JSON with array structure

Question

I just wanna ask if how to implement in c# a json data with array structure. This is the sample data below:

{
 "contact":
  {
    "contact_type_ids": ["CUSTOMER"],
     "name":"JSON Sample ResellerAVP",
     "main_address":
     {
        "address_type_id":"ACCOUNTS",
         "address_line_1":"Ayala Hills",
         "city":"Muntinlupa",
         "region":"NCR",
         "postal_code":"1770",
         "country_group_id":"ALL"
     }
  }
}

Answer 1

JSON overview:

• { } - Object
• [ ] - Array
• "a": something - Property

A property can have an object, array, or value type as its value. For example:

{
    "a": true,
    "b": "hello",
    "c": 5.2,
    "d": 1,
    "e": { "eChildProperty": "test" },
    "f": [ "a", "b", "c" ]
}

Let's start transcribing this JSON into classes!

{
 "contact":
  {
    "contact_type_ids": ["CUSTOMER"],
     "name":"JSON Sample ResellerAVP",
     "main_address":
     {
        "address_type_id":"ACCOUNTS",
         "address_line_1":"Ayala Hills",
         "city":"Muntinlupa",
         "region":"NCR",
         "postal_code":"1770",
         "country_group_id":"ALL"
     }
  }
}

OK, so we have a root object with a property "contact", which is also an object. Let's represent both of those:

public class RootObject
{
    public Contact Contact { get; set; }
}

public class Contact
{

}

Now we need to add Contact's properties. It has 3: contact_type_ids is an array of strings, name is a string, and main address is a complex object. Let's represent those:

public class Contact
{
    [JsonProperty("contact_type_ids")]
    public IList<string> ContactTypeIds { get; set; } // I'm using an IList, but any collection type or interface should work

    public string Name { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("main_address")]
    public Address MainAddress { get; set; }
}

public class Address
{

}

Finally we need to work on the Address object:

public class Address
{
    [JsonProperty("address_type_id")]
    public string AddressTypeId { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("address_line_1")]
    public string AddressLine1 { get; set; }

    public string City { get; set; }

    public string Region { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("postal_code")]
    public string PostalCode { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("country_group_id")]
    public string CountryGroupId { get; set; }
}

Putting this all together we get:

public class RootObject
{
    public Contact Contact { get; set; }
}

public class Contact
{
    [JsonProperty("contact_type_ids")]
    public IList<string> ContactTypeIds { get; set; } // I'm using an IList, but any collection type or interface should work

    public string Name { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("main_address")]
    public Address MainAddress { get; set; }
}

public class Address
{
    [JsonProperty("address_type_id")]
    public string AddressTypeId { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("address_line_1")]
    public string AddressLine1 { get; set; }

    public string City { get; set; }

    public string Region { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("postal_code")]
    public string PostalCode { get; set; }

    [JsonProperty("country_group_id")]
    public string CountryGroupId { get; set; }
}

And we can use it like so:

RootObject deserialized = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(jsonString);

Try it online

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JSON isn't complicated by any stretch of the imagination. It's really simple to understand and manually convert into classes just by looking at the data you have.