Question

I’m trying to consume SmartyStreets JSON LiveAddress API and I’m having some difficulties. I will admit that I’m not too familiar with JSON. Anyways, I’ve tried a few different methods and I usually end up with the error “Cannot deserialize JSON array into type Metadata”.

Here is the JSON string:

[{"input_index":0,"candidate_index":0,"delivery_line_1":"1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy","last_line":"Mountain View CA 94043-1351","delivery_point_barcode":"940431351000","components":{"primary_number":"1600","street_name":"Amphitheatre","street_suffix":"Pkwy","city_name":"Mountain View","state_abbreviation":"CA","zipcode":"94043","plus4_code":"1351","delivery_point":"00","delivery_point_check_digit":"0"},"metadata":{"record_type":"S","county_fips":"06085","county_name":"Santa Clara","carrier_route":"C058","congressional_district":"14"},"analysis":{"dpv_match_code":"Y","dpv_footnotes":"AABB","dpv_cmra":"N","dpv_vacant":"N","ews_match":false,"footnotes":"N#"}}]

I used the jsontocsharp webapp to create classes.

Here is the code I’m using:

using (var webClient = new WebClient())
        {
            var json = webClient.DownloadString("url");

            var md = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Metadata>(json);
            litTest.Text = md.county_name;
        }

Which then throws the error I mentioned above.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Andrew

Answer 1

I prefer to use dynamic object in these cases (No need for creating ugly classes)

such as:

dynamic jsonObj = JsonUtils.JsonObject.GetDynamicJsonObject(json);
foreach(var item in jsonObj)
{
    Console.WriteLine(item.delivery_line_1 + ", " + 
                      item.last_line + ", " +
                      item.metadata.county_name + ", " +
                      item.components.street_name + ", " + 
                      item.components.city_name  );

}

Here is the source for Dynamic Json Object (just copy & paste to your project) and some samples

PS: This is your json string in more readable format

[
    {
        "input_index": 0,
        "candidate_index": 0,
        "delivery_line_1": "1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy",
        "last_line": "Mountain View CA 94043-1351",
        "delivery_point_barcode": "940431351000",
        "components": {
            "primary_number": "1600",
            "street_name": "Amphitheatre",
            "street_suffix": "Pkwy",
            "city_name": "Mountain View",
            "state_abbreviation": "CA",
            "zipcode": "94043",
            "plus4_code": "1351",
            "delivery_point": "00",
            "delivery_point_check_digit": "0"
        },
        "metadata": {
            "record_type": "S",
            "county_fips": "06085",
            "county_name": "Santa Clara",
            "carrier_route": "C058",
            "congressional_district": "14"
        },
        "analysis": {
            "dpv_match_code": "Y",
            "dpv_footnotes": "AABB",
            "dpv_cmra": "N",
            "dpv_vacant": "N",
            "ews_match": false,
            "footnotes": "N#"
        }
    }
]