How to deserialize nested JSON in C#

Question

I know this type of question has probably been asked before, but I when I tried it it didn't quite work. I am new to working with jsons in C#. So I have a JSON file (example from the file is shorter than in real one), from which I want to get values. Values I need are in 'languages' array.

There is a great solution from getting data from the array on the website:
https://www.newtonsoft.com/json/help/html/DeserializeDataSet.htm

But, I have a problem because there is a 'Result' attribute, and I don't know how to go through it. Also there are a lot of attributes in the top of the json ('Headers') Which I don't need but i think I still need to include them in my code?. It would really help if someone could please send me some tips or a solution on how to do it. There will also be an incomplete example of code, which gives errors. Also if any one of you could also reply with maybe a good video on YouTube or website about Json.net except from the official documentation, that would be amazing. Thanks

Json:

{
  "StatusCode": 200,
  "Headers": {
    "X-XSS-Protection": "1; mode=block",
    "X-Content-Type-Options": "nosniff",
    "Content-Security-Policy": "default-src 'none'",
    "Cache-Control": "no-store, no-cache",
    "Pragma": "no-cache",
    "Strict-Transport-Security": "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains;",
    "x-dp-watson-tran-id": "0cf1366a-5bd0-4210-a291-93a30ea0ac62",
    "X-Request-ID": "0cf1366a-5bd0-4210-a291-93a30ea0ac62",
    "x-global-transaction-id": "0cf1366a-5bd0-4210-a291-93a30ea0ac62",
    "Server": "watson-gateway",
    "X-EdgeConnect-MidMile-RTT": "5",
    "X-EdgeConnect-Origin-MEX-Latency": "92",
    "Date": "Wed, 25 Aug 2021 13:21:23 GMT",
    "Connection": "keep-alive"
  },
  "Result": {
    "languages": [
      {
        "language": "af",
        "language_name": "Afrikaans",
        "native_language_name": "Afrikaans",
        "country_code": "ZA",
        "words_separated": true,
        "direction": "left_to_right",
        "supported_as_source": false,
        "supported_as_target": false,
        "identifiable": true
      },
      {
        "language": "ar",
        "language_name": "Arabic",
        "native_language_name": "العربية",
        "country_code": "AR",
        "words_separated": true,
        "direction": "right_to_left",
        "supported_as_source": true,
        "supported_as_target": true,
        "identifiable": true
      },
      {
        "language": "az",
        "language_name": "Azerbaijani",
        "native_language_name": "آذربایجان دیلی",
        "country_code": "AZ",
        "words_separated": true,
        "direction": "right_to_left",
        "supported_as_source": false,
        "supported_as_target": false,
        "identifiable": true
      }
    ]
}

My incomplete code:

using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;

namespace WorkingWithFiles
{
    class FullJson
    {
        public int StatusCode { get; set; }
        public Dictionary<string, List<Headers>> Headers { get; set; }
        public Dictionary<string, List<Languages>> Result { get; set; }

    }

    class Headers
    {
        public string xXssProtection { get; set; }
        public string xContentTypeOptions { get; set; }
        public string contentTypeOptions { get; set; }
        public string cacheControl { get; set; }
        public string pragma { get; set; }
        public string strictTransportSecurity { get; set; }
        public string xDpWatsonTranId { get; set; }
        public string xRequestId { get; set; }
        public string xGlobalTransactionId { get; set; }
        public string server { get; set; }
        public string xEdgeConnectMidMileRTT { get; set; }
        public string xEdgeConnectOriginMEXLatency { get; set; }
        public string date { get; set; }
        public string connection { get; set; }
    }

    class Languages
    {

    }

class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string root = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);
            string path = root + @"\SubtitleTranslator\LanguagesList.json";

            FullJson fullJson = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<FullJson>(File.ReadAllText(path));
            Console.WriteLine("Status code: " + fullJson.StatusCode);





        }
    }
}

Why are you storing and retrieving a raw response instead of just the data? — David L
– David L, Commented Aug 25, 2021 at 19:57
Like, i said I am completely new to working with Json in c# so I really don't know how to get to it. Or how to do it — AGlasencnik
– AGlasencnik, Commented Aug 25, 2021 at 19:59
What are you actually trying to do with the languages array? You simply access it via fullJson.Result.Languages, with result not being a dictionary, but rather a list of Language objects. — David L
– David L, Commented Aug 25, 2021 at 20:01
if you're unsure how you would write some big json objects, then just try to use some of online generators like this one it's way easier to learn out of example instead of writing everything blindly (at least for the first time) — Azelski
– Azelski, Commented Aug 25, 2021 at 22:39
@HenkHolterman newtonsoft.json is outmoded...? Hmm.. checked nuget stats recently? :-) — dba
– dba, Commented Aug 26, 2021 at 7:04

Serge · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-26 11:43:27Z

All code was tested using VS2019 and working properly.

The simpliest way will be

var root =Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);
var path = root + @"\SubtitleTranslator\LanguagesList.json";
 var json = File.ReadAllText(path);
var jsonDeserialized = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Root>(json);
List<Language> languages = null;
if( jsonDeserialized.StatusCode== 200) languages=jsonDeserialized.Result.languages;

or if you don't need any data except languages, try this code

var languages= JObject.Parse(json)["Result"]["languages"].ToObject<Language[]>();

in this case you will need only Language class

OUTPUT (in both cases)

[{"language":"af","language_name":"Afrikaans","native_language_name":"Afrikaans","country_code":"ZA","words_separated":true,"direction":"left_to_right","supported_as_source":false,"supported_as_target":false,"identifiable":true},
{"language":"ar","language_name":"Arabic","native_language_name":"العربية","country_code":"AR","words_separated":true,"direction":"right_to_left","supported_as_source":true,"supported_as_target":true,"identifiable":true},
{"language":"az","language_name":"Azerbaijani","native_language_name":"آذربایجان دیلی","country_code":"AZ","words_separated":true,"direction":"right_to_left","supported_as_source":false,"supported_as_target":false,"identifiable":true}]

Update

you can test it using Console.WriteLine

foreach (var lg in languages)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Language Name: {lg.native_language_name}, Coutry Code: {lg.country_code}");
        
}

Language class

public class Language
{
    public string language { get; set; }
    public string language_name { get; set; }
    public string native_language_name { get; set; }
    public string country_code { get; set; }
    public bool words_separated { get; set; }
    public string direction { get; set; }
    public bool supported_as_source { get; set; }
    public bool supported_as_target { get; set; }
    public bool identifiable { get; set; }
}

another classes (if needed)

public class Root
{
    public int StatusCode { get; set; }
    public Headers Headers { get; set; }
    public Result Result { get; set; }
}
public class Headers
{
    [JsonProperty("X-XSS-Protection")]
    public string XXSSProtection { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("X-Content-Type-Options")]
    public string XContentTypeOptions { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("Content-Security-Policy")]
    public string ContentSecurityPolicy { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("Cache-Control")]
    public string CacheControl { get; set; }
    public string Pragma { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("Strict-Transport-Security")]
    public string StrictTransportSecurity { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("x-dp-watson-tran-id")]
    public string XDpWatsonTranId { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("X-Request-ID")]
    public string XRequestID { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("x-global-transaction-id")]
    public string XGlobalTransactionId { get; set; }
    public string Server { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("X-EdgeConnect-MidMile-RTT")]
    public string XEdgeConnectMidMileRTT { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("X-EdgeConnect-Origin-MEX-Latency")]
    public string XEdgeConnectOriginMEXLatency { get; set; }
    public string Date { get; set; }
    public string Connection { get; set; }
}


public class Result
{
    public List<Language> languages { get; set; }
}
````

I tried it but got this as response when I tried to do Console.WriteLine(langs): System.Collections.Generic.List`1[WorkingWithFiles.Language]
Thank you very much, this is exactly what I was looking for.

Spencer Bench · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-25 20:33:59Z

0

If all you need is the contents of the languages array, then use Json.NET's LINQ to JSON feature:

class LangInfo {
    public string language { get; set; }
    public string language_name { get; set; }
    public string native_language_name { get; set; }
    ...
}

var langs = JObject.Parse(json)["Result"]["languages"].Children()
    .Select(token => token.ToObject<LangInfo>()).ToList();

edited Aug 25, 2021 at 20:33

answered Aug 25, 2021 at 20:09

Spencer Bench

6454 silver badges7 bronze badges

2 Comments

AGlasencnik Over a year ago

Hi, thanks for the reply, but unfortunately it didn't work I tried it, and got that error: Unhandled exception. System.InvalidCastException: Cannot cast Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject to Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JToken. at Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.Extensions.Convert[T,U](T token) at Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.Extensions.Convert[T,U](IEnumerable1 source)+MoveNext() at System.Collections.Generic.List1..ctor(IEnumerable1 collection) at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToList[TSource](IEnumerable1 source) at WorkingWithFiles.Program.Main(String[] args)

Spencer Bench Over a year ago

My bad, I fixed it.

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