Deserialize JSON array with skipped elements

Question

I'm sending that kind of json to asp.net web api action.

{
  "keys": {
     "2a":["C",,,,,"0",,"0"]
  }
}

This json is POST-ed exactly as it is in request body to my asp.net 4.5 web api 2 action.

[RoutePrefix("api/TImport")]
[Authorize]
public class TImportController : ApiController
{

    [Route("")]
    [HttpPost]
    public async Task<TImportResult> Post(TImportParameters parameters)
    {
        // parameters.Keys["2a"] got deserialized as array[3] {"C","0","0" }   :(( 
        return await new TImport().RunAsync(parameters);
    }

What happens is that the 2a is deserialized into array of 3 elements instead of 8 elements with null or empty elements 2 to 6 and 7.

What can I do to to desserialize skipped array elements as defaults (nulls or empty strings)?

which library are you using for deserializing? Newtonsoft has special features like nullhandling and missingmemberhandling, may be worth checking — Krishna Chaithanya Muthyala
– Krishna Chaithanya Muthyala, Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 11:08
I'm using the standard library that is used for binding arguments in asp mvc. That is JsonMediaTypeFormatter based on json.codeplex.com I'm even unable to find out is that a reference behavior for json or a thing of particular library. — jjaskulowski
– jjaskulowski, Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 11:10
this is the newtonsoft one, check the property NullValueHandling in the JsonSerializer class you can set this to Include and try — Krishna Chaithanya Muthyala
– Krishna Chaithanya Muthyala, Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 11:13
how are you creating the object before sending? JSON.Net usually substitues null with null as default. 2a cannot be a property name of a C# object. — Amit Kumar Ghosh
– Amit Kumar Ghosh, Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 11:14
I don't the json is POST-ed in body to the asp.net web api action and there is a method parameter that it is auto binding to. I will update description. — jjaskulowski
– jjaskulowski, Commented Jun 2, 2016 at 11:18

Amit Kumar Ghosh · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-02 11:54:45Z

1

that is an invalid json string. Though some json parsers ignore the bad syntax. And C#/javascript doesn't allow you to create properties that starts with numbers(2a in this case)[JSON.Net doesn't complain though]. A json string should contain key/values separated by comma(,).

answered Jun 2, 2016 at 11:54

Amit Kumar Ghosh

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