How to decode JSON in C#

Question

I'm trying to decode JSON received from twitter streaming API using JSONConvert from NewtonSoft.Json

I created this class to mimic the twitter status object

class tweeter
{
    public string geo { get; set; }
    public string text { get; set; }
    public string name { get; set; }
    public string screen_name { get; set; }
    public string created_at { get; set; }
    public string id { get; set; }

}

Then in my code I do the following to decode it

try
              {
                  System.Threading.Interlocked.Increment(ref linesRead);
                  var des = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<tweeter>(e.Line);
                  listBox1.Items.Add(e.Line);

                  dbhelper.insertTweet(des.id,des.screen_name,des.text,des.created_at,"","","", com);

                  listBox1.SelectedIndex = listBox1.Items.Count - 1;

                  listBox1.SelectedIndex = -1;
                  label1.Text = string.Format("Lines Read: {0:F0}", linesRead);
              }
              catch (Exception x)
              {
                  MessageBox.Show(x.Message);
              }

However, the nested elements like screen_name for example, always return null, how do I access those nested elements?

The other root elements like geo, text, created_at, id, return normally and have values.

ُEDIT: this is a sample from the feed{"in_reply_to_status_id":null,"favorited":false,"text":"Haa I'm joking everyone I wish! Need it for #ibiza2012 and #Egypt","in_reply_to_status_id_str":null,"entities":{"hashtags":[{"text":"ibiza2012","indices":[44,54]},{"text":"Egypt","indices":[59,65]}],"urls":[],"user_mentions":[]},"geo":null,"retweet_count":0,"place":null,"truncated":false,"created_at":"Wed Mar 14 15:14:47 +0000 2012","in_reply_to_user_id_str":null,"source":"\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/download\/iphone\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003ETwitter for iPhone\u003C\/a\u003E","retweeted":false,"in_reply_to_screen_name":null,"coordinates":null,"in_reply_to_user_id":null,"user":{"contributors_enabled":false,"geo_enabled":false,"profile_sidebar_fill_color":"DDEEF6","lang":"en","listed_count":0,"created_at":"Sat Apr 11 17:12:45 +0000 2009","profile_sidebar_border_color":"C0DEED","is_translator":false,"show_all_inline_media":true,"follow_request_sent":null,"verified":false,"url":null,"description":"Ibiza 2012 for openings! Have a bang on that!","default_profile":true,"following":null,"profile_use_background_image":true,"time_zone":null,"profile_text_color":"333333","statuses_count":2513,"notifications":null,"profile_background_image_url_https":"https:\/\/si0.twimg.com\/images\/themes\/theme1\/bg.png","profile_background_image_url":"http:\/\/a0.twimg.com\/images\/themes\/theme1\/bg.png","location":"London","profile_link_color":"0084B4","followers_count":350,"protected":false,"profile_image_url_https":"https:\/\/si0.twimg.com\/profile_images\/1895048740\/image_normal.jpg","profile_image_url":"http:\/\/a0.twimg.com\/profile_images\/1895048740\/image_normal.jpg","default_profile_image":false,"screen_name":"wyatt69","name":"Dean Wyatt","favourites_count":0,"profile_background_color":"C0DEED","id":30482455,"id_str":"30482455","profile_background_tile":false,"utc_offset":null,"friends_count":384},"id":179948698397196288,"id_str":"179948698397196288","contributors":null} d":false,"profile_image_url_https":"https:\/\/si0.twimg.com\/profile_images\/1673331511\/logo-for-twitter_normal.png","profile_image_url":"http:\/\/a0.twimg.com\/profile_images\/1673331511\/logo-for-twitter_normal.png","default_profile_image":false,"screen_name":"itwitex","name":"itwitex","favourites_count":0,"profile_background_color":"EBEBEB","id":307251688,"id_str":"307251688","profile_background_tile":false,"utc_offset":3600,"friends_count":0},"id":179948696308432896,"possibly_sensitive_editable":true,"possibly_sensitive":false,"id_str":"179948696308432896","contributors":null}

possible duplicate of [Parsing JSON using Json.net](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/401756/parsing-json-using-json-net) — James Hill, Mar 14 '12 at 15:09
Add what the JSON data looks like that your getting from twitter. — Donny V., Mar 14 '12 at 15:09
Is that JSON.NET in your example? You should explain your current approach. — Greg, Mar 14 '12 at 15:17
You first problem is with nested data, so Adam Gritt's answer is your best bet. — Iarek, Mar 14 '12 at 15:42

Sprintstar · Answer 1 · 2012-03-14T15:30:06.940

2

Why don't you simply deserialize the json with the JavaScriptSerializer.Deserialize method in the System.Web.Script.Serialization namespace:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee191864.aspx

edited Mar 14 '12 at 15:30

answered Mar 14 '12 at 15:14

Sprintstar

7,938
5
38
51

I'm sorry but I don't have access to use .net 4.0 at the moment =( – KamalSalem Mar 14 '12 at 15:29
1

Then using the DataContractSerializer as per Adam Gritt's answer is probably your best bet. – Sprintstar Mar 14 '12 at 15:31

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 14 '12 at 16:24

2

I recently had to do something similar for some internal testing of an application. I handled the situation with something similar to the following:

[DataContract]
class Tweeter
{
    [DataMember]
    public string geo {get;set;}
    [DataMember]
    public User user {get;set;}
}

[DataContract]
class User
{
    [DataMember]
    public string screen_name {get;set;}
}

class Converter
{
    public Tweeter ConvertJson(string json)
    {
        DataContractJsonSerializer serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(Tweeter));

        using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(json)))
        {
            return serializer.ReadObject(ms) as Tweeter;
        }
    }
}

edited Mar 14 '12 at 16:24

KamalSalem

495
2
8
21

answered Mar 14 '12 at 15:25

Adam Gritt

2,654
18
20

Is this in .net 4? coz I can only use .net 3.5 – KamalSalem Mar 14 '12 at 15:30
My code was written in .NET 4 but the serializer is supported in .NET 3.5 -- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.runtime.serialization.json.datacontractjsonserializer(v=vs.90).aspx – Adam Gritt Mar 14 '12 at 15:34
Visual studio reports it can't find DataContract – KamalSalem Mar 14 '12 at 15:47
1

For that you will need to add a reference to System.Runtime.Serialization.dll – Adam Gritt Mar 14 '12 at 15:54
are you sure about that last class? it seems like it should be a method to me, could be wrong though – KamalSalem Mar 14 '12 at 16:08

How to decode JSON in C#

2 Answers2