Deserialize JSON into C# dynamic object?

Question

Is there a way to deserialize JSON content into a C# 4 dynamic type? It would be nice to skip creating a bunch of classes in order to use the DataContractJsonSerializer.

Answer 1

I made a new version of the DynamicJsonConverter that uses Expando Objects. I used expando objects because I wanted to Serialize the dynamic back into json using Json.net.

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Dynamic;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;

public static class DynamicJson
{
    public static dynamic Parse(string json)
    {
        JavaScriptSerializer jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();
        jss.RegisterConverters(new JavaScriptConverter[] { new DynamicJsonConverter() });

        dynamic glossaryEntry = jss.Deserialize(json, typeof(object)) as dynamic;
        return glossaryEntry;
    }

    class DynamicJsonConverter : JavaScriptConverter
    {
        public override object Deserialize(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary, Type type, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
        {
            if (dictionary == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("dictionary");

            var result = ToExpando(dictionary);

            return type == typeof(object) ? result : null;
        }

        private static ExpandoObject ToExpando(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary)
        {
            var result = new ExpandoObject();
            var dic = result as IDictionary<String, object>;

            foreach (var item in dictionary)
            {
                var valueAsDic = item.Value as IDictionary<string, object>;
                if (valueAsDic != null)
                {
                    dic.Add(item.Key, ToExpando(valueAsDic));
                    continue;
                }
                var arrayList = item.Value as ArrayList;
                if (arrayList != null && arrayList.Count > 0)
                {
                    dic.Add(item.Key, ToExpando(arrayList));
                    continue;
                }

                dic.Add(item.Key, item.Value);
            }
            return result;
        }

        private static ArrayList ToExpando(ArrayList obj)
        {
            ArrayList result = new ArrayList();

            foreach (var item in obj)
            {
                var valueAsDic = item as IDictionary<string, object>;
                if (valueAsDic != null)
                {
                    result.Add(ToExpando(valueAsDic));
                    continue;
                }

                var arrayList = item as ArrayList;
                if (arrayList != null && arrayList.Count > 0)
                {
                    result.Add(ToExpando(arrayList));
                    continue;
                }

                result.Add(item);
            }
            return result;
        }

        public override IDictionary<string, object> Serialize(object obj, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
        {
            throw new NotImplementedException();
        }

        public override IEnumerable<Type> SupportedTypes
        {
            get { return new ReadOnlyCollection<Type>(new List<Type>(new[] { typeof(object) })); }
        }
    }
}  

Answer 2

You can use using Newtonsoft.Json

var jRoot = 
 JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<dynamic>(Encoding.UTF8.GetString(resolvedEvent.Event.Data));

resolvedEvent.Event.Data is my response getting from calling core Event .

Answer 3

Look at the article I wrote on CodeProject, one that answers the question precisely:

Dynamic types with JSON.NET

There is way too much for re-posting it all here, and even less point since that article has an attachment with the key/required source file.

Answer 4

How to parse easy json with dynamic & JavaScriptSerializer

Please add reference of System.Web.Extensions and add this namespace using System.Web.Script.Serialization; at top

public static void EasyJson()
{
    var jsonText = @"{
        ""some_number"": 108.541, 
        ""date_time"": ""2011-04-13T15:34:09Z"", 
        ""serial_number"": ""SN1234""
    }";

    var jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();
    var dict = jss.Deserialize<dynamic>(jsonText);

    Console.WriteLine(dict["some_number"]); 
    Console.ReadLine();
}

How to parse nested & complex json with dynamic & JavaScriptSerializer

Please add reference of System.Web.Extensions and add this namespace using System.Web.Script.Serialization; at top

public static void ComplexJson()
{
    var jsonText = @"{
        ""some_number"": 108.541, 
        ""date_time"": ""2011-04-13T15:34:09Z"", 
        ""serial_number"": ""SN1234"",
        ""more_data"": {
            ""field1"": 1.0,
            ""field2"": ""hello""
        }
    }";

    var jss = new JavaScriptSerializer();
    var dict = jss.Deserialize<dynamic>(jsonText);

    Console.WriteLine(dict["some_number"]); 
    Console.WriteLine(dict["more_data"]["field2"]);
    Console.ReadLine();
}

Answer 5

It's pretty simple using Json.NET:

dynamic stuff = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject("{ 'Name': 'Jon Smith', 'Address': { 'City': 'New York', 'State': 'NY' }, 'Age': 42 }");

string name = stuff.Name;
string address = stuff.Address.City;

Also using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq :

dynamic stuff = JObject.Parse("{ 'Name': 'Jon Smith', 'Address': { 'City': 'New York', 'State': 'NY' }, 'Age': 42 }");

string name = stuff.Name;
string address = stuff.Address.City;

Documentation: Querying JSON with dynamic

Answer 6

If you are happy to have a dependency upon the System.Web.Helpers assembly, then you can use the Json class:

dynamic data = Json.Decode(json);

It is included with the MVC framework as an additional download to the .NET 4 framework. Be sure to give Vlad an upvote if that's helpful! However if you cannot assume the client environment includes this DLL, then read on.

---

An alternative deserialisation approach is suggested here. I modified the code slightly to fix a bug and suit my coding style. All you need is this code and a reference to System.Web.Extensions from your project:

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.Dynamic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;

public sealed class DynamicJsonConverter : JavaScriptConverter
{
    public override object Deserialize(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary, Type type, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
    {
        if (dictionary == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("dictionary");

        return type == typeof(object) ? new DynamicJsonObject(dictionary) : null;
    }

    public override IDictionary<string, object> Serialize(object obj, JavaScriptSerializer serializer)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

    public override IEnumerable<Type> SupportedTypes
    {
        get { return new ReadOnlyCollection<Type>(new List<Type>(new[] { typeof(object) })); }
    }

    #region Nested type: DynamicJsonObject

    private sealed class DynamicJsonObject : DynamicObject
    {
        private readonly IDictionary<string, object> _dictionary;

        public DynamicJsonObject(IDictionary<string, object> dictionary)
        {
            if (dictionary == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException("dictionary");
            _dictionary = dictionary;
        }

        public override string ToString()
        {
            var sb = new StringBuilder("{");
            ToString(sb);
            return sb.ToString();
        }

        private void ToString(StringBuilder sb)
        {
            var firstInDictionary = true;
            foreach (var pair in _dictionary)
            {
                if (!firstInDictionary)
                    sb.Append(",");
                firstInDictionary = false;
                var value = pair.Value;
                var name = pair.Key;
                if (value is string)
                {
                    sb.AppendFormat("{0}:\"{1}\"", name, value);
                }
                else if (value is IDictionary<string, object>)
                {
                    new DynamicJsonObject((IDictionary<string, object>)value).ToString(sb);
                }
                else if (value is ArrayList)
                {
                    sb.Append(name + ":[");
                    var firstInArray = true;
                    foreach (var arrayValue in (ArrayList)value)
                    {
                        if (!firstInArray)
                            sb.Append(",");
                        firstInArray = false;
                        if (arrayValue is IDictionary<string, object>)
                            new DynamicJsonObject((IDictionary<string, object>)arrayValue).ToString(sb);
                        else if (arrayValue is string)
                            sb.AppendFormat("\"{0}\"", arrayValue);
                        else
                            sb.AppendFormat("{0}", arrayValue);

                    }
                    sb.Append("]");
                }
                else
                {
                    sb.AppendFormat("{0}:{1}", name, value);
                }
            }
            sb.Append("}");
        }

        public override bool TryGetMember(GetMemberBinder binder, out object result)
        {
            if (!_dictionary.TryGetValue(binder.Name, out result))
            {
                // return null to avoid exception.  caller can check for null this way...
                result = null;
                return true;
            }

            result = WrapResultObject(result);
            return true;
        }

        public override bool TryGetIndex(GetIndexBinder binder, object[] indexes, out object result)
        {
            if (indexes.Length == 1 && indexes[0] != null)
            {
                if (!_dictionary.TryGetValue(indexes[0].ToString(), out result))
                {
                    // return null to avoid exception.  caller can check for null this way...
                    result = null;
                    return true;
                }

                result = WrapResultObject(result);
                return true;
            }

            return base.TryGetIndex(binder, indexes, out result);
        }

        private static object WrapResultObject(object result)
        {
            var dictionary = result as IDictionary<string, object>;
            if (dictionary != null)
                return new DynamicJsonObject(dictionary);

            var arrayList = result as ArrayList;
            if (arrayList != null && arrayList.Count > 0)
            {
                return arrayList[0] is IDictionary<string, object> 
                    ? new List<object>(arrayList.Cast<IDictionary<string, object>>().Select(x => new DynamicJsonObject(x))) 
                    : new List<object>(arrayList.Cast<object>());
            }

            return result;
        }
    }

    #endregion
}

You can use it like this:

string json = ...;

var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
serializer.RegisterConverters(new[] { new DynamicJsonConverter() });

dynamic obj = serializer.Deserialize(json, typeof(object));

So, given a JSON string:

{
  "Items":[
    { "Name":"Apple", "Price":12.3 },
    { "Name":"Grape", "Price":3.21 }
  ],
  "Date":"21/11/2010"
}

The following code will work at runtime:

dynamic data = serializer.Deserialize(json, typeof(object));

data.Date; // "21/11/2010"
data.Items.Count; // 2
data.Items[0].Name; // "Apple"
data.Items[0].Price; // 12.3 (as a decimal)
data.Items[1].Name; // "Grape"
data.Items[1].Price; // 3.21 (as a decimal)