JSON string encoded twice?

Question

My Web API (code that generates JSON) is generating the following JSON string. It seems, if I am not wrong, that it has been encoded twice:

"\"[{\\\"SportID\\\":1,\\\"SportName\\\":\"Tennis\\\"},{\"SportID\\\":2,\\\"SportName\\\":\\\"Footbal\\\"},{\"SportID\\\":3,\"SportName\":\\\"Swimming\\\"}]\""

Web API code:

public string JSONTest()
{
    List<Sport> sports = new List<Sport>();
    sports.Add(new Sport() { SportID = 1, SportName = "Tennis" });
    sports.Add(new Sport() { SportID = 2, SportName = "Footbal" });
    sports.Add(new Sport() { SportID = 3, SportName = "Swimming" });

    try
    {      
      return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(sports);        
    }
    catch (Exception ex) { }            
}

Sport class:

public class Sport { public int SportID { get; set; } public string SportName { get; set; } }

Screenshot of getting JSON:

The following line gives me an error, I think because of twice encoding:

var JavaScriptSerializerResult = (new JavaScriptSerializer()).Deserialize< List<Sport>>(jsonResponse);

I get the same error if try with this:

  var jsonConvertResult = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<Sport>>(jsonResponse);

How can I fix my Web API to not encode twice, or if that is not the problem, how can I decode this JSON?

Did you copy that from Visual Studio's locals/auto window or hover-over pop-up? If so, one of the escapes is added by VS. Try copying it from Text Visualizer (the search icon at the right-side of the variable inside autos/locals windows.) — Furkan Kambay
– Furkan Kambay, Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 4:22
Probably a duplicate of JSON.NET Parser seems to be double serializing my objects. Please provide a minimal reproducible example showing how the JSON is generated to be sure. — dbc
– dbc, Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 4:24
@dbc - I just updated question. you can see more details in it — Cute Sparrow
– Cute Sparrow, Commented Feb 22, 2018 at 4:47

FaizanHussainRabbani · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-22 08:04:46Z

3

I think you should try JsonConvert.DeserializeObject to deserialize the JSON:

public class Sport
{
    // Dummy "Sport" class as it was not mentioned by OP.
    public int SportID { get; set; }
    public string SportName { get; set; }
}

I get serialized JSON as:

Deserialized it:

string json = JSONTest();
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<Sport>>(json);

Output:

UPDATE:

As per OP's shared JSON (which is being received from server), encoding can be removed by using:

private string RemoveEncoding(string encodedJson)
{
    var sb = new StringBuilder(encodedJson);
    sb.Replace("\\", string.Empty);
    sb.Replace("\"[", "[");
    sb.Replace("]\"", "]");
    return sb.ToString();
}

Deserialize it by:

string js = "\"[{\\\"SportID\\\":1,\\\"SportName\\\":\"Tennis\\\"},{\"SportID\\\":2,\\\"SportName\\\":\\\"Footbal\\\"},{\"SportID\\\":3,\"SportName\":\\\"Swimming\\\"}]\"";

string res = RemoveEncoding(js);
var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<Sport>>(res);

edited Feb 22, 2018 at 8:04

answered Feb 22, 2018 at 7:17

FaizanHussainRabbani

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3 Comments

Cute Sparrow Over a year ago

I already tried with JsonConvert.DeserializeObject method and got same error. The issue is, my jsonResponse string is encoded twice, I don't know why. Due to encoded twice, it gives error. If twice encoding issue can be fixed then issue will be resolved

FaizanHussainRabbani Over a year ago

@CuteSparrow Can you share Sport() class? because if I serialize this class it is not encoded twice.

Cute Sparrow Over a year ago

public class Sport { public int SportID { get; set; } public string SportName { get; set; } }

wild coder · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-22 08:19:05Z

0

Shorter sample for json.net library.
Here, entity is my serializable C# object. I use JsonConvert along with some formatting and specify to ignore reference looping to prevent circular referencing.

using Newtonsoft.Json;
var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject (entity, Formatting.Indented, 
           new JsonSerializerSettings {ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore,
    });

answered Feb 22, 2018 at 8:19

wild coder

9001 gold badge12 silver badges18 bronze badges

Comments

Stephen Kennedy · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-12 20:17:12Z

Use Linq Query Concept:

  public string JSONTest()
    { List<Sport> sports = new List<Sport>();
                    sports.Add(new Sport() { SportID = 1, SportName = "Tennis" });
    sports.Add(new Sport() { SportID = 2, SportName = "Footbal" });
    sports.Add(new Sport() { SportID = 3, SportName = "Swimming" });
                    var result_sports = (from row in sports
                                           group row by new { row.SportID , row.SportName} into hdr
                                           select new Sport()
                                           {
                                               SportID  = hdr.Key.SportID ,
                                               SportName  = hdr.Key.SportName ,

                                           }).ToList();
                    string jsondata = new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(result_sports);
}

Stephen Kennedy · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-21 09:23:15Z

Summary: Your return object is being serialized twice. Remove your hand-rolled serialization code and return objects from your web services - not JSON strings.

Your JSON is indeed being serialized 'twice'. Look closely at this screenshot and we see escaped quote marks:

Your list properly serialized should produce a JSON string something like this:

[{"SportID":1,"SportName":"Tennis"},{"SportID":2,"SportName":"Footbal"},{"SportID":3,"SportName":"Swimming"}]

But we have something more like this:

"[{\"SportID\":1,\"SportName\":\"Tennis\"},{\"SportID\":2,\"SportName\":\"Footbal\"},{\"SportID\":3,\"SportName\":\"Swimming\"}]"

I can replicate this (code below) and it means that your JSON string has itself been fed through a serializer.

This is almost certainly due to you manually serializing your List<Sport>. You don't need to do that. Web API serializes for you - hence the second run through a serializer.

Change the return type of your Web API function if necessary, and then instead of writing:

return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(sports);

just do

return sports;

Web API will take care of the serialization and you will no longer have the bothersome quotes and escape characters.

Code dump I tested with:

void Main()
{
    string json = JSONTest();
    Console.WriteLine(json);
    var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<Sport>>(json);

    string jsonX2 = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(json);
    Console.WriteLine(jsonX2);
    obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<Sport>>(jsonX2); // exception
}

public string JSONTest()
{
    List<Sport> sports = new List<Sport>();
    sports.Add(new Sport() { SportID = 1, SportName = "Tennis" });
    sports.Add(new Sport() { SportID = 2, SportName = "Footbal" });
    sports.Add(new Sport() { SportID = 3, SportName = "Swimming" });

    return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(sports);
}

public class Sport
{
    public int SportID { get; set; }
    public string SportName { get; set; }
}

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