Json in .NET
Posted by: Clarity Blogs: ASP.NET,
on 05 Feb 2010 |
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I use Json all the time, but I feel like its super annoying in .NET. Typically Id call some web service that returns Json. In .NET it seems like the best thing to is to define a data contract and use the DataContractSerializer:
[DataContract]
public
class Person
{
[DataMember]
public string FirstName { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string LastName { get; set; }
}
then to deserialize whatever string of Json I got back.
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public static Person DeserializeToPerson( string jsonString )
{
using( MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream( Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes( jsonString ) ) )
{
DataContractJsonSerializer serializer =
new DataContractJsonSerializer( typeof( Person ) );
return ( Person )serializer.ReadObject( ms );
}
}
Feels like a lot of code and I need to define the data contract beforehand which seems a little unnecessary given the dynamic nature of web services and Json. Things like the the memory stream reader and getting bytes off the string are brutal. Why cant i just pass a string to the JsonDataContractSerializer? Some things seem way more complicated in .NET than they need to be. (cref: Calling REST services in .NET)
What Id like is something closer to Python.
import simplejson as json
person = json.loads(jsonString)
print person.FirstName
That is pretty easy.
With .NET there are some options like:
System.Json
var data = JsonObject.Load(dataStream);
Console.Writeline(data["FirstName"])
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This is pretty close to what I want. The problem is having to cast sub items to things like JsonArray and what not. Secondly, System.Json only works in Silverlight so i cant use in a web project or desktop app.
Next option is one of the Json libraries like Json.Net. Not that I mind using any 3rd party DLLs, I just think parsing Json is fairly common if you are calling a rest web service and it should be in the framework, maybe Im the only one that uses json all the time instead of XML but Id rather use Lotus Notes everyday than parse XML and you know I hates the Lotus Notes.
This site has an interesting approach: http://blog.petegoo.com/archive/2009/10/27/using-json.net-to-eval-json-into-a-dynamic-variable-in.aspx
2 problems for me. I still need to reference Json.Net and there is that ridiculous looking code to convert to Expando object. I just dont feel comfortable dropping that blob in my code.
Ideally Json parsing would be something similar but handled in the framework:
dynamic person = JsonObject.Load(jsonString)
Console.Writeline(person.FirstName)
That makes me happy. No pre-defining a contract and something in the framework that can take a string of Json and return back a dynamic object. There is so much stuff in the .NET framework, why cant there be useful helpers that do common tasks like this.
I could totally be missing simpler solutions so feel free to chime in if Im just an idiot and missing something obvious.
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