json serialization and deserialization in c#

Question

I have created a rough json data sample.Please corporate and try to help me for the required solution.

I want to now the class structures and how to retrieve and also make json of this format through c#.I have four tables-tblcategory(contains all categories),tblcatmapping(contains the category mapping),tblitemmapping(contains the mapping of item and category) and tblitem(contains all the items)

 [
{
    "CATID": "10001",
    "CATNAME": "food",
    "CATTYPE": "top",
    "CATDESC": "contains different types of food",
    "CATIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 11-41-29-food.jpg",
    "CATSUBCAT": [
        {
            "CATID": "10002",
            "CATNAME": "veg",
            "CATTYPE": "sub",
            "CATDESC": "contains different drinks",
            "CATIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg",
            "CATSUBCAT": [
                {
                    "CATID": "10004",
                    "CATNAME": "nort-indian",
                    "CATTYPE": "sub",
                    "CATDESC": "contains different drinks",
                    "CATIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg",
                    "CATSUBCAT": [],
                    "CATITEM": [
                        {
                            "ITEMID": "20002",
                            "ITEMNAME": "dosa",
                            "ITEMTYPE": "item",
                            "ITEMDESC": "contains different dosa",
                            "ITEMIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg"
                        },
                        {
                            "ITEMID": "20003",
                            "ITEMNAME": "idli",
                            "ITEMTYPE": "item",
                            "ITEMDESC": "contains different idli",
                            "ITEMIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg"
                        }
                    ]
                },
                {
                    "CATID": "10005",
                    "CATNAME": "south-indian",
                    "CATTYPE": "sub",
                    "CATDESC": "contains different drinks",
                    "CATIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg",
                    "CATSUBCAT": [],
                    "CATITEM": []
                }
            ],
            "CATITEM": []
        },
        {
            "CATID": "10003",
            "CATNAME": "non-veg",
            "CATTYPE": "sub",
            "CATDESC": "contains different drinks",
            "CATIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg",
            "CATSUBCAT": [
                {
                    "CATID": "10004",
                    "CATNAME": "nort-indian",
                    "CATTYPE": "sub",
                    "CATDESC": "contains different drinks",
                    "CATIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg",
                    "CATSUBCAT": [],
                    "CATITEM": []
                },
                {
                    "CATID": "10005",
                    "CATNAME": "south-indian",
                    "CATTYPE": "sub",
                    "CATDESC": "contains different drinks",
                    "CATIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg",
                    "CATSUBCAT": [],
                    "CATITEM": []
                }
            ],
            "CATITEM": []
        }
    ],
    "CATITEM": []
},
{
    "CATID": "10006",
    "CATNAME": "beverages",
    "CATTYPE": "top",
    "CATDESC": "contains different drinks",
    "CATIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg",
    "CATSUBCAT": [
        {
            "CATID": "10007",
            "CATNAME": "alcholic-drinks",
            "CATTYPE": "top",
            "CATDESC": "contains different drinks",
            "CATIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg",
            "CATSUBCAT": [],
            "CATITEM": []
        },
        {
            "CATID": "10008",
            "CATNAME": "non-alcholic-drinks",
            "CATTYPE": "top",
            "CATDESC": "contains different drinks",
            "CATIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg",
            "CATSUBCAT": [],
            "CATITEM": []
        }
    ],
    "CATTITEM": []
},
{
    "CATID": "10009",
    "CATNAME": "fast food",
    "CATTYPE": "top",
    "CATDESC": "contains various fast foods",
    "CATIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-22-08-fastfood1.jpg",
    "CATSUBCAT": [],
    "CATITEM": [
        {
            "ITEMID": "20002",
            "ITEMNAME": "dosa",
            "ITEMTYPE": "item",
            "ITEMDESC": "contains different dosa",
            "ITEMIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg"
        },
        {
            "ITEMID": "20003",
            "ITEMNAME": "idli",
            "ITEMTYPE": "item",
            "ITEMDESC": "contains different idli",
            "ITEMIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\09-09-2013 12-15-19-beverages.jpeg"
        }
    ]
},
{
    "CATID": "10015",
    "CATNAME": "test",
    "CATTYPE": "top",
    "CATDESC": "contains test categories",
    "CATIMGPATH": "Z:\\TFS workspace\\DineGenie - Dev\\DineGenie - Dev\\Filestore\\category\\19-09-2013 15-46-19-southindian2.png",
    "CATSUBCAT": [],
    "CATITEM": []
}
]

From the below suggestions i tried to convert the json sample to c# code by using http://json2csharp.com/ >Following is the :

class structure

public class RootObject
{
public string CATID { get; set; }
public string CATNAME { get; set; }
public string CATTYPE { get; set; }
public string CATDESC { get; set; }
public string CATIMGPATH { get; set; }
public List<object> CATSUBCAT { get; set; }
public List<object> CATITEM { get; set; }
public List<object> CATTITEM { get; set; }

}

But i am not getting in the above object is of what type

Answer 1

You can use this site http://json2csharp.com/ to create the class structure for you. I tried and like you said there are errors in your json.

Edit nr Helping fix Json: Check your CATSUBCAT for errors your not open and closing it right

{
"CATID": "10001",
"CATNAME": "food",
"CATTYPE": "top",
"CATDESC": "contains different types of food",
"CATSUBCAT": [
              {
                "CATID": "10002",
                "CATNAME": "veg",
                "CATTYPE": "sub",
                "CATDESC": "contains different drinks"
 },
 {
                "CATID": "10002",
                "CATNAME": "veg",
                "CATTYPE": "sub",
                "CATDESC": "contains different drinks"
 }

]
}

Edit nr 2: Newtonsoft.Json

Lets say you have all that Json loaded into a nice string.

string data = "{..... Json crap......}";

then all you have to do is use it to parse the json for you.

Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject jObject = Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject.Parse(data);

Once its all parsed into jObject you can then read from it.

String CATID= jObject.SelectToken("CATID").ToSTring(); // will give you 10001

Now your subcats are arrays so thats a Jarray

JArray dataCats = (JArray)jObject.SelectToken("CATSUBCATS"); 

These then you can loop though

  foreach (JArray dataRow in dataRows)
        {
        String CATID= jObject.SelectToken("CATID").ToSTring(); // will give you 10001

        }

Hope it helps.

Answer 2

You can use any tools you'd like depending on your requirements some tools will fit better in your project. Even if you prefer to go with the .NET Framework built-in tools such as the DataContractJsonSerializer . But fif you want to make work you will need to clean the structure of the json object.

The main issue I can see in your json object is the nested arrays. Instead of doing things like...

{
    ...

    "CATSUBCAT":
        {
           [
              {
                    "CATID": "10002",
                    "CATNAME": "veg",

                    ...

                }
            ]
        }
}

do this...

{ ...

    "CATSUBCAT":
           [
              {
                    "CATID": "10002",
                    "CATNAME": "veg",

                    ...

                }
            ]
}

Note that arrays in json are declared as [], so if SUBCAT is an array of objects then the objects inside this array must be inside [] and separated by commas. Follow this link and check how employees are represented

Answer 3

Depending on the Visual Studio version you're working with, you can try Edit -> Paste Special -> Paste JSON As Classes .

See here for an example.

For serialization and deserialization I can highly recommend JSON.NET . It has way more features than the default .NET serializers.

If you have the classes and use JSON.NET, you can deserialize your string like this:

MyClass[] instances = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<MyClass[]>(jsonString);