Working with JSON on the Server-Side in ASP.NET and C#

Question

This is a follow-up to my question here. I'm trying to understand how to serialize some JSON. I am using the JSON.stringify() method found in json2.js to convert a JSON array into a string value I can work with on the server-side. My JSON originally looks like this:

var myItems = {
    "data": [
      {"id":1, "type":2, "name":"book"},
      {"id":2, "type":3, "name":"dvd"},
      {"id":3, "type":4, "name":"cd"}
    ]
};

After I use JSON.stringify, I have noticed that the value on the server looks like the following:

{"data":[{"id":1,"type":2,"name":"book"},{"id":2,"type":"3","name":"dvd"},{"id":3,"type":4,"name":"cd"}]}

In an effort to serialize this JSON into C# objects I can work with, I have written the following code:

public MyItems GetMyItems() 
{
  MyItems items = new MyItems();

  string json = serializedJsonInHiddenHtmlElement.Value;
  if (json.Length > 0)
  {
    items = Deserialize<MyItems>(json);
  }
  return items;
}

public static T Deserialize<T>(string json)
{
  using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(json)))
  {
    DataContractJsonSerializer serializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(T));
    return (T)serializer.ReadObject(ms);
  }
}

The classes associated with my types are defined as follows:

[DataContract(Name="myItems")]
internal class MyItems
{
    [DataMember(Name = "data")]
    public string[] Data { get; set; }
}

[DataContract(Name="myItem")]
internal class MyItem
{
    [DataMember(Name = "id")]
    public string ID { get; set; }

    [DataMember(Name = "type")]
    public string Type { get; set; }

    [DataMember(Name = "name")]
    public string Name { get; set; }    
}

When I execute this code, the line that says return (T)serializer.ReadObject(ms); I get an error that says the following:

There was an error deserializing the object of type AppNamespace.MyItems. End element 'item' from namespace '' expected. Found element 'id' from namespace ''.

What am I doing wrong? I can't seem to get past this. Can somebody please point me in the right direction? Thank you!

user368191 · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-08 13:38:16Z

1

What is "Deserialize(" in your code.. from which namespace are you using the deserialize method ?

If this is an asp.net project, if asp.net 3.5+, you should be able to use microsoft ajax extensions which has json deserialization inbuilt.

answered Dec 8, 2010 at 13:38

user368191

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Comments

sirrocco · Accepted Answer · 2010-12-08 13:44:38Z

1

You could first try to create a MyItems object on the server and serialize it. To see how the output json looks like. I haven't used DataContractJsonSerializer but I think that the wcf attributes make it interpret the json incorrectly.

Also, shouldn't :

public string[] Data { get; set; }

be

public MyItem[] Data { get; set; }

?

answered Dec 8, 2010 at 13:44

sirrocco

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2 Comments

Villager Over a year ago

I'm interested in going from JSON to C#, not the other way around.

sirrocco Over a year ago

I understand that, but by looking at the output json from C#, you might see where the problem is with the json sent from the interface. You can see what the C# deserializer is expecting.

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