Unexpected character encountered while parsing value:

Question

I'm trying to use Steam's Web API to receive JSON and parse it using JSON.Net. I'm simply hard-coding a URL where I know I'll receive JSON. I'm running into the following error when I run it though:

Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: . Path '', line 0, position 0.

The error points to line 22 of my controller:

Line 22: SteamResponse response = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(json);

Here are my classes:

public class Game
{
    public int appid { get; set; }
    public int playtime_forever { get; set; }
    public int? playtime_2weeks { get; set; }
}

public class SteamResponse
{
    public int game_count { get; set; }
    public List<Game> games { get; set; }
}

public class RootObject
{
    public SteamResponse response { get; set; }
}

My controller looks like this:

        List<Game> gameList = new List<Game>();

        WebClient wc = new WebClient();

        var json = wc.DownloadString("http://api.steampowered.com/IPlayerService/GetOwnedGames/v0001/?key=" + steamAPIKey + "&steamid=76561197994394917&format=json");

        SteamResponse response = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<SteamResponse>(json);

I've visited the URL in browser to verify it's correct, and I've also tested the URL using JSON Lint. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here - I've checked other topics and checked for the problems they've listed but didn't find them.

Here is a link to the JSON I'm attempting to receive.

devdigital · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-21 22:45:35Z

3

You've created a RootObject type, but you're not using it in the deserialization. Have you tried:

var root = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(json);
// access root.response;

answered Nov 21, 2015 at 22:45

devdigital

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5 Comments

Jorbyte Over a year ago

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes, I've tried RootObject and I'm getting the same error.

devdigital Over a year ago

Perhaps it's an invalid stream API key, the JSON link you provided is working for me - dotnetfiddle.net/2KP7HO

Jorbyte Over a year ago

Well the API key is in the URL for the JSON link, so it must be correct right? I even copied your code example into a local console app I just created and ran it - but got the same error. I'm confused.

devdigital Over a year ago

Have you debugged that you're getting back the same JSON response?

Jorbyte Over a year ago

Okay so the problem was apparently my connection. For some reason webclient wouldn't pull in JSON on my mobile connection - I switched to a different connection and it was fine. It's working now. It was also important that I was using the wrong object - RootObject - to parse to, so thanks for pointing that out.

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