Deserialize Json with an unnamed object collection

Question

I've been searching for any solution to deserialize my Json into C# classes. I've done this so many times, but now I've come across a specific format which I don't know how to handle.

{
"32": {
    "name": "Basic",
    "data": {
        "value": null,
        "type": "empty",
        "supported": {
            "value": true,
            "type": "bool",
            "invalidateTime": 1520421448,
            "updateTime": 1520421449
        },
        "version": {
            "value": 1,
            "type": "int",
            "invalidateTime": 1520421448,
            "updateTime": 1520421449
        },
        "security": {
            "value": false,
            "type": "bool",
            "invalidateTime": 1520421448,
            "updateTime": 1520421449
        },
        "invalidateTime": 1520421448,
        "updateTime": 1520421449
    }
}

As you can see "value", "type", "invalidateTime" and "updateTime" are repetitive within their containers.

I've created a class "DataProperty"

public class DataProperty
{
    [JsonProperty("value")]
    public string Value { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("type")]
    public string Type { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("invalidateTime")]
    public string InvalidateTime { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("updateTime")]
    public string UpdateTime { get; set; }
}

And a class "DataClass" => I know, needs renaming

public class DataClass
{
    [JsonProperty]
    public DataProperty Data { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty]
    public Dictionary<string,DataProperty> SubProperties { get; set; }
}

I started testing deserializing bottom up from "DataProperty" and ran into problems when deserializing the "data" entity within the json so I didn't develop the parent classes yet but submitted a bigger part of the json for overview. My problem starts when the dictionary part is not in a separate named container and I don't know how to handle this. I made a property "SubProperties" which I'm not feeling proud about, but not knowing what to do.

Below here, I will copy some lines if anyone wants to test.

string testdata = "{\"data\": {\r\n  \"value\": null,\r\n  \"type\": \"empty\",\r\n  \"supported\": {\r\n    \"value\": true,\r\n    \"type\": \"bool\",\r\n    \"invalidateTime\": 1520420777,\r\n    \"updateTime\": 1520420746\r\n  },\r\n  \"version\": {\r\n    \"value\": 1,\r\n    \"type\": \"int\",\r\n    \"invalidateTime\": 1520420777,\r\n    \"updateTime\": 1520420746\r\n  },\r\n  \"security\": {\r\n    \"value\": false,\r\n    \"type\": \"bool\",\r\n    \"invalidateTime\": 1520420745,\r\n    \"updateTime\": 1520420746\r\n  },\r\n  \"interviewDone\": {\r\n    \"value\": true,\r\n    \"type\": \"bool\",\r\n    \"invalidateTime\": 1520420745,\r\n    \"updateTime\": 1520420777\r\n  },\r\n  \"interviewCounter\": {\r\n    \"value\": 9,\r\n    \"type\": \"int\",\r\n    \"invalidateTime\": 1520420745,\r\n    \"updateTime\": 1520420749\r\n  },\r\n  \"level\": {\r\n    \"value\": 255,\r\n    \"type\": \"int\",\r\n    \"invalidateTime\": 1520420776,\r\n    \"updateTime\": 1520420777\r\n  },\r\n  \"invalidateTime\": 1520420777,\r\n  \"updateTime\": 1520420746\r\n}}"
DataClass dat = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<DataClass>(testdata);

Thanks in advance for your time.

Answer 1

Checkout json2csharp since it has the Generate with QuickType option. This is very helpful for those who doesn't want to manually generate the models for their JSON strings.

JSON:

{
  "32": {
    "name": "Basic",
    "data": {
      "value": null,
      "type": "empty",
      "supported": {
        "value": true,
        "type": "bool",
        "invalidateTime": 1520421448,
        "updateTime": 1520421449
      },
      "version": {
        "value": 1,
        "type": "int",
        "invalidateTime": 1520421448,
        "updateTime": 1520421449
      },
      "security": {
        "value": false,
        "type": "bool",
        "invalidateTime": 1520421448,
        "updateTime": 1520421449
      },
      "invalidateTime": 1520421448,
      "updateTime": 1520421449
    }
  }
}

Generated QuickType Code:

// To parse this JSON data, add NuGet 'Newtonsoft.Json' then do:
//
//    using QuickType;
//
//    var welcome = Welcome.FromJson(jsonString);

namespace QuickType
{
    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;

    using System.Globalization;
    using Newtonsoft.Json;
    using Newtonsoft.Json.Converters;

    public partial class Welcome
    {
        [JsonProperty("32")]
        public The32 The32 { get; set; }
    }

    public partial class The32
    {
        [JsonProperty("name")]
        public string Name { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("data")]
        public Data Data { get; set; }
    }

    public partial class Data
    {
        [JsonProperty("value")]
        public object Value { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("type")]
        public string Type { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("supported")]
        public Security Supported { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("version")]
        public Version Version { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("security")]
        public Security Security { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("invalidateTime")]
        public long InvalidateTime { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("updateTime")]
        public long UpdateTime { get; set; }
    }

    public partial class Security
    {
        [JsonProperty("value")]
        public bool Value { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("type")]
        public string Type { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("invalidateTime")]
        public long InvalidateTime { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("updateTime")]
        public long UpdateTime { get; set; }
    }

    public partial class Version
    {
        [JsonProperty("value")]
        public long Value { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("type")]
        public string Type { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("invalidateTime")]
        public long InvalidateTime { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("updateTime")]
        public long UpdateTime { get; set; }
    }

    public partial class Welcome
    {
        public static Welcome FromJson(string json) => JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Welcome>(json, QuickType.Converter.Settings);
    }

    public static class Serialize
    {
        public static string ToJson(this Welcome self) => JsonConvert.SerializeObject(self, QuickType.Converter.Settings);
    }

    internal class Converter
    {
        public static readonly JsonSerializerSettings Settings = new JsonSerializerSettings
        {
            MetadataPropertyHandling = MetadataPropertyHandling.Ignore,
            DateParseHandling = DateParseHandling.None,
            Converters = { 
                new IsoDateTimeConverter { DateTimeStyles = DateTimeStyles.AssumeUniversal }
            },
        };
    }
}