Parse JSON file in ASP.NET MVC and display the data in the webpage

Question

I have a remote URL from where I read a JSON Object that looks like this:

{"books":
 [
   {"title":"Book 1", "author":"Author1", "price":762, "inStock":15},
   {"title":"Book 2", "author":"Author2", "price":100, "inStock":1},
   {"title":"Book 3", "author":"Author3", "price":185.5, "inStock":5},
   {"title":"Book 4", "author":"Author 4", "price":1748, "inStock":3},
   {"title":"Book 5", "author":"Author 5", "price":999, "inStock":20},
   {"title":"Book 6", "author":"Author 6", "price":499.5, "inStock":3},
   {"title":"Book 7", "author":"Author 7", "price":564.5, "inStock":0}
 ]
}

I have created two classes Book.cs

public class Book
{
    public string title;

    public string author;

    public string price;

    public string inStock;
}

And Books.cs

public class Books
{
    public IList<Book> books { get; set; }
}

How to correctly parse the JSON so I can show the contents in the Razor HTML

This is my controller:

public ActionResult Index()
{
    var webClient = new WebClient();
    var json = webClient.DownloadString(@"http://www.myurl.json");
    Books[] books = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Books[]>(json);

    return View(books);
}

Answer 1

Your Books class already contains a collection property to represent each of your individual books, so you don't need to actually deserialize a Books[] but rather just a Books object :

// Since Books is already a container element, it will map the "books" property
// from your JSON object to the matching IList<Book> property
var books = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Books>(json);

Example

You can see a complete working example of this here and the example code demonstrated in the snippet below.

 // YourClasses.cs namespace Example { public class Book { public string title; public string author; public string price; public string inStock; } public class Books { public IList<Book> books; } } // YourController.cs namespace Example { public class HomeController : Controller { [HttpGet] public ActionResult Index() { // Example JSON in lieu of API call var json = "{\\"books\\":[{\\"title\\":\\"Book 1\\", \\"author\\":\\"Author1\\", \\"price\\":762, \\"inStock\\":15},{\\"title\\":\\"Book 2\\", \\"author\\":\\"Author2\\", \\"price\\":100, \\"inStock\\":1},{\\"title\\":\\"Book 3\\", \\"author\\":\\"Author3\\", \\"price\\":185.5, \\"inStock\\":5},{\\"title\\":\\"Book 4\\", \\"author\\":\\"Author 4\\", \\"price\\":1748, \\"inStock\\":3},{\\"title\\":\\"Book 5\\", \\"author\\":\\"Author 5\\", \\"price\\":999, \\"inStock\\":20},{\\"title\\":\\"Book 6\\", \\"author\\":\\"Author 6\\", \\"price\\":499.5, \\"inStock\\":3},{\\"title\\":\\"Book 7\\", \\"author\\":\\"Author 7\\", \\"price\\":564.5, \\"inStock\\":0}]}"; var books = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Books>(json); return View(books); } } } // Index.cshtml @model Example.Books <ul> @foreach(var book in Model.books){ <li>@book.title</li> } </ul> 

Answer 2

You don't want an array of Books . You just want the Books container:

Books books = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Books>(json);

Answer 3

Here is the Book class you need

public class Book
{
    public string title { get; set; }
    public string author { get; set; }
    public double price { get; set; }
    public int inStock { get; set; }
}

Here is the Books class you need

public class Books
{
    public List<Book> books { get; set; }
}

You need to have this in your code

public ActionResult Index()
{
    var webClient = new WebClient();
    var json = webClient.DownloadString(@"http://www.myurl.json");
    Books books = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Books>(json);

    return View(books);
}

Answer 4

为了确保您的类适用于JSON，可以在VS pro中“将JSON作为类粘贴”，然后反序列化。

Answer 5

Declare Books as:

public class Books : List<Book> 

And desrialize it as indicated by @chadnt:

Books books = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Books>(json);