Handling Empty dictionary when deserializing JSON response in .NET

Question

The structure of the JSON response is in the format

Dictionary<string,Dictionary<string,double>>

which is to be deserialized.

Sometimes the inner dictionary is received as empty , {} which throws an error

Error converting value \"{}\" to type 'System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2[System.String,System.Double]'. Path '513215', line 1, position 14.

Even on trying below piece of code : it gives the same error

var settings = new JsonSerializerSettings
                {
                    NullValueHandling = NullValueHandling.Ignore,
                    MissingMemberHandling = MissingMemberHandling.Ignore
                };

var json_response = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, Dictionary<string, double>>>(response, settings);

How to handle this error and what are the best practices to handle it?

Example JSON which causes error

I don't see the JSON response your deserializing? Dictionary<string,Dictionary<string,double>> is just the type you want to deserialize to. — RoadRunner
– RoadRunner, Commented Feb 24, 2020 at 6:36
@RoadRunner Do you want example response or ? The last line of code is being used for deserialization — Kitwradr
– Kitwradr, Commented Feb 24, 2020 at 6:38
@Kitwradr Why do you have {} in the first place? That is an empty object. And {} is not null hence your settings will not work. Also, Json.NET expects a dictionary to be an object or null. Take a look at this question: stackoverflow.com/questions/45572652/… — Rahul Sharma
– Rahul Sharma, Commented Feb 24, 2020 at 7:09

Rich K. · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-24 06:46:54Z

1

There is nothing stopping you from checking the response for empty set or bad value before you go thru this deserialization. I do it all the time. :)

answered Feb 24, 2020 at 6:46

Rich K.

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1 Comment

Kitwradr Over a year ago

How do we check whether an inner dictionary is empty? @Rich K.

Rich K. · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-25 00:00:32Z

1

After seeing your JSON, I think the problem lies within you JSON itself. Not sure because you are using a visualizer. That "{...lots of stuff...}" is not going to be parsed correctly because you have quotes inside.

I would take your raw JSON over to https://jsonlint.com/ and see what it has to say. Once you get that worked out you probably will stop throwing errors. BTW your first "string" 513215 ... is not a string in the world of JSON, it's a number. It needs to be surrounded by quotes. Once again this could be the visualizer.

Don't forget about https://www.json.org/ to see all those JSON rules.

answered Feb 25, 2020 at 0:00

Rich K.

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Kitwradr · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-19 21:27:45Z

0

The best practice would be to not send empty dictionaries and should always send null instead of {}

answered May 19, 2020 at 21:27

Kitwradr

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