Json Deserialization of form Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, string>>

Question

I'm trying to deserialize a json string of form [{"key" : "Microsoft", "value":[{"Key":"Publisher","Value":"abc"},{"Key":"UninstallString","Value":"c:\temp"}]} and so on ] to a C# object.

It is basically in the form Dicionary<string, Dictionary<string, string>>. I tried using the Newtonsoft's JsonConvert.Deserialize but got an error:

Cannot deserialize the current JSON array (e.g. [1,2,3]) into type 'System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.String]]' because the type requires a JSON object (e.g. {"name":"value"}) to deserialize correctly.

To fix this error either change the JSON to a JSON object (e.g. {"name":"value"}) or change the deserialized type to an array or a type that implements a collection interface (e.g. ICollection, IList) like List that can be deserialized from a JSON array. JsonArrayAttribute can also be added to the type to force it to deserialize from a JSON array.
Path '', line 1, position 1.

Is there any other alternative way to do it?

Just use var obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(...). It works for your json string — L.B
– L.B, Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 22:34
im doing this currently... string jsonString = json; (this contains the json in the format mentioned above) var values = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string,Dictionary<string,string>>>(jsonString);........I still get the same error. — barry
– barry, Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 22:39
im doing this currently. Why don't you try the code i posted? I tested it and it works. — L.B
– L.B, Commented Jul 5, 2012 at 22:43
Thanks L.B.. But im looking for an object of type Dictionary<string,Dictionary<string,string>> because i already have a logic to loop through on such an object and insert those values into the database. — barry
– barry, Commented Jul 6, 2012 at 13:36

L.B · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-06 14:34:00Z

6

The best way I could find is:

string json = @"[{""Key"" : ""Microsoft"", ""Value"":[{""Key"":""Publisher"",""Value"":""abc""},{""Key"":""UninstallString"",""Value"":""c:\temp""}]}]";

var list = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject< List<KeyValuePair<string,List<KeyValuePair<string, string>>>> >(json);

var dict= list.ToDictionary(
         x => x.Key, 
         x => x.Value.ToDictionary(y=>y.Key,y=>y.Value));

answered Jul 6, 2012 at 14:34

L.B

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