How to create a C# class structure based on a json structure?

Question

I am using a Javascript library which expects data to be in a certain json format as show below. I will use .NET to get the data and feed it to the library using json deserialization. However I am not sure how C# classes are serialized to json. Will the built-in .NET json serializer support this json structure or do I have to invest in a more advanced library like json.net? I never used json.net. My approach is to do several trial and error approaches creating different C# classes and looking at the output json until the json structure matches the format below. This seems inefficient and time consuming and I wanted to know if there's a better approach.

Note: Each second level node can have 1 or more children. For example: the ones with playcount 276, 271.

{
"children": [
     {
       "children": [
         {
           "children": [], 
           "data": {
             "playcount": "276", 
             "$color": "#8E7032", 
             "image": "http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/300x300/11403219.jpg", 
             "$area": 276
           }, 
           "id": "album-Thirteenth Step", 
           "name": "Thirteenth Step"
         }, 
         {
           "children": [], 
           "data": {
             "playcount": "271", 
             "$color": "#906E32", 
             "image": "http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/300x300/11393921.jpg", 
             "$area": 271
           }, 
           "id": "album-Mer De Noms", 
           "name": "Mer De Noms"
         }
       ], 
       "data": {
         "playcount": 547, 
         "$area": 547
       }, 
       "id": "artist_A Perfect Circle", 
       "name": "A Perfect Circle"
     }, 
.....

json.net is pretty awesome

Cubicle.Jockey
– Cubicle.Jockey

2013-07-25 02:59:23 +00:00
Commented Jul 25, 2013 at 2:59 — Cubicle.Jockey
– Cubicle.Jockey, Commented Jul 25, 2013 at 2:59

Simon Whitehead · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-25 01:02:54Z

5

Or.. you could just do it the other way around:

http://json2csharp.com/

Throw your Json in there and it will spit out C# classes.. thereby mimicking the Json format.. not you having to manually trial-and-error it.

answered Jul 25, 2013 at 1:02

Simon Whitehead

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1 Comment

Tony_Henrich Over a year ago

This saved me a lot of time. Thanks.

Manvik · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-26 05:32:14Z

0

Use this http://jsonclassgenerator.codeplex.com/

I have been using this for quite some time now and it is the best method of generating the C# class from your JSON. After you generate the class you can then serialize it using JSON.NET to get the desired JSON.

answered Jul 26, 2013 at 5:32

Manvik

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1 Comment

Deantwo Over a year ago

Codeplex link is sadly dead. This seems like the new link: github.com/JsonCSharpClassGenerator/JsonCSharpClassGenerator

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