JSON to C# Classes - Unknown property names

Question

let's say I have the following JSON payload;

  {
   "pagemap": {
    "metatags": [
     {
      "msapplication-task": "name\u003dAbout Tugberk Ugurlu;action-uri\u003d/about;icon-uri\u003d/content/App_Icons/icos/about.ico",
      "msapplication-task": "name\u003dContact;action-uri\u003d/contact;icon-uri\u003d/content/App_Icons/icos/contact.ico",
      "msapplication-task": "name\u003dBlog RSS Feed;action-uri\u003dhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/TugberkUgurlu;icon-uri\u003d/content/App_Icons/icos/rss.ico",
      "msapplication-task": "name\u003dTugberk on Twitter;action-uri\u003dhttp://twitter.com/tourismgeek;icon-uri\u003d/content/App_Icons/icos/twitter.ico",
      "msapplication-starturl": "./",
      "application-name": "Tugberk's Blog",
      "msapplication-tooltip": "bla bla bla..."
     }
    ]
   }
  }

The property names under mettags are dynamic. I mean one of them is msapplication-starturl for this request but it might be msapplication-foo for another.

So what would be the best c# classes for this kind of JSON payload?

EDIT

this is the part of JSON format which google search API gives. Also I am using Json.NET. is There any other way than dynamic?

The only somewhat somewhat-typed way that can be statically represented represented is IDictionary<JSONKey,JSONValueSuperType> (as a sequence element of metatags) or similar -- of course, if this dynamic nature only applies to "msapplication-" ... but why make it even more confusing? :) I'm honestly not really sure what is being asked otherwise :-/ — user166390
– user166390, Commented Jun 1, 2011 at 20:59
@pst this is the part of JSON format which google search API gives. Also I am using Json.NET. There isn't any other way than dynamic, is it? — tugberk
– tugberk, Commented Jun 1, 2011 at 21:05
@pst I think the question is pretty clear. Also it's very easy to understand that the metatags contains the page metetags. so it will be highly possible that they will be different. — tugberk
– tugberk, Commented Jun 1, 2011 at 21:10
@tugberk Then see my comment. Alternatively, consider a JSON mechanism that allows/uses dynamic. — user166390
– user166390, Commented Jun 1, 2011 at 21:44
Doesn't json require the keys in a dictionary to be unique? Is that even valid json? — CodesInChaos
– CodesInChaos, Commented Jun 1, 2011 at 21:49

Chris Marisic · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-01 23:19:51Z

2

I'd probably just want the MetaTags array to just get pushed into a Dictionary<string,string> or even just List<string> and then write a helper class that parses msapplication-task values into something you want.

Edit: I believe the OP is looking for some help in how his model class would actually be

public class PageMap
{
    public Dictionary<string,string> MetaTags {get;set; }
}

From looking at that json object, it appears that RestSharp should be able to deserialize it into this class.

Calling code would be similar to

var client = new RestClient("somegoogle.com");
var request = new RestRequest("Some/Foo/Bar", Method.GET)
                                 { RequestFormat = DataFormat.Json }; 
request.AddParameter("p1", "quigybo");
client.Execute<PageMan>(request)

edited Jun 1, 2011 at 23:19

answered Jun 1, 2011 at 21:31

Chris Marisic

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4 Comments

Greg Over a year ago

@tugberk - Dictionary<TKey, TValue> is a class.

tugberk Over a year ago

@Greg so it would be this : public Dictionary<string, string> Metatags { get; set; } ?

CodesInChaos Over a year ago

IMO a public setter for a property that has a mutable type(like Dictionary) is rarely a good idea. I'd make the the setter private.

Chris Marisic Over a year ago

@CodeInChaos the OP would need to verify whether that is a viable option for JSON.NET serialization (that RestSharp uses)

Zachary · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-01 23:37:29Z

2

You should look at JSON.NET and JObject for building dynamic loosely typed objects. If you decide to use it, you should NuGet to download it.

Example:

var client = new WebClient();
client.Headers.Add("User-Agent", "your user agent here");
var response = client.DownloadString(new Uri("http://www.domain.com/source-page.html"));
JObject jo = JObject.Parse(response);

answered Jun 1, 2011 at 23:37

Zachary

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2 Comments

Chris Marisic Over a year ago

+1 for mentioning direct JObects, RestSharp is biult on top of JSON.NET so the OP has that implicitly.

Hugo Nava Kopp Over a year ago

I had never heard of JObject. Cheers mate, very useful response :-)

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