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Does C# have a library for parsing multi-level cascading JSON?

Answer 1

A:

Not that I know of. For the simple case, you can use any JSON library, then merge the dictionaries with a solution like this one. E.g. using Newtonsoft/Json.NET:

Dictionary<String, String> dict1, dict2, dict3, merged;
dict1 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string,string>>(json1);
dict2 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string,string>>(json2);
dict3 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string,string>>(json3);
merged = Merge(new[]{dict1, dict2, dict3});

Obviously, in production code you'd factor out the redundant lines.

Matthew Flaschen 2010-10-23 04:49:13

Thank you for your answer. As you say, it may work for simple case but I need it to work for all scenarios.

W3Max 2010-10-24 04:39:08

Answer 2

+4 A:

This is super easy using the excellent JSON.NET library. This method combine objects with properties that are are strings, numbers, or objects.

public static string Cascade(params string[] jsonArray)
{
    JObject result = new JObject();
    foreach (string json in jsonArray)
    {
        JObject parsed = JObject.Parse(json);
        foreach (var property in parsed)
            result[property.Key] = property.Value;
    }
    return result.ToString();
}

Result, given your example:

{
  "firstName": "Albert",
  "lastName": "Smith",
  "phone": "12345"
}

Edit in response to your updated question:

By adjusting this solution work recursively, you can merge child objects. The following example will match your expected results (except for the array). You will be able to easily extend this solution to merge arrays (JArray) in a manner similar to how it merges objects (JObject).

public static string Cascade(params string[] jsonArray)
{
    JObject result = new JObject();
    foreach (string json in jsonArray)
    {
        JObject parsed = JObject.Parse(json);
        Merge(result, parsed);
    }
    return result.ToString();
}

private static void Merge(JObject receiver, JObject donor)
{
    foreach (var property in donor)
    {
        JObject receiverValue = receiver[property.Key] as JObject;
        JObject donorValue = property.Value as JObject;
        if (receiverValue != null && donorValue != null)
            Merge(receiverValue, donorValue);
        else
            receiver[property.Key] = property.Value;
    }
}

Greg 2010-10-23 04:59:07

+1 for JSON.NET, an excellent library.

Danny Chen 2010-10-23 05:07:14

Thank you for your answer. The problem with this solution is that it only works with simple JSON objects. My example was lite JSON just for the clarity of the question. I edited my example for a more complex/detailed example.

W3Max 2010-10-24 04:21:10

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Does C# have a library for parsing multi-level cascading JSON?

Edit in response to your updated question:

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