Parsing JSON in C# 4.0

Question

Can anyone help me to parse this JSON into an object IN C# 4.0. I have spent the last two days trying.
I have JSON.NET and several other peoples suggestions to no avail.

I thought it would be best just to give the JSON sample and to ask for your suggestions.

{
"message-count":"1",
"messages":[
        {"to":"441234567890",
          "messageprice":"0.02900000",
          "status":"0",
          "messageid":"030000001DFE2CB1",
          "remainingbalance":"1.56500000",
                      "network":"23433"}
                ]
}

Many thanks, Adrian

p.s Their is some nice code here, if you want to use github. https://github.com/lukesampson/HastyAPI.Nexmo

First of all, I'd recommend avoiding the dash in JSON keys: "message-count" will cause you extra work. Use "message_count" — Andrei Drynov, Jul 30 '13 at 11:27
Hi AD, I have no control over this. This is what I get from the server. I have managed to sort it out. I just had the class structure wrong when using JSON.Net. It seems to take quite a while to load though. Why does Microsoft not have a reasonable introduction to JSON? — Welshboy, Jul 30 '13 at 11:41
@ADNow: why do you suggest to not use a dash in a property name? Is it because the C# language does not allow it (and thus require an extra attribute on the class)? — Steve B, Jul 30 '13 at 12:15
You cannot use dot syntax to reference the hyphenated keys in JavaScript, like data.message-count, you are forced to use data["message-count"]. I do not see Google suggesting to use dashes in their guidelines either: http://google-styleguide.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/jsoncstyleguide.xml#Property_Name_Guidelines — Andrei Drynov, Jul 30 '13 at 12:26

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

I will cheat and create C# classes quickly using this tool: http://json2csharp.com/ (or just discovered http://jsonclassgenerator.codeplex.com/)

enter image description here

Then I change C# classes to my liking

public class MessagesJSON
{
    public int MessageCount { get; set; }
    public List<Message> Messages { get; set; }
}

public class Message
{
    public string To { get; set; }
    public double MessagePrice { get; set; }
    public int Status { get; set; }
    public string MessageId { get; set; }
    public double RemainingBalance { get; set; }
    public string Network { get; set; }
}

MessagesJSON is just a name I made that represents the JSON object that you are passing to C#.

I pass the JSON string from the client, e.g.

{\"MessageCount\":1,\"Messages\":[{\"To\":\"441234567890\",\"MessagePrice\":0.029,\"Status\":0,\"MessageId\":\"030000001DFE2CB1\",\"RemainingBalance\":1.565,\"Network\":\"23433\"}]

Then I can use JSON.NET to convert JSON to C# objects:

public void YourMethod(MessagesJSON json) {
   var result = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<MessagesJSON>(json);
}

Here's the result:

enter image description here

Watch out for capitalisation.

If you want to use lower-case JSON keys only, change the C# classes to lower-case, e.g. public double messageprice { get; set; }

C# classes:

 public class MessagesJSON
    {
        public int message_count { get; set; }
        public List<Message> messages { get; set; }
    }

public class Message
{
    public string to { get; set; }
    public string messageprice { get; set; }
    public string status { get; set; }
    public string messageid { get; set; }
    public string remainingbalance { get; set; }
    public string network { get; set; }
}

This is as close to your JSON as you want:

{\"message_count\":1,\"messages\":[{\"to\":\"441234567890\",\"messageprice\":\"0.02900000\",\"status\":\"0\",\"messageid\":\"030000001DFE2CB1\",\"remainingbalance\":\"1.56500000\",\"network\":\"23433\"}]}

enter image description here

or use one of these solutions if you really like CamelCasing:

CamelCase only if PropertyName not explicitly set in Json.Net?

JObject & CamelCase conversion with JSON.Net

I myself prefer attributes

public class Message
    {
        [JsonProperty("to")]
        public string To { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("messageprice")]
        public string MessagePrice { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("status")]
        public string Status { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("messageid")]
        public string MessageId { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("remainingbalance")]
        public string RemainingBalance { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("network")]
        public string Network { get; set; }
    }

Pass your string:

"{\"message_count\":1,\"messages\":[{\"to\":\"441234567890\",\"messageprice\":\"0.02900000\",\"status\":\"0\",\"messageid\":\"030000001DFE2CB1\",\"remainingbalance\":\"1.56500000\",\"network\":\"23433\"}]}"

but get the pretty C# property names:

enter image description here

Hi Ad, That's exactly what I did. Thanks a lot. – Welshboy Jul 30 '13 at 12:11 — Welshboy, Jul 30 '13 at 12:11

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 30 '13 at 11:31

0

Create objects with the same structure as the json and call.

JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Entity>(json);

Edit. You have to use JSON.NET if u wanna do it this way.

answered Jul 30 '13 at 11:31

Tan

2,148
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Thanks Tan. That's what I did do. – Welshboy Jul 30 '13 at 12:12

Parsing JSON in C# 4.0

2 Answers2