Json.net - Deserializing JSON -ignoring the root element?

Question

I have a json string that is being returned from HttpRequest that I am trying to deserialize to an object. The json has a root element that is not needed in my case (other applications that use the same data, need it so it can't be removed). I have tried several different ways to do this but my object is always null. I can see in the watch window that the json is being returned from the request correctly. Any ideas as to what I am missing?

My code is below.

Here is my object I am trying to deserialize to.

public class BrandHeaderResponse
{
    public BrandHeaderData brandHeaderData { get; set; }
}

public class BrandHeaderData
{
    public dynamic Image { get; set; } //url and alt text
    public string BackgroundColor { get; set; }
    public string LiveText { get; set; }
}

Here is the code

HttpResponseMessage response;
using (var request = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Get, new Uri(url)))
{
    response = await webClient.SendAsync(request, requestHeaders);
}
using (var stream = await response.Content.ReadAsStreamAsync())
{
    using (var sr = new StreamReader(stream))
    {
        using (var reader = new JsonTextReader(sr))
        {
            var serializer = new JsonSerializer();
            var data = serializer.Deserialize<T>(reader);
            return data;
        }
    }
}

And lastly, here is the json.

{  
   "2000_banner":{  
      "ComponentName":"2000_banner",
      "SchemaName":"Brand Banner",
      "BrandName":"Rockport - Dummy Banner",
      "LogoTextColor":"Dark",
      "Image":{  
         "ImageUrl":"http://n.media.com/staging/24?w=153&h=64",
         "AltText":"Burberry"
      },
      "LiveText":"This is dummy brand text for Rockport.",
      "BackgroundColor":"E3D9CE"
      }
  }

Will the property of the root object you want to deserialize always be named "2000_banner", or can the property name change? 2) Can there be other properties in the root object? — dbc
– dbc, Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 17:07
The name will change. It is based on the id of the object. I can serialize into a dictionary object and get my values from there but that seems a lot of overhead for a json string that will only ever contain one node (x_banner) We have a generic method that we use for all of our other json so I would like to be able to reuse it. For now, just so I am not stuck, I created a new method and deserialized to a dictionary. — Rhonda
– Rhonda, Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 17:52

dbc · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-22 18:34:51Z

I don't see any reason not to deserialize to a Dictionary<string, BrandHeaderData>, then set

new BrandHeaderResponse { brandHeaderData = dictionary.Values.SingleOrDefault() };

The overhead should be minimal

However, if for some reason you want to avoid that overhead, since you are already reading via a JsonTextReader, you can use the reader to iterate through the JSON stream until you find the first nested value, then deserialize that, using the following extension methods:

public static class JsonExtensions
{
    public static IEnumerable<T> DeserializeValues<T>(Stream stream)
    {
        var reader = new StreamReader(stream); // Caller should dispose
        return DeserializeValues<T>(reader);
    }

    public static IEnumerable<T> DeserializeValues<T>(TextReader textReader)
    {
        var ser = JsonSerializer.CreateDefault();
        var reader = new JsonTextReader(textReader); // Caller should dispose

        reader.SupportMultipleContent = true;

        while (reader.Read())
        {
            if (reader.Depth > 0
                && reader.TokenType != JsonToken.None && reader.TokenType != JsonToken.Undefined && reader.TokenType != JsonToken.PropertyName)
            {
                yield return ser.Deserialize<T>(reader);
            }
        }
    }
}

Then use DeserializeValues<BrandHeaderData>(stream).SingleOrDefault() to deserialize your JSON stream.

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