How to convert json with dynamic root name to C# list

Question

var stringResult = await HttpHelper.PostAsync(batchUrl, content);

I am getting following result as an API response in C# in above stringResult variable after calling above line. I want to convert below "Items" value to C# list. In every result, first GUID is different. How to convert the below result in C# List. I want only Items.

{
    "0934009e-6518-4440-91e3-c252d2e2cc4f": {
        "Status": 200,
        "Headers": {
            "Content-Type": "application/json; charset=utf-8"
        },
        "Content": {
            "Items": [{
                    "Timestamp": "2021-10-18T14:00:00Z",
                    "Value": 20.7,
                    "UnitsAbbreviation": "ppm"
                }, {
                    "Timestamp": "2021-10-25T14:00:00Z",
                    "Value": 15.9,
                    "UnitsAbbreviation": "ppm"
                }, {
                    "Timestamp": "2021-11-01T14:00:00Z",
                    "Value": 14.8,
                    "UnitsAbbreviation": "ppm"
                }, {
                    "Timestamp": "2021-11-08T15:00:00Z",
                    "Value": 20.1,
                    "UnitsAbbreviation": "ppm"
                }, {
                    "Timestamp": "2021-11-15T15:00:00Z",
                    "Value": 19.5,
                    "UnitsAbbreviation": "ppm"
                }, {
                    "Timestamp": "2021-11-22T15:00:00Z",
                    "Value": 19.7,
                    "UnitsAbbreviation": "ppm"
                }, {
                    "Timestamp": "2021-11-29T15:00:00Z",
                    "Value": 20.4,
                    "UnitsAbbreviation": "ppm"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

@ProgrammingLlama Newtonsoft.Json's DeserializeObject I have used to convert string result to json — Priyanka Mane, Oct 16 '22 at 12:06
[Does this answer your question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38411344/c-sharp-deserialize-json-unknown-keys)? — ProgrammingLlama, Oct 16 '22 at 12:09
@ProgrammingLlama No. I tried with JObject.Parse(stringResult).["Items"].ToObject(). But getting object reference error. I created a class for mapping "Items" — Priyanka Mane, Oct 16 '22 at 12:22

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 16 '22 at 13:11

When some part of the json structure is unknown, you need to explore it manually. There are several ways to do it, but I'm used to passing JObject :

var root = JObject.Parse(text);
// Unknown name property, then iterate
// When the object has one property, First is a good fit
var response = root.First as JProperty;
var guid = response.Name;
var itemsJson = response.Value["Content"]["Items"];
var items = itemsJson.ToObject<List<Item>>();

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 16 '22 at 13:57

you can try this code

List<Item> items = JObject.Parse(stringResult).Properties()
                        .First().Value["Content"]["Items"].ToObject<List<Item>>();

public class Item
{
    public DateTime Timestamp { get; set; }
    public double Value { get; set; }
    public string UnitsAbbreviation { get; set; }
}

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 16 '22 at 13:50

go to https://json2csharp.com/
convert your json to C# class.

since your root node is dynamic guid, you cannot directly use class structure deserialization but you can use a inner nodes

Pseudo Program

System.Net.ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback = delegate { return true; };
WebClient w = new WebClient();
string json = w.DownloadString(new Uri("https://jsonkeeper.com/b/GETO"));
var firstObject = JObject.Parse(json);
var guid = firstObject.Properties().Select(p => p.Name).FirstOrDefault();
//Console.Write(guid);
Root output = firstObject[guid].ToObject<Root>();
Console.Write(output.Content.Items.Count());

The DTO structure

public class Root
{
    public int Status { get; set; }
    public Headers Headers { get; set; }
    public Content Content { get; set; }
}

public class Content
{
    public List<Item> Items { get; set; }
}

public class Headers
{
    [JsonProperty("Content-Type")]
    public string ContentType { get; set; }
}

public class Item
{
    public DateTime Timestamp { get; set; }
    public double Value { get; set; }
    public string UnitsAbbreviation { get; set; }
}

here's fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/w5fO0w

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 16 '22 at 14:02

I have used below code to get items -

           var resultObjects = AllChildren(JObject.Parse(json))
                    .First(c => c.Type == JTokenType.Array )
                    .Children<JObject>();



           foreach (JObject result in resultObjects)
            {
                foreach (JProperty property in result.Properties())
                {
                    
                }
            }

And method is -

private static IEnumerable<JToken> AllChildren(JToken json)
        {
            foreach (var c in json.Children())
            {
                yield return c;
                foreach (var cc in AllChildren(c))
                {
                    yield return cc;
                }
            }
        }

How to convert json with dynamic root name to C# list

4 Answers4

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