Deserialize json tuple to object using ordinal index

Question

In this lecture about Json Schemas we can validate that a json array has specific types for specific indices (it's called tuple there). For example a tuple for an street address:

[NUMBER, STREET_NAME, STREET_TYPE, DIRECTION] // Structure
[1600, "Pennsylvania", "Avenue", "NW"] // Example

where the different items in this (fixed length) array mean:

• (int) NUMBER: The address number.
• (string) STREET_NAME: The name of the street.
• (enum) STREET_TYPE: The type of street. Can be Street, Avenue or Boulevard.
• (enum) DIRECTION: The city quadrant of the address. Can be NW, NE, SW or SE.

What is a clean way of deserializing such an array using Newtonsofts Json.Net? The model should look like:

public class StreetAddress
{
    public int Number { get; set; }
    public string StreetName { get; set; }
    public StreetType StreetType { get; set; }
    public Direction Direction { get; set; }
}

public enum StreetType
{
    Street,
    Avenue,
    Boulevard
}

public enum Direction
{
    Nw,
    Ne,
    Sw,
    Se
}

Are there attributes to define the ordinal indices for each property or an attribute for using an e.g. ArrayConverter for the whole model? Well, we could just use a JArray und assign each property from an index, but that does not feel very smooth.

Answer 1

This is how I would set up your data class StreetAddress:

public class StreetAddress
{
    [JsonProperty(Order = 1)]
    public Int32 Number { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty(Order = 2)]
    public String StreetName { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty(Order = 3)]
    [JsonConverter(typeof(StringEnumConverter))]
    public StreetType StreetType { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty(Order = 3)]
    [JsonConverter(typeof(StringEnumConverter))]
    public Direction Direction { get; set; }
}

Then you have to implement the proper conversion type of your enumerators using StringEnumConverter:

[JsonConverter(typeof(StringEnumConverter))]
public enum StreetType
{
    [EnumMember(Value = "Street")]
    Street,
    [EnumMember(Value = "Avenue")]
    Avenue,
    [EnumMember(Value = "Boulevard")]
    Boulevard
}

[JsonConverter(typeof(StringEnumConverter))]
public enum Direction
{
    [EnumMember(Value = "Nw")]
    Nw,
    [EnumMember(Value = "Ne")]
    Ne,
    [EnumMember(Value = "Sw")]
    Sw,
    [EnumMember(Value = "Se")]
    Se
}

This should be enough to parse your data.