Retrieve data from firebase database to nested dictionary

Question

I'm having a lots of problems trying to retrieve data from the firebase database and moving that data to a unity dictionary.

So I would like to do this, to just retrieve the data one time and then place all the data to a dictionary, the problem is that I can't find the way to do it if the dictionary is a nested dictionary.

This is how my database looks like (simplified):

    {"questions": {
    "group1": {
        "id_1": {
          "Question": "question one",
          "A": "answer1"
        },
        "id_2": {
          "Question": "question two",
          "A": "answer2"
        }
      }
  }
    }

So in my code I do the following:

public void RetrievePreguntesJson()
{
    string group = "group1"
    questions_ref.Child(group).GetValueAsync().ContinueWith(task => {
        if (task.IsFaulted)
        {
            Debug.LogError("Error Getting Info from user database");
        }
        else if (task.IsCompleted)
        {
            DataSnapshot snapshot = task.Result;
            myDictionary = snapshot.Value as Dictionary<string, object>;
            dataReady();
        }
    });
}

So the problem is that I can't get any value. I would like to do something like myDictionary["id_1"]["Question"] and get the value "question one". Or myDictionary["id_1"].Question and get the value "question one".

I already tried the following: - Create a Class questions like this:

public class Questions
{
    public string id;
    public string Question;
    public string Answer;

    public Questions(string id, string Question, string Answer)
    {
        this.id = id;
        this.Question = Question;
        this.Answer = Answer;
    }
}

And use the following code instead of "userInfoDictionary = snapshot.Value as Dictionary<string, object>;"

Use:

Questions ClassObjectName = JsonUtility.FromJson<Questions>(snapshot.GetRawJsonValue());

But it didn't work either.

Also tried:

"userInfoDictionary = snapshot.Value as Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, object>>;"

But it won't work either.

Can anyone help me please?

"EDIT"

This is my json:

{"questions": {
    "group1": {
        "id_1": {
          "Question": "question one",
          "A": "answer1"
        },
        "id_2": {
          "Question": "question two",
          "A": "answer2"
        }
      }
  }
    }

And this are the objects:

[System.Serializable]
public class Group1
{
    public QuestionsId group1;
}
[System.Serializable]
public class QuestionsId
{
    public Questions id;
}
[System.Serializable]
public class Questions
{
    public string Question;
    public string A;
}

I'm deserializing the Json with:

Group1 ClassObjectName = JsonUtility.FromJson<Group1>(snapshot.GetRawJsonValue());

I would like to be able to have a result calling the values like this: myDictionary["id_1"].Question myDictionary["id_1"]["Question"]

I'm using the object and the Json utility now, but if there is anyway to use a unity dictionary to have the result that I would like to have it is also ok for me. For example: "userInfoDictionary = snapshot.Value as Dictionary<string, object>;"

Does anyone knows how to help me please?

Answer 1

If someone has the same problem. What I found to do what I was looking for, is that JsonUtility from unity can't do it because it just work with a knowing keys as you have always to create your objects as a classes in unity. So, if for example my json has the "id_3" key it will not work because my objects only have "id_1" and "id_2". The only way to be able to create an undefined numbers of Ids is making them an arrays (which I don't want in this case) because it will make you call the dictionary something like this: myDictionary[0]["Question"] But anyway, just if someone needs it, the Json should be like this to work with JsonUtility (setting the Ids as an array):

{"questions": {
    "group1": [
               {
                 "Question": "question one",
                 "A": "answer1"
               },
               {
                 "Question": "question two",
                 "A": "answer2"
               }
              ]
          }
 }

Well, as this isn't what I was looking for, the easiest way I found to do it is using the SimpleJson library which does exactly what I expected and it is super easy to use, without needed to create your own objects in unity. With a normal Json file coming from the snapshot of the firebase:

{"questions": {
        "group1": {
            "id_1": {
              "Question": "question one",
              "A": "answer1"
            },
            "id_2": {
              "Question": "question two",
              "A": "answer2"
            }
          }
       }
     }

You just have to do the following:

var N = JSON.Parse(snapshot.GetRawJsonValue());
Debug.Log("N---> " + N["id_1"].ToString());

So it does exactly what I expected. The bad thing here is that this is an external library, so it could have some problems in unity for example trying to use syncVars with this data.