Chapter82:GettingStarted:JsonwithC#

ThefollowingtopicwillintroduceawaytoworkwithJsonusingC#languageandconceptsofSerializationand Deserialization.

Section82.1:SimpleJsonExample

{

“id”:89,

“name”:”AldousHuxley”,

“type”:”Author”,

“books”:[{

“name”:”BraveNewWorld”,

“date”:1932

},

{

“name”:”EyelessinGaza”,

“date”:1936

},

{

“name”:”TheGeniusandtheGoddess”,

“date”:1955

}]

}

IfyouarenewintoJson,hereisanexemplifiedtutorial.

Section82.2:FirstthingsFirst:LibrarytoworkwithJson

ToworkwithJsonusingC#,itisneedtouseNewtonsoft(.netlibrary).Thislibraryprovidesmethodsthatallowsthe programmerserializeanddeserializeobjectsandmore.Thereisatutorialifyouwanttoknowdetailsaboutits methods and usages.

If you use Visual Studio, go to Tools/Nuget Package Manager/Manage Package to Solution/ and type “Newtonsoft” into thesearchbarandinstallthepackage.Ifyoudon’thaveNuGet,thisdetailedtutorialmighthelpyou.

Section82.3:C#Implementation

Before reading some code, it is important to undersand the main concepts that will help to program applications using json.

Serialization:Processofconvertingaobjectintoastreamofbytesthatcanbesentthroughapplications. The following code can be serialized and converted into the previous json.

Deserialization:Processofconvertingajson/streamofbytesintoanobject.Itsexactlytheopposite process of serialization. The previous json can be deserialized into an C# object as demonstrated in examples below.

To work this out, it is important to turn the json structure into classes in order to use processes already described.If you use Visual Studio, you can turn a json into a class automatically just by selecting “Edit/Paste Special/Paste JSON as Classes”and pasting the json structure.

usingNewtonsoft.Json;

classAuthor

{

[JsonProperty(“id”)]//Setthevariablebelowtorepresentthejsonattribute

publicintid;                                                  //”id”

[JsonProperty(“name”)]

public string name;

[JsonProperty(“type”)]

publicstringtype;

[JsonProperty(“books”)]

public Book[] books;

publicAuthor(intid,stringname,stringtype,Book[]books){ this.id= id;

this.name=name;

this.type=type;

this.books = books;

}

}

classBook

{

[JsonProperty(“name”)]

publicstringname;

[JsonProperty(“date”)]

publicDateTimedate;

}

Section82.4:Serialization

staticvoidMain(string[]args)

{

Book[]books=newBook[3];

Authorauthor=newAuthor(89,”AldousHuxley”,”Author”,books); stringobjectDeserialized=JsonConvert.SerializeObject(author);

//Convertingauthorintojson

}

Themethod”.SerializeObject”receivesasparameteratypeobject,soyoucanputanythingintoit.

Section82.5:Deserialization

Youcanreceiveajsonfromanywhere,afileorevenaserversoitisnotincludedinthefollowingcode.

staticvoidMain(string[]args)

{

stringjsonExample;//Hasthepreviousjson

Authorauthor=JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Author>(jsonExample);

}

Themethod”.DeserializeObject”deserializes’jsonExample‘intoan”Author“object.Thisiswhyitisimportanttoset the json variables in the classes definition, so the method access it in order to fill it.

Section 82.6: Serialization & De-Serialization Common Utilities function

Thissampleusedtocommonfunctionforalltypeobjectserializationanddeserialization.

usingSystem.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;

usingSystem.Xml.Serialization;

namespaceFramework

{

publicstaticclassIGUtilities

{

publicstaticstringSerialization(thisTobj)

{

stringdata=JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj);

returndata;

}

publicstaticTDeserialization(thisstringJsonData)

{

Tcopy=JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(JsonData); returncopy;

}

publicstaticTClone(thisTobj)

{

stringdata=JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj);Tcopy=Json

Convert.DeserializeObject(data); returncopy;

}

}

}