WCF DataContract: mapping JSON object to C# Dictionary

Question

I would like to deserialize a JSON dictionary I receive from a python application via HTTP into a Dictionary in C#.

The JSON object looks like this:

{
    "native_dict": {
        "foo": 0,
        "bar": 1
    },
    "obj_dict": [
        {"Key": "foo", "Value": 0},
        {"Key": "bar", "Value": 1},
    ]
}

It contains two attempts of passing the dictionary. The first would be the native JSON format and the second seemed to be the format C# needs.

Both will be converted to this XML format:

<root type="object">
  <value type="object">

    <native_dict type="object">
      <bar type="number">1</bar>
      <foo type="number">0</foo>
    </native_dict>

    <obj_dict type="array">
      <item type="object">
        <Value type="number">0</Value>
        <Key type="string">foo</Key>
      </item>
      <item type="object">
        <Value type="number">1</Value>
        <Key type="string">bar</Key>
      </item>
    </obj_dict>

  </value>
</root>

In my application I tried these DataContracts:

[DataContract]
public class MyDto
{
    [DataMember(Name = "native_dict")]
    private Dictionary<string, int> MyDict1 { get; set; }

    [DataMember(Name = "obj_dict")]
    private MyDictionary<string, int> MyDict1 { get; set; }
}

[CollectionDataContract
    (Name = "obj_dict",
    ItemName = "item"
    KeyName = "Key", 
    ValueName = "Value")]
public class MyDictionary: Dictionary<string, int> { }

None of them can be resolved.

Is there a way to define a DataContract that the Serializer can use to convert the JSON object to a Dictionary, without rewriting the Serializer?

Houssam Hamdan · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-17 12:10:01Z

1

I usually use List instead of Dictionary for your case. You create a property with type List where objectItem is a class having key and value as own properties. WCF datacontract will deserialize the incoming json string into c# list object.

answered Jul 17, 2017 at 12:10

Houssam Hamdan

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1 Comment

Corbie Over a year ago

Unfortunately using a List is not what I want to do. The Dictionary would make my Interface a lot easier to use for the users.

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