Question

For recent checkins it is pretty straightforward:

Dim UserSelfCheckins As FourSquare.UserSelfCheckins.Root
Dim ser As New JavaScriptSerializer()
UserSelfCheckins = ser.Deserialize(Of FourSquare.UserSelfCheckins.Root)(jsonstring)

With backing classes like this:

Namespace UserSelfCheckins
    Public Class Root
        Public Property meta As MetaProperties
        Public Property response As ResponseProperties
    End Class

    Public Class MetaProperties
        Public Property code As String
    End Class

    Public Class ResponseProperties
        Public Property checkins As UserSelfCheckins
    End Class

    Public Class UserSelfCheckins
        Public Property count As Integer
        Public Property items As List(Of UserSelfCheckinProperties)
    End Class

    Public Class UserSelfCheckinProperties
        Public Property createdAt As Long
        Public Property venue As VenueProperties
    End Class

    Public Class VenueProperties
        Public Property id As String
        Public Property name As String
        Public Property location As LocationProperty
        Public Property categories As List(Of CategoriesProperty)
    End Class

    Public Class LocationProperty
        Public Property city As String
        Public Property state As String
    End Class
End Namespace

You can display them with this:

 @For Each item In UserSelfCheckins.response.checkins.items
        @<li>
        @item.venue.name
        @item.venue.location.city
        @item.venue.location.state
        </li>
 Next

What I can’t figure out is how to do this for the list of badges as the structure isn’t constant. It is Response>Badges>[badgeID]>BadgeName. Since the BadgeID is different for each one I am having trouble writing matching classes.

After that figuring i’ll need to figure out a reasonable way to show badges that are actually unlocked.

Here is a snippet of the JSON from 2 badges – one unlocked.

{
  "meta": {
    "code": 200
  },
  "response": {
    "badges": {
      "4cd0d5e2137c76b04864e9c5": {
        "id": "4cd0d5e2137c76b04864e9c5",
        "badgeId": "4c4f08667a0803bb02212ab7",
        "name": "Groupie",
        "description": "The Backstreet Boys of tech! The Menudo of the interne.... OMG! @NAVEEN JUST TOUCHED MY SHIRT!\n\n",
        "image": {
          "prefix": "https:\/\/plaayfoursquare.s3.amazonaws.com\/badge\/",
          "sizes": [
            57,
            114,
            200,
            300,
            400
          ],
          "name": "\/sxsw2010_groupie.png"
        },
        "unlocks": [
          {
            "checkins": [

            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      "4cb271c2c5e6a1cd61d2e5f6": {
        "id": "4cb271c2c5e6a1cd61d2e5f6",
        "badgeId": "4c4f08667a0803bb17212ab7",
        "name": "Barista",
        "description": "Congrats - you've checked in at 5 different Starbucks! Be sure to pick up a double tall latte for your friend - I'm sure they'd do the same for you.",
        "image": {
          "prefix": "https:\/\/playfoursquare.s3.amazonaws.com\/badge\/",
          "sizes": [
            57,
            114,
            200,
            300,
            400
          ],
          "name": "\/barista.png"
        },
        "unlocks": [
          {
            "checkins": [
              {
                "id": "4cb271c1c5e6a1cd5ed2e5f6",
                "createdAt": 1286762945,
                "type": "checkin",
                "timeZone": "America\/Los_Angeles",
                "venue": {
                  "id": "4b4aa5c0f964a520318c26e3",
                  "name": "Starbucks",
                  "contact": {
                    "twitter": "starbucks"
                  },
                  "location": {
                    "address": "B Gates, Terminal 1",
                    "crossStreet": "LAS Airport",
                    "lat": 36.083164640690136,
                    "lng": -115.1517391204834,
                    "postalCode": "89119",
                    "city": "Las Vegas",
                    "state": "NV",
                    "country": "United States"
                  },
                  "categories": [
                    {
                      "id": "4bf58dd8d48988d1e0931735",
                      "name": "Coffee Shop",
                      "pluralName": "Coffee Shops",
                      "shortName": "Coffee Shop",
                      "icon": {
                        "prefix": "https:\/\/foursquare.com\/img\/categories\/food\/coffeeshop_",
                        "sizes": [
                          32,
                          44,
                          64,
                          88,
                          256
                        ],
                        "name": ".png"
                      },
                      "primary": true
                    }
                  ],
                  "verified": false,
                  "stats": {
                    "checkinsCount": 1401,
                    "usersCount": 1282,
                    "tipCount": 13
                  }
                },
                "photos": {
                  "count": 0,
                  "items": [

                  ]
                },
                "comments": {
                  "count": 0,
                  "items": [

                  ]
                }
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    "defaultSetType": "foursquare"
  }
}

Answer 1

I think I figured it out. What I was missing was turning the badges level into dictionary of string and object.

I needed this model:

 Namespace UserBadges
    Public Class Root
        Public Property meta As MetaProperties
        Public Property response As ResponseProperties
    End Class

    Public Class MetaProperties
        Public Property code As String
    End Class

    Public Class ResponseProperties
        Public Property badges As Dictionary(Of String, badge)
    End Class

    Public Class badge
        Public Property name As String
        Public Property Description As String
        Public Property Image As BadgeImage
        Public Property unlocks As List(Of Checkins)
    End Class

    Public Class Checkins
        Public Property checkins As List(Of CheckinInfo)
    End Class

    Public Class CheckinInfo
        Public Property createdAt As String
    End Class

    Public Class BadgeImage
        Public Property prefix As String
        Public Property name As String
    End Class

End Namespace

And this:

 UserBadges = ser.Deserialize(FourSquare.UserBadges.Root)(FSQjson)
 For Each item In UserBadges.response.badges
      @item.Value.Image.prefix
      @item.Value.Image.name
      @item.Value.name
      @item.Value.Description     
 Next