C#:
Working with JSON
How to:
Parsing JSON String to an Object
C# provides the System.Text.Json namespace for efficient JSON processing. To parse a JSON string to a C# object, define a class that matches the JSON structure and use the JsonSerializer.Deserialize method.
using System;
using System.Text.Json;
public class Person
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public int Age { get; set; }
}
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
string jsonString = "{\"Name\":\"John\", \"Age\":30}";
Person person = JsonSerializer.Deserialize<Person>(jsonString);
Console.WriteLine($"Name: {person.Name}, Age: {person.Age}");
// Output: Name: John, Age: 30
}
}Generating JSON from an Object
To convert a C# object back into a JSON string, use the JsonSerializer.Serialize method.
using System;
using System.Text.Json;
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
Person person = new Person
{
Name = "Jane",
Age = 25
};
string jsonString = JsonSerializer.Serialize(person);
Console.WriteLine(jsonString);
// Output: {"Name":"Jane","Age":25}
}
}Using Newtonsoft.Json
Newtonsoft.Json (or Json.NET) is a popular third-party library that offers more flexibility and options for JSON serialization and deserialization.
To use Json.NET, you must first install the Newtonsoft.Json package via NuGet. Then, you can deserialize a JSON string like so:
using System;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
string jsonString = "{\"Name\":\"Mike\", \"Age\":22}";
Person person = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Person>(jsonString);
Console.WriteLine($"Name: {person.Name}, Age: {person.Age}");
// Output: Name: Mike, Age: 22
}
}For generating JSON from an object with Json.NET:
using System;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
Person person = new Person
{
Name = "Ella",
Age = 28
};
string jsonString = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(person);
Console.WriteLine(jsonString);
// Output: {"Name":"Ella","Age":28}
}
}These snippets offer a quick start into handling JSON in C#, demonstrating both the built-in System.Text.Json capabilities and the extensive features of Newtonsoft.Json.