How do I deserialize a JSON array that contains only values?

Question

I'm getting this result from a web function.

["767,20150221122715,121053103,14573465,1,7,302",
"767,20150221122756,121053165,14573375,1,0,302",
"767,20150221122840,121053498,14572841,1,12,124"]

Usually Json have PropertyName: Value But this have an array of strings, and each string have the values separated by comma. I know what each value position mean.

I try using JsonConvert.DeserializeObject but couldn't make it work.

string deserializedProduct = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<string>(json);
//and
List<string> deserializedProduct = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<string>(json);

I can parse the string doing a split, but I'm wondering if there is an easy way.

Can you [edit] the title of your question to something that actually has meaning? *This is a JSON string* has no meaning, and it will be absolutely irrelevant to anyone who finds it in a search result in the future. The title should explain the problem you're having or the question you're asking. Thanks. — Ken White, Mar 12 '15 at 02:46
The JSON result you are getting is a JSON array which is perfectly legal, I would recommend you to to read this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18192357/deserializing-json-object-array-with-json-net — dvhh, Mar 12 '15 at 02:48
@JasonZ thanks for the suggestion, As you saw for my first question i wasnt sure that was an Json string. But now you question make it easy to find how to solve it. — Juan Carlos Oropeza, Mar 12 '15 at 02:53
@JuanCarlosOropeza You're welcome! A good site to use to test out whether you have a valid JSON string or not is http://www.jslint.com/. — Jason Z, Mar 12 '15 at 02:55
Now with the new title, it really makes it a duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/a/18192564/105104 — dvhh, Mar 12 '15 at 03:03

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

4

To answer your question, according to to http://json.org/, it is a valid JSON value (an array of string).

To deserialize it according to this stack overflow question you should use JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<string>>(json); to convert it

edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

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answered Mar 12 '15 at 02:53

dvhh

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Your first assumption was that the JSON result was invaldi which didn't help your search for an answer, I suggest you go upvote the people in the linked SO question which would help people in the future – dvhh Mar 12 '15 at 03:01
@Thomas please create the question related to this, or better yet search google, if you are using `JsonConvert` this [answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/18948852/105104) should be what you search for. – dvhh Jul 19 '16 at 00:58

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 12 '15 at 03:03

The generic parameter to the DeserializeObject<T>() method is the type you want the deserializer to deserialize to. Your json string represents an array of strings so you should be deserializing to a collection of strings (typically List<string>).

var values = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<string>>(json);

However, it isn't necessary to specify the type. There is a non-generic overload that returns object. It will (in this case) return an instance of a JArray with the appropriate values.

object values = JsonConvert.Deserialize(json);

Though, it would be better to return a more specific type if possible. To keep it more generalized, you can use JToken for the generic type or even more specifically, JArray.

var values = JsonConvert.Deserialize<JToken>(json); // good
var values = JsonConvert.Deserialize<JArray>(json); // better in this case

How do I deserialize a JSON array that contains only values?

2 Answers2

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