json.net parsing mixed string and array

Question

I am trying to convert the below JSON property into an object. The string array is kind of a mixed type: its elements may be strings or string arrays. (Although the string arrays only show up in the occasional record.)

I made the booster property a List<String>, which is fine, but the few rows that have the array at the end cause parsing to fail. Any ideas how I could handle this situation?

  "booster": [
    "land",
    "marketing",
    "common",
    "common",
    "common",
    "common",
    "common",
    "common",
    "common",
    "common",
    "common",
    "common",
    "uncommon",
    "uncommon",
    "uncommon",
    [
      "rare",
      "mythic rare"
    ]
  ]

using(var db = new MTGFlexContext()){
        JObject AllData = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<JObject>(File.ReadAllText(path));
        List<String> SetCodes = db.Sets.Select(x => x.Code).ToList();
        foreach (var set in AllData)
        {
            try
            {
                Set convert = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Set>(set.Value.ToString()) as Set;
                if (!SetCodes.Contains(set.Key))
                {
                    convert.Name = set.Key;
                    foreach (var c in convert.Cards)
                    {
                        db.Cards.Add(c);
                        db.SaveChanges();
                }
                db.Sets.Add(convert);
                db.SaveChanges();
            }
        }
    }
}

The full json is 40mb http://mtgjson.com/

How much control do you have over the object format? If the array only ever comes at the end, could you break it out into a separate property on the containing object? — reuben
– reuben, Commented Apr 5, 2015 at 15:57

stefankmitph · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-06 15:46:27Z

1

You could make booster a List<dynamic>. It would deserialize correctly and for those indices that are not strings you could cast as JArray and get the values.

class MyObject {
     List<dynamic> booster { get; set; }
}

var result = JsonConvert.Deserialize<MyObject>(json);

string value = result.booster[0];

var jArray = result.booster[15] as JArray;
var strings = jArray.Values<string>();
foreach(var item in strings)
    Console.WriteLine(item);

UPDATE: Maybe writing a custom json converter can do what you want. This code may be error prone and there's not a lot of error handling or checking. It just demonstrates and illustrates how you can do it:

public class CustomConverter : JsonConverter
{
    public override void WriteJson(JsonWriter writer, object value, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException(); // since we don't need to write a serialize a class, i didn't implement it
    }

    public override object ReadJson(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, object existingValue, JsonSerializer serializer)
    {        
        JObject jObject = JObject.Load(reader); // load the json string into a JObject

        foreach (KeyValuePair<string, JToken> jToken in jObject) // loop through the key-value-pairs
        {
            if(jToken.Key == "booster") // we have a fixed structure, so just wait for booster property 
            {
                // we take any entry in booster which is an array and select it (in this example: ['myth', 'mythic rare'])
                var tokens = from entry in jToken.Value 
                    where entry.Type == JTokenType.Array
                    select entry;

                // let's loop through the array/arrays
                foreach (var entry in tokens.ToList())
                {
                    if (entry.Type == JTokenType.Array) 
                    {
                        // now we take every string of ['myth', 'mythic rare'] and put it into newItems
                        var newItems = entry.Values<string>().Select(e => new JValue(e));
                        // add 'myth' and 'mythic rare' after ['myth', 'mythic rare']
                        // now the json looks like:
                        // {
                        //    ...
                        //    ['myth', 'mythic rare'],
                        //    'myth',
                        //    'mythic rare'
                        // }
                        foreach (var newItem in newItems)
                            entry.AddAfterSelf(newItem);
                        // remove ['myth', 'mythic rare']
                        entry.Remove();
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        // return the new target object, which now lets us convert it into List<string>
        return new MyObject
        {
            booster = jObject["booster"].Values<string>().ToList()
        };
    }

    public override bool CanConvert(Type objectType)
    {
        return objectType == typeof(MyObject);
    }
}

Hope it helps...

edited Apr 6, 2015 at 15:46

answered Apr 5, 2015 at 16:23

stefankmitph

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3 Comments

fruitbatinshades Over a year ago

Thanks, Stefan. Good idea, but I'm using entity framework to import the json into a sql server, don;t think it will like that ;) Is there a way to get a callback when it parses that field so I can react? I'm just using the most basic methods atm and fear I need to get a bit deeper :/

stefankmitph Over a year ago

@fruitbatinshades do you actually just wanna 'wait' for the array to come (and insert them into db) or do you want to deserialize the object without the array?

fruitbatinshades Over a year ago

At this point I'd like to be able to just ignore the array part or just consume it as two extra strings rather than json.net erroring. [JsonProperty("booster")] public string[] Booster { get; set; }

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