictionary<string, string> of the top-level objects and the raw content inside. Another method, Merge returns a nested dictionary by calling GetValues to extract the key-value pairs from the object content.

Using your example string, the Merge method returns this:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var str = "{Foo={name=Foo Value, active=true, some date=20170630}, Bar={name#=My Bar Value}, Key With Space={name=Foo Bar, active=false}}";

        var values = GetObjects(str);

        Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, string>> objects = Merge(values);
    }

    public static Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, string>> Merge(Dictionary<string, string> input)
    {
        var output = new Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, string>>();

        foreach (var key in input.Keys)
        {
            var value = input[key];
            var subValues = GetValues(value);

            output.Add(key, subValues);
        }

        return output;
    }

    public static Dictionary<string, string> GetObjects(string input)
    {
        var objects = new Dictionary<string, string>();
        var objectNames = new Queue<string>();
        var objectBuffer = string.Empty;

        foreach (var c in input)
        {
            if (char.Equals('{', c))
            {
                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(objectBuffer))
                {
                    var b = objectBuffer.Trim('{', '}', ',', ' ', '=');
                    objectNames.Enqueue(b);
                }

                objectBuffer = string.Empty;
            }

            if (char.Equals('}', c))
            {
                if (objectNames.Count > 0)
                {
                    var b = objectBuffer.Trim('{');
                    var key = objectNames.Dequeue();

                    objects.Add(key, b);
                }

                objectBuffer = string.Empty;
            }

            objectBuffer += c;
        }

        return objects;
    }

    private static Dictionary<string, string> GetValues(string input)
    {
        var output = new Dictionary<string, string>();
        var values = input.Split(new string[] { ", " }, System.StringSplitOptions.None);

        foreach (var val in values)
        {
            var parts = val.Split('=');
            if (parts.Length == 2)
            {
                var key = parts[0].Trim(' ');
                var value = parts[1].Trim(' ');
                output.Add(key, value);
            }
        }

        return output;
    }
}

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