Deserialize JSON Array to object

Question

I've been starting at this for a while and can't quite seem to get my head round it, essentially I have a JSON array which I want to decode into the Notifications object, the exception is:

"An unhandled exception of type 'Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializationException' occurred in Newtonsoft.Json.dll Additional information: Cannot deserialize the current JSON array (e.g. [1,2,3]) into type 'WpfApplication2.Notifications' because the type requires a JSON object (e.g. {"name":"value"}) to deserialize correctly."

public Notifications Notes;

// HTTP request gets the JSON below.

//EXCEPTION ON THIS LINE
Notes = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Notifications>(responseString);

    public class Notifications 
    {

        [JsonProperty("note_id")]
       public int note_id { get; set;}
        [JsonProperty("sender_id")]
        public int sender_id { get; set; }
        [JsonProperty("receiver_id")]
        public int receiver_id { get; set; }
        [JsonProperty("document_id")]
        public int document_id { get; set; }
        [JsonProperty("search_name")]
        public string search_name { get; set; }
        [JsonProperty("unread")]
        public int unread { get; set; }
    }

The Json retrieved is:

[
  {
    "note_id": "5",
    "sender_id": "3",
    "receiver_id": "1",
    "document_id": "102",
    "unread": "1"
  },
  {
    "note_id": "4",
    "sender_id": "2",
    "receiver_id": "1",
    "document_id": "101",
    "unread": "1"
  }
]

Maybe because your array is unnamed, i.e. that it should be something like { "arrayname": [ {...}, {...} ] } ? — Jan Doggen
– Jan Doggen, Commented Oct 23, 2014 at 13:20

Charles Ouellet · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-23 13:20:37Z

2

You should deserialize it to a list:

public IList<Notifications> Notes;

Notes = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<IList<Notifications>>(responseString);

Should work!

answered Oct 23, 2014 at 13:20

Charles Ouellet

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2 Comments

Kevin Over a year ago

Could also be an array.

Mrk Fldig Over a year ago

Erm i'm not sure which one to pick here they both work!

Panagiotis Kanavos · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-23 13:24:08Z

2

Your call tries to deserialize a single object. The expected Json for such an object would be a dictionary of values, which is what the error message is saying.

You should try to deserialize to a IEnumerable-derived collection instead, eg an array or list:

Notifications[] Notes = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Notifications[]>(responseString);

or

IList<Notifications> Notes = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<IList<Notifications>>(responseString);

answered Oct 23, 2014 at 13:24

Panagiotis Kanavos

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1 Comment

Mrk Fldig Over a year ago

I've upvoted this as it also works, Charles got there just before though hope this seems fair?

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