Question

WinForms C#.. am getting some JSON in the format below (bottom of message) and trying to deserialise using:

using System.Web.Script.Serialization;

When I had simply this json returned:

{ 'objects': [     {         'categoryid': '1',         'name': 'funny',         'serverimageid': '1',         'dateuploaded': '2008-11-17 16:16:41',         'enabled': '1'     },     {         'categoryid': '2',         'name': 'happy',         'serverimageid': '2',         'dateuploaded': '2008-11-17 16:17:00',         'enabled': '1'     },     {         'categoryid': '3',         'name': 'sad',         'serverimageid': '3',         'dateuploaded': '2008-11-16 16:17:13',         'enabled': '1'     } ] } 

Then is was easy to deserialize: (yikes.. a bit hacky)

// s is the string s = s.Remove(0, 11); // last } int stringLength = s.Length; s = s.Remove(stringLength - 1, 1);  listOfCategories = serializer1.Deserialize<List<Category>>(s); 

Where

public class Category     {         public int categoryID;         public string name;         public int imageID;         public DateTime dateUpdated;         public int isActive;         public int displayOrder;     } 

However now, I’m stuck! Have tried a list of lists… but can’t get anywhere..

Much appreciated any help.

{     'objects': {         'categories': [             {                 'name': 'Congratulations',                 'imageID': '1',                 'isActive': '1',                 'displayOrder': '0',                 'dateUpdated': '2008-11-27 00:00:00'             },             {                 'name': 'Animals',                 'imageID': '2',                 'isActive': '1',                 'displayOrder': '0',                 'dateUpdated': '2008-11-26 00:00:00'             },             {                 'name': 'Romance',                 'imageID': '3',                 'isActive': '1',                 'displayOrder': '0',                 'dateUpdated': '2008-11-24 00:00:00'             }         ],         'present': [             {                 'presentID': '1',                 'name': 'Tiger',                 'categoryID': '2',                 'imageID': '1',                 'dateUpdated': '2008-11-27',                 'isActive': '1',                 'isAnimated': null,                 'isInteractive': null,                 'isAdaptive': null,                 'webLinkURL': null             },             {                 'giphtID': '2',                 'name': 'Donkey',                 'categoryID': '2',                 'imageID': '2',                 'dateUpdated': '2008-11-27',                 'isActive': '1',                 'isAnimated': null,                 'isInteractive': null,                 'isAdaptive': null,                 'webLinkURL': null             },             {                 'giphtID': '3',                 'name': 'Elephant',                 'categoryID': '2',                 'imageID': '3',                 'dateUpdated': '2008-11-27',                 'isActive': '1',                 'isAnimated': null,                 'isInteractive': null,                 'isAdaptive': null,                 'webLinkURL': null             }         ]     } } 

Answer 1

This seems to work fine (And no wacky string trimming!):

using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Web.Script.Serialization;  class Program {     static void Main( string[] args )     {         string json = System.IO.File.ReadAllText( '../../input.json' );          var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();         Structure jsonStructure = serializer.Deserialize<Structure>( json );         System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Break();     } }  class Structure {     public StructureObjects objects; }  class StructureObjects {     public List<StructureCategory> categories;     public List<StructurePresent> present; }  class StructureCategory {     public string name;     public int imageID;     public DateTime dateUpdated;     public int isActive;     public int displayOrder; }  class StructurePresent {     public int presentID;     public string name;     public int categoryID;     public int imageID;     public DateTime dateUpdated;     public int isActive;     public int? isAnimated;     public int? isInteractive;     public int? isAdaptive;     public Uri webLinkURL; } 

Thanks for the System.Web.Script.Serialization pointer, I would never have found that!