Question

I am using Json.net to convert a json string into a dynamic. When I use this dynamic as a model for a Razor template, I am getting an error…

Unable to compile template. ‘Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject’ does not
contain a definition for ‘Name’ and no extension method ‘Name’
accepting a first argument of type ‘Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject’
could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly
reference?)

If I just use a simple anonymous object as the model, it works fine.

Here is the problem displayed in a simple console app where I used NuGet to pull in two libraries…Newtonsoft JSON and RazorEngine.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // template used for generation
            var template = "<div>Hello @Model.Name</div>";

            // create model
            dynamic model = new System.Dynamic.ExpandoObject();
            model.Name = "Foo";

            // this works just fine
            RazorEngine.Razor.Parse(template, model);

            // convert model to string
            var json = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject(model);

            // regenerate model
            model = Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject.Parse(json);

            // this prints 'Foo' to the console just fine so the model is valid!
            string name = model.Name;
            System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(name);

            // this throws the error above!
            RazorEngine.Razor.Parse(template, model);
        }
    }
}

Can someone help me with the problem here?

Answer 1

You can’t directly pass the JObjects into the RazorEngine because whenever you assign a value to the JObject they are stored as type JValue. When you try to retrieve the assigned value also you will get a JValue not the assigned one.

Ex.

dynamic person = new JObject();
person.Name = "Vijay";

Console.WriteLine(person.Name.GetType());

==> NewtonSoft.Json.Linq.JValue