Deserialize JSON C# Json.net

Question

I am trying to deserialize a Json response from an API.

The data looks like this

{
"response": {
    "6112": {
        "ID": 6112,
        "Title": "AdditionalPhotos"
    },
    "5982": {
        "ID": 5982,
        "Title": "BikeRide"
    },
    "total_records": "20",
    "returned_count": 10,
    "returned_records": "1-10"

}
}

C# class:

public class Products
{
    public class Product
    {
        public string Id { get; set; }
        public string Title { get; set; }
    }
    public Product product { get; set; }
}

public class ss
{
    public Dictionary<string, Products.Product> Response { get; set; }
    public string total_records { get; set; }

}

Serialization code

 ss res = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ss>(jsonData());

I can get it to work without the total_records entry and below by deserializng to a Dictionary <string , Product>. But I cannot figure out how to get it to work. This is the error I get

Error converting value "20" to type 'Products+Product'. Path 'response.total_records'

I know why I get the error, but I'm unsure how I can proceed without going in and substringing from total_records down. I have no control over the API data.

Edit: you guys are fast, I was still getting to putting the classes up

Answer 1

First you json is not valid one, it should look like this

{
 "response":{  
    "6112":{  
        "ID":"6112",
        "Title":"Additional Photos",
    },
    "5982":{  
        "ID":"5982",
        "Title":"Bike Ride",
    },
    "total_records": "20",
    "returned_count": "10",
    "returned_records": "1-10",
    }
}

If you mean the response to contain list it should look like this

{
 "response":{  
    "myArray": [
        {  
            "ID":"6112",
            "Title":"Additional Photos",
        },
        {  
            "ID":"5982",
            "Title":"Bike Ride",
        }
    ],
    "total_records": "20",
    "returned_count": "10",
    "returned_records": "1-10",
    }
}

So your code look like this

public class MyArray
{
    public string ID { get; set; }
    public string Title { get; set; }
}

public class Response
{
    public List<MyArray> myArray { get; set; }
    public string total_records { get; set; }
    public string returned_count { get; set; }
    public string returned_records { get; set; }
}

public class RootObject
{
    public Response response { get; set; }
}

Answer 2

If you have control over API response then please refer to Mzf's answer.

If you don't have control over API then it may not be possible to do this particular deserialization on one go. You might have to loop.

Here's my take.

Update

Modified my approach:

Created a class Response which inherits from Dictionary<string, Product>, and added the metadata parts like total_records, records_count to it's public properties. And created a JsonConverter that can deserialize JObject to Response class.

The logic used for deserialization is quite simple:

• Extract the metadata parts like total_records, records_count to variables.
• Then remove those metadata from the JObject, so that the key values becomes homogeneous.
• Now Json.net will be easily able to serialize JObject to Response object, as key values are homogenous.

• Assign the metadata extracted previously to the properties of Response object

  public void Deserialize()
  {
      var json = @"{
        'response':{  
          '6112':{  
             'ID':6112,
             'Title':'Additional Photos',
          },
          '5982':{  
              'ID':5982,
              'Title':'Bike Ride',
          },
          'total_records': '20',
          'returned_count': 10,
          'returned_records': '1-10',
          }
      }";
      var responseObj = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ss>(json, new ResponseConverter());
  
  }
  
  public class Response : Dictionary<string, Product>
  {
      public int total_records { get; set; }
  
      public int returned_count { get; set; }
  
      public string returned_records { get; set; }
  }
  
  public class Product
  {
      public string Id { get; set; }
      public string Title { get; set; }
  }
  
  
  public class ss
  {
      public Response Response { get; set; }
  }
  
  public class ResponseConverter : Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConverter
  {
      private Response CreateResponse(Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject jObject)
      {
          //preserve metadata values into variables
          int total_records = jObject["total_records"].ToObject<int>();
          var returned_records = jObject["returned_records"].ToObject<string>();
          var returned_count = jObject["returned_count"].ToObject<int>();
  
          //remove the unwanted keys
          jObject.Remove("total_records");
          jObject.Remove("returned_records");
          jObject.Remove("returned_count");
  
          //once, the metadata keys are removed, json.net will be able to deserialize without problem
          var response = jObject.ToObject<Response>();
  
          //Assign back the metadata to response object
          response.total_records = total_records;
          response.returned_count = returned_count;
          response.returned_records = returned_records;
  
         //.. now person can be accessed like response['6112'], and
         // metadata can be accessed like response.total_records
  
          return response;
      }
  
      public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
      {
          return objectType == typeof(Response);
      }
  
      public override object ReadJson(Newtonsoft.Json.JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializer serializer)
      {
          var jObject = Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject.Load(reader);
  
          Response target = CreateResponse(jObject);
  
          serializer.Populate(jObject.CreateReader(), target);
  
          return target;
      }
  
      public override void WriteJson(Newtonsoft.Json.JsonWriter writer, object value, Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializer serializer)
      {
          throw new NotImplementedException();
      }
  }
  

Answer 3

In my opinion this is how the JSON file should look like:

{
"response": {
    "5982": {
        "ID": 5982,
        "Title": "BikeRide"
    },
    "6112": {
        "ID": 6112,
        "Title": "AdditionalPhotos"
    },
    "total_records": "20",
    "returned_count": 10,
    "returned_records": "1-10"
}
}

and this is how the class should look like

public class __invalid_type__5982
{
 public int ID { get; set; }
 public string Title { get; set; }
}

public class __invalid_type__6112
{
  public int ID { get; set; }
  public string Title { get; set; }
}

public class Response
{
 public __invalid_type__5982 __invalid_name__5982 { get; set; }
 public __invalid_type__6112 __invalid_name__6112 { get; set; }
 public string total_records { get; set; }
 public int returned_count { get; set; }
 public string returned_records { get; set; }
}

public class RootObject
{
 public Response response { get; set; }
}