JSON deserialization of variable named parameter u

Question

Assuming we have a JSON object similar to:

{
  '12345': 'text string',
  'rel': 'myResource'
}

Constructing a DataContract to map to this type seems fairly simple such as:

[DataContract]
MyResource
{
  [DataMember(Name = "12345")]
  public string SpecialValue { get; set; }

  [DataMember(Name = "rel")]
  public string Rel { get; set; }
}

Now the problem arrives that the name of the property is variable so it not guaranteed to be '12345'. Since this variable cannot be properly mapped using attributes it won't get picked up when using DataContractJsonSerializer.

If I change the class to support IExtensibleDataObject, I can get the value portion but not the property name which is a problem. I'm looking to maintain this value during deserialization/serialization in order to be able to send the information on a return request. I'm not looking to change over to using Json.NET to solve this problem as I want to know if it is possible in some form without resorting to an external dependency.

Answer 1

It's a little ugly, but it turns out you can use an IDataContractSurrogate to deserialize the class with the variably named property into a Dictionary<string, object> and then copy the values from the dictionary into your class. Of course, you will need to add another property to your class to hold the name of the "special" property.

Here is an example surrogate that I was able to get working:

class MyDataContractSurrogate : IDataContractSurrogate
{
    public Type GetDataContractType(Type type)
    {
        if (type == typeof(MyResource))
        {
            return typeof(Dictionary<string, object>);
        }
        return type;
    }

    public object GetDeserializedObject(object obj, Type targetType)
    {
        if (obj.GetType() == typeof(Dictionary<string, object>) && 
            targetType == typeof(MyResource))
        {
            Dictionary<string, object> dict = (Dictionary<string, object>)obj;
            MyResource mr = new MyResource();
            foreach (PropertyInfo prop in GetInterestingProperties(typeof(MyResource)))
            {
                DataMemberAttribute att = prop.GetCustomAttribute<DataMemberAttribute>();

                object value;
                if (dict.TryGetValue(att.Name, out value))
                {
                    prop.SetValue(mr, value);
                    dict.Remove(att.Name);
                }
            }

            // should only be one property left in the dictionary
            if (dict.Count > 0)
            {
                var kvp = dict.First();
                mr.SpecialName = kvp.Key;
                mr.SpecialValue = (string)kvp.Value;
            }
            return mr;
        }
        return obj;
    }

    public object GetObjectToSerialize(object obj, Type targetType)
    {
        if (obj.GetType() == typeof(MyResource) && 
            targetType == typeof(Dictionary<string, object>))
        {
            MyResource mr = (MyResource)obj;
            Dictionary<string, object> dict = new Dictionary<string, object>();
            dict.Add(mr.SpecialName, mr.SpecialValue);
            foreach (PropertyInfo prop in GetInterestingProperties(typeof(MyResource)))
            {
                DataMemberAttribute att = prop.GetCustomAttribute<DataMemberAttribute>();
                dict.Add(att.Name, prop.GetValue(mr));
            }
            return dict;
        }
        return obj;
    }

    private IEnumerable<PropertyInfo> GetInterestingProperties(Type type)
    {
        return type.GetProperties().Where(p => p.CanRead && p.CanWrite &&
                       p.GetCustomAttribute<DataMemberAttribute>() != null);
    }

    // ------- The rest of these methods are not needed -------
    public object GetCustomDataToExport(Type clrType, Type dataContractType)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

    public object GetCustomDataToExport(MemberInfo memberInfo, Type dataContractType)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

    public void GetKnownCustomDataTypes(System.Collections.ObjectModel.Collection<Type> customDataTypes)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

    public Type GetReferencedTypeOnImport(string typeName, string typeNamespace, object customData)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }

    public System.CodeDom.CodeTypeDeclaration ProcessImportedType(System.CodeDom.CodeTypeDeclaration typeDeclaration, System.CodeDom.CodeCompileUnit compileUnit)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}

To use the surrogate, you'll need to create an instance of DataContractJsonSerializerSettings and pass it to the DataContractJsonSerializer with the following properties set. Note that since we require the UseSimpleDictionaryFormat setting, this solution will only work with .Net 4.5 or later.

var settings = new DataContractJsonSerializerSettings();
settings.DataContractSurrogate = new MyDataContractSurrogate();
settings.KnownTypes = new List<Type> { typeof(Dictionary<string, object>) };
settings.UseSimpleDictionaryFormat = true;

Note also that in your class you should NOT mark the "special" properties with a [DataMember] attribute, since they are handled specially in the surrogate.

[DataContract]
class MyResource
{
    // Don't mark these with [DataMember]
    public string SpecialName { get; set; }
    public string SpecialValue { get; set; }

    [DataMember(Name = "rel")]
    public string Rel { get; set; }
}

Here is a demo:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        string json = @"
        {
            ""12345"": ""text string"",
            ""rel"": ""myResource""
        }";

        var settings = new DataContractJsonSerializerSettings();
        settings.DataContractSurrogate = new MyDataContractSurrogate();
        settings.KnownTypes = new List<Type> { typeof(Dictionary<string, object>) };
        settings.UseSimpleDictionaryFormat = true;

        MyResource mr = Deserialize<MyResource>(json, settings);

        Console.WriteLine("Special name: " + mr.SpecialName);
        Console.WriteLine("Special value: " + mr.SpecialValue);
        Console.WriteLine("Rel: " + mr.Rel);
        Console.WriteLine();

        json = Serialize(mr, settings);
        Console.WriteLine(json);
    }

    public static T Deserialize<T>(string json, DataContractJsonSerializerSettings settings = null)
    {
        using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(json)))
        {
            if (settings == null) settings = GetDefaultSerializerSettings();
            var ser = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(T), settings);
            return (T)ser.ReadObject(ms);
        }
    }

    public static string Serialize(object obj, DataContractJsonSerializerSettings settings = null)
    {
        using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
        {
            if (settings == null) settings = GetDefaultSerializerSettings();
            var ser = new DataContractJsonSerializer(obj.GetType(), settings);
            ser.WriteObject(ms, obj);
            return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(ms.ToArray());
        }
    }
}

Output:

Special name: 12345
Special value: text string
Rel: myResource

{"12345":"text string","rel":"myResource"}