Defining a dictionary in a C# class

Question

I have a .json file which i want to read in C#.

The Json File looks like this:

{"SN0124":{
    "category1": 0,
    "output": {
        "ABC": [], 
        "DEF": 0, 
        "GHI": "ABDEF"
    },
    "category2": 0, 
    "category3": 0
},
"SN0123":{
    "category1": 0, 
    "output": {
        "ABC": ["N1", "N2"], 
        "DEF": 0, 
        "GHI": "ABDEF"
    },
    "category2": 0, 
    "category3": 0
}

Initially the output field was absent and my custom class for reading the Json file is as follows:

namespace Server.Models
{
    public class Pets
    {
        public string category1 { get; set; }
        public string category2 { get; set; }
        public string category3 { get; set; }

    }
}

The output was recently added and I am not sure how to include that dictionary in the class file so that I can read the json file. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

thanks!

Answer 1

This should work fine. I have basically created a new class called Output that contains the expected JSON fields. I have also edited the type of the category fields to int.

using Newtonsoft.Json;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace ConsoleApplication2
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string JSONInput = @"{""SN0124"": {
                                    ""category1"": 0,
                                    ""output"": {
                                        ""ABC"": [], 
                                        ""DEF"": 0, 
                                        ""GHI"": ""ABDEF""
                                    },
                                    ""category2"": 0, 
                                    ""category3"": 0
                                },
                                ""SN0123"": {
                                    ""category1"": 0, 
                                    ""output"": {
                                        ""ABC"": [""N1"", ""N2""], 
                                        ""DEF"": 0, 
                                        ""GHI"": ""ABDEF""
                                    },
                                    ""category2"": 0, 
                                    ""category3"": 0
                                }}";
            Dictionary<string, Pets> deserializedProduct = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, Pets>>(JSONInput);
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }

    public class Output
    {
        public string[] ABC { get; set; }
        public int DEF { get; set; }
        public string GHI { get; set; }
    }

    public class Pets
    {

        public int category1 { get; set; }

        public Output output { get; set; }

        public int category2 { get; set; }
        public int category3 { get; set; }

    }
}

Answer 2

I'm not sure I fully understand what you mean. If I understand right you're trying to hold the values from output in a dictionary?

You could do something like:

var output = new Dictionary<string, string[]>();

But it might be simpler to create a custom class to hold that data structures.