How to auto-generate a C# class file from a JSON string

Question

Given the following JSON object,

form = {
  "name": "",
  "address": {
    "street": "",
    "city": "",
    "province": "",
    "postalCode": "",
    "country": ""
  },
  "phoneDay": "",
  "phoneCell": "",
  "businessName": "",
  "website": "",
  "email": ""
}

what is a tool to auto-generate the following C# class?

public class ContactInfo
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public Address Address { get; set; }
    public string PhoneDay { get; set; }
    public string PhoneCell { get; set; }
    public string BusinessName { get; set; }
    public string Website { get; set; }
    public string Email { get; set; }
}

public class Address
{
    public string Street { get; set; }
    public string City { get; set; }
    public string Province { get; set; }
    public string PostalCode { get; set; }
    public string Country { get; set; }
}

We have already looked at these questions:

Generate C# classes from JSON Schema Is asking about JSON Schemas which may be an approach to use down the road.

Benefits and drawbacks of generated C# classes for Json objects

try this tool might help.. http://tools4geeks.com/json-to-Csharp-classes — Dheeraj Palagiri, Jul 18 '16 at 21:25
Unfortunately json2charp.com is now a domain on sale. That sucks, and the quicktipe one is kinda clunky. Does anybody know a better alternative? — DARKGuy, Apr 23 '20 at 21:50

score 185 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 15 '20 at 23:46

185

Five options:

Use the free jsonutils web tool without installing anything.
If you have Web Essentials in Visual Studio, use Edit > Paste special > paste JSON as class.
Use the free jsonclassgenerator.exe
The web tool app.quicktype.io does not require installing anything.
The web tool json2csharp also does not require installing anything.

Pros and Cons:

jsonclassgenerator converts to PascalCase but the others do not.
app.quicktype.io has some logic to recognize dictionaries and handle JSON properties whose names are invalid c# identifiers.

edited Jul 15 '20 at 23:46

dbc

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answered Feb 06 '14 at 19:01

Shaun Luttin

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both Web Essentials and json2csharp are doing a great job. Didn't try jsonclassgenerator, cause it seemed like a hassle to need to open a separate app just for that – Zoran P. Sep 27 '15 at 06:25
1

I haven't tried jsonclassgenerator but I can see the advantage. For example if you had a mock api, you could interate over a set of endpoints to regenerate your models. You could go as far as setting a script that checks for new commits and updates the model if anything has changed. You wouldn't want to manually paste new json each time as this could be prone to mistakes. – Billy Jake O'Connor Jan 16 '17 at 15:29
The json2csharp tool does a nicer job than VS of formatting the classes especially the class names. It will remove ambiguous characters like "_" and correctly camel case the class names thereafter. – big_water Feb 08 '17 at 17:22
2

"jsonutils" is pretty cool, it can generate attributes like "Json properties" as well, http://jsonutils.com/ – Dhanuka777 Mar 27 '17 at 00:50
app.quicktype.io this one does not work on some machines due to security concerns. – Sean Ch Jun 04 '20 at 10:56

score 166 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 14 '15 at 18:36

166

Visual Studio 2012 (with ASP.NET and Web Tools 2012.2 RC installed) supports this natively.

Visual Studio 2013 onwards have this built-in.

(Image courtesy: robert.muehsig)

answered Dec 14 '15 at 18:36

Mrchief

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I think this solution is the best, because you will not need an external program! – Abraão Caldas Aug 12 '16 at 18:18
before pasting [here](http://superuser.com/questions/777213/copy-json-from-console-log-in-developer-tool-to-clipboard) is **solution to Copy JSON from console.log** in developer tool to clipboard. Hope helps. – Shaiju T Dec 27 '16 at 11:47

score 12 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 06 '14 at 19:04

12

If you install Web Essentials into Visual studio you can go to Edit => Past special => paste JSON as class.

That is probably the easiest there is.

Web Essentials: http://vswebessentials.com/

answered Feb 06 '14 at 19:04

Kenneth

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How to auto-generate a C# class file from a JSON string

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