C# Get a specific string from a textbox on Windows Form

Question

I wrote a program where a user inputs an address, clicks a linklabel and the program will download the text on a website into a text box.

That code looks like this:

    private void llbMap_LinkClicked(object sender, LinkLabelLinkClickedEventArgs e)
    {
        var _address = txtAddress.Text + " " + txtCity.Text + " " + "NY " + txtZip.Text;
        txtFullAddress.Text = _address.ToString();

        string toolDistanceMeasuring = "https://mywebsite.net/distance/?Type=json&Token=TUdBIFN5c3RlbXM1&Address=" + _address;

        WebClient wc = new WebClient();
        byte[] raw = wc.DownloadData(toolDistanceMeasuring);

        string webData = Encoding.UTF8.GetString(raw);
        txtWebData.Text = webData.ToString();
    }

When the user clicks the LinkLabel txtWebData is filled with this:

{
   "status":"OK",
   "fromlatitude":40.86791,
   "fromlongitude":-73.428906,
   "locationtype":"ROOFTOP",
   "distancecoastmiles":1.7,
   "closestdistancelatitude":40.8704815141,
   "closestdistancelongitude":-73.4612902712,
   "elevationstart":91.9,
   "elevationend":0
}

I want to know how I can extract just the "distancecoastmiles" from that textbox and put that data in another textbox. Any ideas how I might be able to accomplish that?

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 21 '15 at 16:36

You get a json object. You can define your custom class:

internal class Data
{
    public float distancecoastmiles;
}

And deserialize this string to object:

var s = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var o = s.Deserialize<Data>(webData.ToString());
var value = o.distancecoastmiles;

Also, you can extract other values from your string, just add new fields to Data class.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 21 '15 at 16:42

well, it's obviously a JSON, but if you want to retrieve it using the Text property of a textBox, you could also do it like this:

var arrItems = txtWebData.Text.Split(",");
string coastmiles = "";
foreach (var item in arrItems)
{
    if(item.Contains(distancecoastmiles))
    {
        var subarr = item.Split(":");
        coastmiles = item.Last();
    }
}

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

0

The text you are retrieving is JSON. The simplest way to parse it is to parse it to JsonObject and access the distancecoastmiles property.

dynamic d = JObject.Parse(txtWebData.Text);

txtSomeOther.Text = d.distancecoastmiles;

Reference:

Deserialize json object into dynamic object using Json.net

Note that JObject is part of Json.Net, which you can add to your project using NuGet.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

Community

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answered Oct 21 '15 at 16:39

Eric J.

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rheitzman · Answer 4 · 2015-10-21T17:28:27.520

Here is a VB.Net 4.5+ version with the reference/import documented:

Public Class Locat ' generated on http://jsonutils.com/
    Public Property status As String
    Public Property fromlatitude As Double
    Public Property fromlongitude As Double
    Public Property locationtype As String
    Public Property distancecoastmiles As Double
    Public Property closestdistancelatitude As Double
    Public Property closestdistancelongitude As Double
    Public Property elevationstart As Double
    Public Property elevationend As Integer
End Class

Private Sub Button11_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button11.Click
    'project reference to .Net System.Web.Extensions
    'Imports System.Web.Script.Serialization
    Dim jSerializer As New JavaScriptSerializer()
    Dim strData2 = <j>
        {
           "status":"OK",
           "fromlatitude":40.86791,
           "fromlongitude":-73.428906,
           "locationtype":"ROOFTOP",
           "distancecoastmiles":1.7,
           "closestdistancelatitude":40.8704815141,
           "closestdistancelongitude":-73.4612902712,
           "elevationstart":91.9,
           "elevationend":0
        }
        </j>.Value
    Try
        Dim o As Locat = jSerializer.Deserialize(Of Locat)(strData2)
        MsgBox(o.distancecoastmiles)
    Catch ex As Exception
        MsgBox(ex.Message)
    End Try
End Sub

C# Get a specific string from a textbox on Windows Form

4 Answers4