Iterating over JSON object in C#

Question

I am using JSON.NET in C# to parse a response from the Klout API. My response is like this:

[
  {
    "id": "5241585099662481339",
    "displayName": "Music",
    "name": "music",
    "slug": "music",
    "imageUrl": "http://kcdn3.klout.com/static/images/music-1333561300502.png"
  },
  {
    "id": "6953585193220490118",
    "displayName": "Celebrities",
    "name": "celebrities",
    "slug": "celebrities",
    "imageUrl": "http://kcdn3.klout.com/static/images/topics/celebrities_b32741b6703151cc7bd85fba24c44c52.png"
  },
  {
    "id": "5757029936226020304",
    "displayName": "Entertainment",
    "name": "entertainment",
    "slug": "entertainment",
    "imageUrl": "http://kcdn3.klout.com/static/images/topics/Entertainment_7002e5d2316e85a2ff004fafa017ff44.png"
  },
  {
    "id": "3718",
    "displayName": "Saturday Night Live",
    "name": "saturday night live",
    "slug": "saturday-night-live",
    "imageUrl": "http://kcdn3.klout.com/static/images/icons/generic-topic.png"
  },
  {
    "id": "8113008320053776960",
    "displayName": "Hollywood",
    "name": "hollywood",
    "slug": "hollywood",
    "imageUrl": "http://kcdn3.klout.com/static/images/topics/hollywood_9eccd1f7f83f067cb9aa2b491cd461f3.png"
  }
]

As you see, it contains 5 id tags. Maybe next time it would be 6 or 1 or some other number. I want to iterate over the JSON and get the value of each id tag. I can't run a loop without knowing how many there will be. How can I solve this?

Hi Sir, I have a similar situation as yours , would kind to suggest , how i could do that. i want to put a condtion get the display name based on the id from the list .If i a have IF conditon like ex : if (list.Any(e => e.id =="3718")) { //How do get the excat displayName which has passed the if condtion } Please guide me here — user1539205
– user1539205, Commented Jun 4, 2020 at 16:12

L.B · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-21 06:08:43Z

122

dynamic dynJson = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(json);
foreach (var item in dynJson)
{
    Console.WriteLine("{0} {1} {2} {3}\n", item.id, item.displayName, 
        item.slug, item.imageUrl);
}

or

var list = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<MyItem>>(json);

public class MyItem
{
    public string id;
    public string displayName;
    public string name;
    public string slug;
    public string imageUrl;
}

edited Jun 21, 2012 at 6:08

answered Jun 21, 2012 at 5:59

L.B

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4 Comments

require_once Over a year ago

It says missing reference to Micrsofot.CSHARp and System.Core.I added reference to both.It's APS.NET App

SHEKHAR SHETE Over a year ago

Unfortunately 'dynamic' keyword is available from framework 4.0 onwards :(

Daniel Silva Over a year ago

Great!! First solution works like a charm in .NET Core 2.1

Christophe Chenel Over a year ago

@SHEKHARSHETE you must add the reference Microsoft.CSHAP to your project by clicking right on your project/Add/References../ then select Microsoft.CSHARP

CodeCaster · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-04 12:46:05Z

61

You can use the JsonTextReader to read the JSON and iterate over the tokens:

using (var reader = new JsonTextReader(new StringReader(jsonText)))
{
    while (reader.Read())
    {
        Console.WriteLine("{0} - {1} - {2}", 
                          reader.TokenType, reader.ValueType, reader.Value);
    }
}

edited Jan 4, 2016 at 12:46

CodeCaster

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answered Jun 21, 2012 at 6:05

reticent

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2 Comments

david.barkhuizen Over a year ago

although it is not a requirement, this is the only answer that allows you to iterate through a JObject without knowing the structure beforehand

Zoran Over a year ago

This is a very good answer, it gives the option to get a full control over parsed JSON. Very useful, thanks!

Markus · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-23 04:47:22Z

This worked for me, converts to nested JSON to easy to read YAML

    string JSONDeserialized {get; set;}
    public int indentLevel;

    private bool JSONDictionarytoYAML(Dictionary<string, object> dict)
    {
        bool bSuccess = false;
        indentLevel++;

        foreach (string strKey in dict.Keys)
        {
            string strOutput = "".PadLeft(indentLevel * 3) + strKey + ":";
            JSONDeserialized+="\r\n" + strOutput;

            object o = dict[strKey];
            if (o is Dictionary<string, object>)
            {
                JSONDictionarytoYAML((Dictionary<string, object>)o);
            }
            else if (o is ArrayList)
            {
                foreach (object oChild in ((ArrayList)o))
                {
                    if (oChild is string)
                    {
                        strOutput = ((string)oChild);
                        JSONDeserialized += strOutput + ",";
                    }
                    else if (oChild is Dictionary<string, object>)
                    {
                        JSONDictionarytoYAML((Dictionary<string, object>)oChild);
                        JSONDeserialized += "\r\n";  
                    }
                }
            }
            else
            {
                strOutput = o.ToString();
                JSONDeserialized += strOutput;
            }
        }

        indentLevel--;

        return bSuccess;

    }

usage

        Dictionary<string, object> JSONDic = new Dictionary<string, object>();
        JavaScriptSerializer js = new JavaScriptSerializer();

          try {

            JSONDic = js.Deserialize<Dictionary<string, object>>(inString);
            JSONDeserialized = "";

            indentLevel = 0;
            DisplayDictionary(JSONDic); 

            return JSONDeserialized;

        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            return "Could not parse input JSON string";
        }

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