How to Deserialize JSON with Dynamically Named Child Objects in C#?

JSON deserialization of dynamically named sub-objects in C#

Handling deserialization of JSON structures with dynamically named sub-objects can be challenging. Consider the following JSON example:

<code class="language-json">{
    "users": {
        "parentname": "test",
        "100034": {
            "name": "tom",
            "state": "WA",
            "id": "cedf-c56f-18a4-4b1"
        },
        "10045": {
            "name": "steve",
            "state": "NY",
            "id": "ebb2-92bf-3062-7774"
        },
        "12345": {
            "name": "mike",
            "state": "MA",
            "id": "fb60-b34f-6dc8-aaf7"
        }
    }
}</code>

Attempts to deserialize using the following code may fail:

<code class="language-csharp">public class RootObject
{
    public string ParentName { get; set; }
    public Dictionary<string, User> users { get; set; }
}

public class User
{
    public string name { get; set; }
    public string state { get; set; }
    public string id { get; set; }
}</code>

This is because RootObject the known property names in the class do not match the dynamic names of the child objects in the JSON.

The solution is to use a custom converter to handle the dynamic property names and deserialize them into a dictionary of strongly typed objects. To do this, you need:

1. Create a converter class that inherits from JsonConverter and provide deserialization and serialization logic:

   <code class="language-csharp"> public class TypedExtensionDataConverter<T> : JsonConverter // ... 实现略 ...</code>

2. Use the [JsonTypedExtensionData] attribute to mark the attribute in the data model that will hold the dictionary of dynamically named objects:

   <code class="language-csharp"> [JsonConverter(typeof(TypedExtensionDataConverter<User>))]
    class Users
    {
        [JsonProperty("parentname")]
        public string ParentName { get; set; }
   
        [JsonTypedExtensionData]
        public Dictionary<string, User> UserTable { get; set; }
    }</code>

3. Updated data model to correctly handle dynamic sub-objects:

   <code class="language-csharp"> public class RootObject
    {
        [JsonProperty("users")]
        public Users Users { get; set; }
    }</code>

By using a custom converter, JSON structures can be successfully deserialized into a strongly typed C# object model, thus preserving the hierarchical structure and dynamic nature of the original data.

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