Convert JSON string to object C#

Question

I have JSON string results as follows. enter image description here

In this response Sometimes sizeKey and sizeName properties are returned as a string. But sometimes both properties are returns inside an array as follows enter image description here

I am using following code to convert it to object

var assets = jObject["assets"].Children().ToList();
 foreach (var item in assets)
 {
 decorationAssets.Add(item.ToObject<AEDecorationAssets>());
 }

And my AEDecorationAssets class is as follows.

public class AEDecorationAssets
{
 public string Id { get; set; }
 public string Url { get; set; }
 public string[] Colors { get; set; }
 public string FontKey { get; set; }
 public string SizeKey { get; set; }
 public string ViewKey { get; set; }
 public string FontName { get; set; }
 public int Rotation { get; set; }
 public string SizeName { get; set; }
 public string TextValue { get; set; }
 public string EntityType { get; set; }
 public string LocationCode { get; set; }
 public string LocationName { get; set; }
 public string TextEffectKey { get; set; }
 public string TextEffectName { get; set; }
 public string DecorationMethod { get; set; }
 public string NumDecorationColors { get; set; }
}

At the time when "sizeKey" is an array, the above code gives an error. How can I resolve this issue? Is there any JSON property we can use to resolve it?

• Prasad Telkikar: Have you tried with public List<string> SizeKey { get; set; }
• Voodoo: It's a backend mistake. API is not in proper state
• udaya726: it's not only about the SizeKey property. When result in an array SizeKey and the SizeName both properties inside the array
• xdtTransform: stackoverflow.com/questions/18994685/…
• Caius Jard: Possible duplicate of How to handle both a single item and an array for the same property using JSON.net

Answer 1

One way you can do it is by making your SizeKey type an object (i.e. public object SizeKey { get; set; }), then you can switch/case on item.ToObject<AEDecorationAssets>().SizeKey.GetType() to figure out how to handle it (i.e. if String do this, if JArray do that), etc.

• udaya726: If(item.ToObject<AEDecorationAssets>().SizeKey.GetType() == typeof(JArray)){((JArray)SizeKey).ToObject<List<CustomObject>>();}
• Tyress: @udaya726 don't forget your null checks!

Answer 2

If a JSON type is sometime an array, and sometimes a string, you can't really map it simply to a .NET type, as there is none that supports this behavior.

So first you need a datatype that can store this, like and string[] or List<string>.

It could be that JsonConvert will solve this automatically, but otherwise you'll need to write a custom ContractResolver or JsonConverter. Here you can detect if the source property is a string or array. If it's an array, you can use the default deserialization. If it is a string, you need to convert it to an array with a single value.

Answer 3

Simply get json result for which you want to create c# object and then you can valid json response from https://jsonlint.com/ and then you can create c# object of any type json response which you want through http://json2csharp.com. And after get c# object of your json response you only need to deserialization of your json response to c# object which you have created. which will return you expected result.