Get a list of JSON property names from a class to use in a query string

Question

If I have a C# model class that is used by JSON.net to bind data from a serialized JSON string, is there a way that I can create a query string from that class in order to make the initial request?

Model class example:

public class model
{
   [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "id")]
   public long ID { get; set; }
   [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "some_string")]
   public string SomeString {get; set;} 
}

Querystring example:

baseUrl + uri + "&fields=id,some_string" + token

So the essence of what I am trying to do is gather both "id" and "some_string" from the model object so i can dynamically create a the "&fields" arguments. Thanks!

Answer 1

@Leigh Shepperson has the right idea; however, you can do it with less code using LINQ. I would create a helper method like this:

using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
...

public static string GetFields(Type modelType)
{
    return string.Join(",",
        modelType.GetProperties()
                 .Select(p => p.GetCustomAttribute<JsonPropertyAttribute>())
                 .Select(jp => jp.PropertyName));
}

You can use it like this:

var fields = "&fields=" + GetFields(typeof(model));

EDIT

If you're running under the 3.5 version of the .Net Framework such that you don't have the generic GetCustomAttribute<T> method available to you, you can do the same thing with the non-generic GetCustomAttributes() method instead, using it with SelectMany and Cast<T>:

    return string.Join(",",
        modelType.GetProperties()
                 .SelectMany(p => p.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(JsonPropertyAttribute))
                                   .Cast<JsonPropertyAttribute>())
                 .Select(jp => jp.PropertyName)
                 .ToArray());

Answer 2

You can do this using reflection. This is the general idea:

using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization;
using System.Reflection;

namespace ConsoleApplication8
{
    public class model
    {
        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "id")]
        public long ID { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "some_string")]
        public string SomeString { get; set; }
    }

    internal class Program
    {
        private static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var model = new model();

            var result = string.Empty;

            PropertyInfo[] props = typeof(model).GetProperties();
            foreach (PropertyInfo prop in props)
            {
                foreach (object attr in prop.GetCustomAttributes(true))
                {
                    result += (attr as JsonPropertyAttribute).PropertyName;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

In cases where the model is only partially annotated with [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "XXX")] attributes, or is annotated with data contract attributes, or has ignored properties, you can use Json.NET's own contract resolver to obtain the list of serialized property names. First, introduce the following extension method:

public static class JsonExtensions
{
    public static string [] PropertyNames(this IContractResolver resolver, Type type)
    {
        if (resolver == null || type == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException();
        var contract = resolver.ResolveContract(type) as JsonObjectContract;
        if (contract == null)
            return new string[0];
        return contract.Properties.Where(p => !p.Ignored).Select(p => p.PropertyName).ToArray();
    }
}

Then, do:

// Allocate the relevant contract resolver. 
// Options are CamelCasePropertyNamesContractResolver() or DefaultContractResolver().
IContractResolver resolver = new DefaultContractResolver(); 

// Get properties
var propertyNames = resolver.PropertyNames(typeof(model));
var fields = "&fields=" + String.Join(",", propertyNames);

For resolver use CamelCasePropertyNamesContractResolver if you are camel casing your property names (which ASP.NET Core Web API does by default); otherwise use DefaultContractResolver.

Sample fiddle.

Answer 4

A small variation of @Brian Rogers solution that solve null exception problem:

IEnumerable<string> props = typeof(T).GetProperties()
                                     .Select(p => p.GetCustomAttribute<JsonPropertyAttribute>())
                                     .Where(jp => jp != null)
                                     .Select(jp => jp.PropertyName);

string propsList = string.Join(',', props);

Answer 5

public class CreateContactProperties
{
   [JsonProperty("email")] public string email { get; set; }
   [JsonProperty("firstname")] public string firstname { get; set; }
}

public string GetJsonPropertyFieldName(PropertyInfo t)
{
   var attr = t.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(JsonPropertyAttribute), true).FirstOrDefault() as JsonPropertyAttribute;

   return attr.PropertyName;
}


IList<PropertyInfo> entityprops = new List<PropertyInfo>(typeof(CreateContactProperties).GetProperties());
foreach (var item in entityprops)
{
  properties += $"{GetJsonPropertyFieldName(item)}, ";
}