How use fastJSON with a JSON array

Question

I am using fastJSON to read data from a JSON file that I made, (the JSON file have data of a game's levels for a project in Unity, but that is not important). This is the JSON content:

{"1": {
    "background": "background1.png",
    "description": "A description of this level",
    "enemies": 
              [{"name": "enemy1", "number": "5"},
               {"name": "enemy2", "number": "2"}]},
 "2": {
    "background": "background1.png",
    "description": "A description of this level",
    "enemies": 
              [{"name": "enemy1", "number": "8"},
               {"name": "enemy2", "number": "3"}]},
"3": {
    "background": "background2.png",
    "description": "A description of this level",
    "enemies": 
              [{"name": "enemy2", "number": "5"},
               {"name": "enemy3", "number": "3"},
               {"name": "enemy4", "number": "1"}]}
}

This is my code:

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using fastJSON;

public class LevelManager : MonoBehaviour {

    private Dictionary<string, object> currentLevelData;

    public TextAsset levelJSON;
    public int currentLevel;

    // Use this for initialization
    void Start () {

        currentLevelData = LevelElements (currentLevel);
        if (currentLevelData != null) {
            Debug.Log (currentLevelData["background"]);
            Debug.Log (currentLevelData["description"]);
            /* How iterate the "enemies" array */
        } else {
            Debug.Log ("Could not find level '" + currentLevel + "' data");
        }
    }

    Dictionary<string, object> LevelElements (int level) {
        string jsonText = levelJSON.ToString();
        Dictionary<string, object> dictionary = fastJSON.JSON.Parse(jsonText) as Dictionary<string, object>;

        Dictionary<string, object> levelData = null;
        if (dictionary.ContainsKey (level.ToString ())) {
            levelData = dictionary [level.ToString ()] as Dictionary<string, object>;
        }

        return levelData;
    }
}

I don't know how iterate the array data with the name "enemies".

Answer 1

With the way your code is currently written, you would iterate over the enemies like this:

foreach (Dictionary<string, object> enemy in (List<object>)currentLevelData["enemies"])
{
    Debug.Log(enemy["name"]);
    Debug.Log(enemy["number"]);
}

However, I would recommend making some strongly typed classes to receive your data:

public class Level
{
    public string background { get; set; }
    public string description { get; set; }
    public List<Enemy> enemies { get; set; }
}

public class Enemy
{
    public string name { get; set; }
    public string number { get; set; }
}

Ideally, this would allow you to deserialize like this:

Dictionary<string, Level> dictionary = 
                          fastJSON.JSON.ToObject<Dictionary<string, Level>>(jsonText);

Unfortunately, it seems that fastJSON cannot handle this (I tried it and got an exception). However, if you switch to a more robust library like Json.Net, it works with no problem:

Dictionary<string, Level> dictionary = 
                        JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, Level>>(jsonText);

This would allow you to rewrite your code so you can work with your data more more easily:

public class LevelManager : MonoBehaviour
{
    private Level currentLevelData;

    public string levelJSON;
    public int currentLevel;

    // Use this for initialization
    void Start()
    {
        currentLevelData = LevelElements(currentLevel);
        if (currentLevelData != null)
        {
            Debug.Log(currentLevelData.background);
            Debug.Log(currentLevelData.description);

            foreach (Enemy enemy in currentLevelData.enemies)
            {
                Debug.Log(enemy.name);
                Debug.Log(enemy.number);
            }
        }
        else
        {
            Debug.Log("Could not find level '" + currentLevel + "' data");
        }
    }

    Level LevelElements(int level)
    {
        string jsonText = levelJSON.ToString();
        Dictionary<string, Level> dictionary = 
                JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, Level>>(jsonText);

        Level levelData = null;
        if (dictionary.ContainsKey(level.ToString()))
        {
            levelData = dictionary[level.ToString()];
        }

        return levelData;
    }
}