How to deserialize a json string containing encoded HTML into JObject?

Question

I have a json string containing encoded HTML as below which I get after doing a Shopify Liquid escape. I am trying to decode the internal HTML and deserialize this string into a JObject.

{
    "testId": 494254,
    "languageIdentifier": "en_us",
    "overview":"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Overview&#39;ff&#39; Test&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;",  
    "responsibilities":"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Responsibilities&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;",
    "qualifications":"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Qualifications&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;",
    "guidance":"z_used_Guidance Test",
    "additionalDetailsForInternalCandidates":"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Additional Details&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;",
    "requisitionNotes":"Requisition Notes"
}

The actual html is:

{
    "testId": 494254,
    "languageIdentifier": "en_us",
    "overview": "<p style=\"margin: 0px;\"><span>Overview'ff' Test</span></p>"
    "responsibilities": "<p style=\"margin: 0px;\"><span>Responsibilities</span></p>"
    "qualifications": "<p style=\"margin: 0px;\"><span>Qualifications</span></p>"
    "additionalDetailsForInternalCandidates":"<p style=\"margin: 0px;\"><span>Additional Details</span></p>",
    "guidance":"z_used_Guidance Test",
    "requisitionNotes":"Requisition Notes"
}

However, when I try to decode and deserialize, it is failing. My code is:

string test = "{\r\n\t\"testId\": 494254,\r\n\t\"languageIdentifier\": \"en_us\",\r\n\t\"overview\":\"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Overview&#39;ff&#39; Test&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;\",\t\r\n\t\"responsibilities\":\"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Responsibilities&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;\",\r\n\t\"qualifications\":\"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Qualifications&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;\",\r\n\t\"guidance\":\"z_used_Guidance Test\",\r\n\t\"additionalDetailsForInternalCandidates\":\"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Additional Details&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;\",\r\n\t\"requisitionNotes\":\"Requisition Notes\"}";
var jsonString = HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(test);
var objectjson = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<JObject>(jsonString);

However, I get this error:

'After parsing a value an unexpected character was encountered: m. Path 'overview', line 4, position 23.'

Can anyone help me in decoding an encoded HTML and deserialize it into JObject? I want it as a decoded html string like the original input

{
    "testId": 494254,
    "languageIdentifier": "en_us",
    "overview": "<p style=\"margin: 0px;\"><span>Overview'ff' Test</span></p>",
    "responsibilities": "<p style=\"margin: 0px;\"><span>Responsibilities</span></p>",
    "qualifications": "<p style=\"margin: 0px;\"><span>Qualifications</span></p>",
    "additionalDetailsForInternalCandidates":"<p style=\"margin: 0px;\"><span>Additional Details</span></p>",
    "guidance":"z_used_Guidance Test",
    "requisitionNotes":"Requisition Notes"
}

Thanks in advance.

What is the actual "JSON" that you're receiving? Not the view you get when you hover over the string, but the view you get when you click the 🔍? — ProgrammingLlama
– ProgrammingLlama, Commented Jul 8, 2020 at 9:42
I want a decoded html string and HtmlDecode was failing without doing the replace. — Na.B
– Na.B, Commented Jul 8, 2020 at 9:42
At the moment the strings you're showing have a lot of escape characters that shouldn't be present in JSON outside of strings (i.e. within the JSON, not as part of the format). — ProgrammingLlama
– ProgrammingLlama, Commented Jul 8, 2020 at 9:44
{ "testId": 494254, "languageIdentifier": "en_us", "overview":"Overview 'Test'", "responsibilities":"Responsibilities", "qualifications":"Qualifications", "guidance":"z_used_Guidance Test", "additionalDetailsForInternalCandidates":"Additional Details", "requisitionNotes":"Requisition Notes"} — Na.B
– Na.B, Commented Jul 8, 2020 at 9:45
If that's genuinely the string you're receiving, then you've got some problems. Within "overview", you have unescaped quotes for its content. The JSON is therefore badly formed. P.S. I recommend adding that as an edit to your question. — ProgrammingLlama
– ProgrammingLlama, Commented Jul 8, 2020 at 9:46

Heinzi · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-08 10:53:47Z

You assume that you have an HTML-encoded JSON file. That is not the case. What you have is a JSON file containing HTML-encoded values. That's something different.

It means that you first need to parse the JSON and then HTML-decode the value.

string jsonString = @"{
    ""testId"": 494254,
    ""languageIdentifier"": ""en_us"",
    ""overview"":""&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Overview&#39;ff&#39; Test&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;"",  
    ""responsibilities"":""&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Responsibilities&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;"",
    ""qualifications"":""&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Qualifications&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;"",
    ""guidance"":""z_used_Guidance Test"",
    ""additionalDetailsForInternalCandidates"":""&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Additional Details&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;"",
    ""requisitionNotes"":""Requisition Notes""
}";

var objectjson = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<JObject>(jsonString);
var htmlEncodedValue = objectjson.Value<string>("overview");
var decodedValue = HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(htmlEncodedValue);

Vivek Chhatrala · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-08 10:24:52Z

You have to do as per below code in C#

libraries

using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

code

string test = "{\r\n\t\"testId\": 494254,\r\n\t\"languageIdentifier\": \"en_us\",\r\n\t\"overview\":\"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Overview Test&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;\",\t\r\n\t\"responsibilities\":\"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Responsibilities&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;\",\r\n\t\"qualifications\":\"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Qualifications&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;\",\r\n\t\"guidance\":\"z_used_Guidance Test\",\r\n\t\"additionalDetailsForInternalCandidates\":\"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Additional Details&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;\",\r\n\t\"requisitionNotes\":\"Requisition Notes\"}";

JToken objectData = JToken.Parse(test);
var testId = objectData["testId"];
var languageIdentifier = objectData["languageIdentifier"];

If you want to do it from html instead of c# then do as per below.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
<h2>Create Object from JSON String</h2>
<p id="demo"></p>

<script>
var txt = "{\r\n\t\"testId\": 494254,\r\n\t\"languageIdentifier\": \"en_us\",\r\n\t\"overview\":\"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Overview Test&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;\",\t\r\n\t\"responsibilities\":\"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Responsibilities&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;\",\r\n\t\"qualifications\":\"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Qualifications&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;\",\r\n\t\"guidance\":\"z_used_Guidance Test\",\r\n\t\"additionalDetailsForInternalCandidates\":\"&lt;p style=&quot;margin: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;Additional Details&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;\",\r\n\t\"requisitionNotes\":\"Requisition Notes\"}"
var obj = JSON.parse(txt);
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = "TestID : " + obj.testId + " and languageIdentifier : " + obj.languageIdentifier;
</script>
</body>
</html>

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