Deserialize json into array when object name is an integer [duplicate]

Question

Firstly, I know how to deserialize json into objects in general but I am still very new to C#. I am able to deserialize the json below, but the outcome is not what I would call "elegant".

{
  "slot":0,
    "io":{
      "relay":{
        "4":{
          "relayStatus":1
        }
      }
    }
 }

The issue I am having is with the relay number, "4" in this instance, as the data name in the object is an integer. The "4" could be any value from 0 to 5.

What I currently have coded is a C# object that I can reference like this..

relays.Io.Relay.Relay4.RelayStatus

Which is okay but I would like to be able to reference it like this..

relayStatus[4]

Which would be an array with a length of 6 that contains the value of "relayStatus" at position 4.

My apologies if I have not asked this question very well. Please feel free to ask for more explanation if required.

Does this answer your question? How can I parse a JSON string that would cause illegal C# identifiers?, Deserializing JSON with dynamic keys — Yong Shun
– Yong Shun, Commented Jun 24, 2022 at 7:11
Just to clarify, in this particular example you would like to have an relayStatus array with length 6 which contains 1 Relay object and 5 nulls. Is my understanding correct? — Peter Csala
– Peter Csala, Commented Jun 24, 2022 at 7:54
You need to declare relay as a Dictionary<int, Relay> and then the dictionary will have a key 4 — Charlieface
– Charlieface, Commented Jun 24, 2022 at 8:23
@Charlieface I've tried to do this but failed. Are you able to provide a quick example? — Mush
– Mush, Commented Jun 24, 2022 at 9:18
@YongShun I think it might but I couldn't get the example provided in that post to work. The dictionary had the keys of 1 and 2 but the values were "json_testing.Class3+Item" not the json objects? — Mush
– Mush, Commented Jun 24, 2022 at 9:19

Serge · Accepted Answer · 2022-06-24 11:36:56Z

1

try this, you maybe need to add some validations, I don't know all details

   var relay =JObject.Parse(json)["io"]["relay"]
       .ToObject<Dictionary<string, JObject>>().First();

    var relayStatus = new int[6];
    var index = Convert.ToInt32(relay.Key);

    relayStatus[index] = (int) relay.Value["relayStatus"];

    var result = relayStatus[4];  // 1

but IMHO since you have only one relay status property, this code is better

var relayStatus = RelayStatus(json);

public int RelayStatus(string json)
{
    var relay = JObject.Parse(json)["io"]["relay"]
       .ToObject<Dictionary<string, JObject>>().First();

    return (int)relay.Value["relayStatus"];
}

edited Jun 24, 2022 at 11:36

answered Jun 24, 2022 at 11:12

Serge

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1 Comment

Mush Over a year ago

Thank you so much! The first piece of code that you provided does exactly what I was trying to achieve. What's more, you wrote in a way that a noob like me could understand what was going on.

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