Inline string Json to formatted Json with C#

Question

I have to send a variables Json to Mailgun but it only accepts the curly braces format when using multi level json files. So,

How can I pass from this:

{ "vehicle.type": "car"}

To this, with C#

{"vehicle": {"type": "car"}}

Having into consideration that sometimes it could be up to 3 nested elements. Like element1.element2.element3: value

Answer 1

Here is tricky way using string replacement. replace for any dot(.) with this (": {") and add close tag (}) at the end for every dot(.) count. Good luck!

Try This:

IDictionary<string, object> Expand(IDictionary<string, object> d)
{
    var result = new Dictionary<string, object>();
    foreach (KeyValuePair<string, object> item in d)
    {
        var segments = item.Key.Split('.');
        if (segments.Length > 1)
        {
            if (result.ContainsKey(segments[0]))
            {
                dynamic obj = new ExpandoObject();
                obj = result[segments[0]];
                IDictionary<string, object> myObj = obj;
                myObj.Add(string.Join(".", segments.Skip(1)), item.Value);

                result[segments[0]] = Expand(myObj);
            }
            else
            {
                result[segments[0]] = Expand(new Dictionary<string, object>
                {
                    [string.Join(".", segments.Skip(1))] = item.Value
                });
            }
        }
        else
        {
            result[segments[0]] = item.Value;
        }
    }

    return result;
}

Answer 2

Here is what I recommend.

note: I am using the Newtonsoft.Json library available via Nuget, if you are using .NET Core, you can use the built in System.Text.Json library.

Because we have multiple properties in the object with flattened property keys, qualified with .s and we need to convert these properties into a hierarchical, nested JSON structure, merging siblings appropriately at each level, a simple string replacement is neither safe nor effective.

Therefore, the approach here will be to parse the flattened property keys, such as "hospital.hospitalExtraData1.Street" recursively inferring and creating a hierarchy of nested objects.

Let's begin

var originalJson = @"{
  ""hospital.Name"": ""BestOneEver"",
  ""hospital.Estatus"": ""Active"",
  ""hospital.hospitalExtraData1.Street"": ""43"",
  ""hospital.hospitalExtraData1.Color"": ""Blue"",
  ""hospital.hospitalExtraData1.hospitalExtraData2.IsExpensive"": ""No"",
  ""hospital.hospitalExtraData1.hospitalExtraData2.Works24Hrs"": ""Yes"",
  ""patient.Name"": ""Leonel Messi"",
  ""patient.Age"": ""23""
}";

var original = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<IDictionary<string, object>>(originalJson);

Now we have an object model we can work with and restructure.

We will do this using recursion

var original = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<IDictionary<string, object>>(originalJson);

IDictionary<string, object> Expand(IDictionary<string, object> input)
{
    var result = new Dictionary<string, object>();
    foreach (var property in input)
    {
        var (key, remainder) = ParseKey(property.Key);
        if (!result.ContainsKey(key))
        {
            result[key] = remainder != null 
                ? Expand(new Dictionary<string, object>
                {
                    [remainder] = property.Value
                })
                : property.Value;
        }
        else if (result[key] is IDictionary<string, object> inner)
        {
            inner[remainder] = property.Value;
            result[key] = Expand(inner);
        }
        else
        {
            result[key] = property.Value;
        }
    }
    return result;
}
(string key, string remainder) ParseKey(string key)
{
    var dotIndex = key.IndexOf('.');
    if (dotIndex != -1)
    {
        return (key.Substring(0, dotIndex), key.Substring(dotIndex + 1));
    }
    return (key, null);
}

var expanded = Expand(original);

var expandedJson = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(expanded, Newtonsoft.Json.Formatting.Indented);

Result:

{
  "hospital": {
    "Name": "BestOneEver",
    "Estatus": "Active",
    "hospitalExtraData1": {
      "Street": "43",
      "Color": "Blue",
      "hospitalExtraData2": {
        "IsExpensive": "No",
        "Works24Hrs": "Yes"
      }
    }
  },
  "patient": {
    "Name": "Leonel Messi",
    "Age": "23"
  }
}