Newtonsoft parse Json array using class data structure

Question

I am stuck on parsing JSon and can't figure it out. It gives me NULL at the array of IDictionary. Here is what I have:

 {
 "response" : {
  "method" : "my.current.method",
  "result" : {
     "current_calls" : {
        "current_call" : [
           {
              "provider" : "ABC",
              "start_time" : "2014-11-30 02:24:52",
              "duration" : "5",
              "to_caller_id_number" : "800",
              "state" : "ivr",
              "from_caller_id_name" : "<unknown>",
              "to_caller_id_name" : "Main Answer Queue",
              "format" : "ulaw",
              "from_caller_id_number" : "1234567890",
              "id" : "SIP/1234567890-08682a00"
           },
           {
              "provider" : "ThinkTel",
              "start_time" : "2014-11-30 02:24:50",
              "duration" : "7",
              "to_caller_id_number" : "800",
              "state" : "ivr",
              "from_caller_id_name" : "<unknown>",
              "to_caller_id_name" : "Main Answer Queue",
              "format" : "ulaw",
              "from_caller_id_number" : "0123456789",
              "id" : "SIP/0123456789-08681350"
           }
        ],
        "total_items" : "2"
     }
  }
 }
}

Then I have the following in my C# code:

    public class Data
    {
        public Response response { get; set; }
    }

    public class Response
    {
        public string method { get; set; }
        public Result result { get; set; }

    }

    public class Result
    {
        public CurrentCalls current_calls { get; set; }
    }

    public class CurrentCalls
    {
        public List<IDictionary<string, Current_call>> current_calls { get; set; }
        public int total_items { get; set; }
    }

    public class  Current_call
    {
        public string provider { get; set; }
        public DateTime start_time { get; set; }
        public int duration { get; set; }
        public string to_caller_id_number { get; set; }
        public string state { get; set; }
        public string from_caller_id_name { get; set; }
        public string to_caller_id_name { get; set; }
        public string format { get; set; }
        public string from_caller_id_number { get; set; }
        public string id { get; set; }
    }

    public class Data
    {
        public Response response { get; set; }
    }

    public class Response
    {
        public string method { get; set; }
        public Result result { get; set; }

    }

    public class Result
    {
        public CurrentCalls current_calls { get; set; }
    }

    public class CurrentCalls
    {
        public List<IDictionary<string, Current_call>> current_calls { get; set; }
        public int total_items { get; set; }
    }

    public class  Current_call
    {
        public string provider { get; set; }
        public DateTime start_time { get; set; }
        public int duration { get; set; }
        public string to_caller_id_number { get; set; }
        public string state { get; set; }
        public string from_caller_id_name { get; set; }
        public string to_caller_id_name { get; set; }
        public string format { get; set; }
        public string from_caller_id_number { get; set; }
        public string id { get; set; }
    }    

And i deserialize it like this:

   allCalls = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Data>(json);

Then I am trying to use this in the following:

        if (parser.allCalls.response.result.current_calls.current_calls != null)
        {
            foreach (var defindex in parser.allCalls.response.result.current_calls.current_calls)
            {
                foreach (var call in defindex) { 
                        System.IO.StreamWriter file = new System.IO.StreamWriter("c:\\A\\Testing\\test" + i + ".txt");
                        file.WriteLine("Current call:" );
                        file.WriteLine("\t Provider: " + call.Value.provider);
                        file.WriteLine("\t Start Tine: " + call.Value.start_time);
                        file.WriteLine("\t Duration: " + call.Value.duration);
                        file.WriteLine("\t To Caller: " + call.Value.to_caller_id_number);
                        file.WriteLine("\t State: " + call.Value.state);
                        file.WriteLine("\t From: " + call.Value.from_caller_id_name);
                        file.WriteLine("\t To Name: " + call.Value.to_caller_id_name);
                        file.WriteLine("\t Format: " + call.Value.format);
                        file.WriteLine("\t From Caller ID: " + call.Value.from_caller_id_number);
                        file.WriteLine("\t ID: " + call.Value.id);
                        file.Close();
                }
            }
        }

So Total Items gets value 2 ok. I can't seem to figure the array of IDictionary. It comes null. Please help. (This is using Newtonsoft btw)

Answer 1

Here's a working dotNetFiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/3UpWwO

Wait for a few seconds after you load the fiddle page and look at the Console output pane at the bottom.

Here's the complete code to the solution.

using System;               
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
    
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;
                    
public class Program
{
    // Solution to SO Question: http://stackoverflow.com/q/27217095/325521
    // This Answer: http://stackoverflow.com/a/27238215/325521
    // Author: Shiva Manjunath
    // SO Profile: http://stackoverflow.com/users/325521/shiva
    public static void Main()
    {       
       string jsonString = @"{
                             ""response"" : {
                              ""method"" : ""my.current.method"",
                              ""result"" : {
                                 ""current_calls"" : {
                                    ""current_call"" : [
                                       {
                                          ""provider"" : ""ABC"",
                                          ""start_time"" : ""2014-11-30 02:24:52"",
                                          ""duration"" : ""5"",
                                          ""to_caller_id_number"" : ""800"",
                                          ""state"" : ""ivr"",
                                          ""from_caller_id_name"" : ""<unknown>"",
                                          ""to_caller_id_name"" : ""Main Answer Queue"",
                                          ""format"" : ""ulaw"",
                                          ""from_caller_id_number"" : ""1234567890"",
                                          ""id"" : ""SIP/1234567890-08682a00""
                                       },
                                       {
                                          ""provider"" : ""ThinkTel"",
                                          ""start_time"" : ""2014-11-30 02:24:50"",
                                          ""duration"" : ""7"",
                                          ""to_caller_id_number"" : ""800"",
                                          ""state"" : ""ivr"",
                                          ""from_caller_id_name"" : ""<unknown>"",
                                          ""to_caller_id_name"" : ""Main Answer Queue"",
                                          ""format"" : ""ulaw"",
                                          ""from_caller_id_number"" : ""0123456789"",
                                          ""id"" : ""SIP/0123456789-08681350""
                                       }
                                    ],
                                    ""total_items"" : ""2""
                                 }
                                }
                              }
                            }";
        
        Console.WriteLine("BEGIN JSON Deserialization\n");
        var callData = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<CallData>(jsonString);
            // extract the current list of calls in the response
        var callsList = callData.response.result.current_calls.current_call;
            // check if there are any calls
        if (callsList.Any())
        {
            Console.WriteLine("    Number of Call Records Received via JSON = {0}\n", callsList.Count());
            int i = 1;
                // print out call details for each call.
            foreach(var oneCall in callsList)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("    Call #" + i);
                Console.WriteLine("      provider: " + oneCall.provider);
                Console.WriteLine("      start_time: " + oneCall.start_time);
                Console.WriteLine("      duration: " + oneCall.duration);
                Console.WriteLine("      to_caller_id_number: " + oneCall.to_caller_id_number);
                Console.WriteLine("      state: " + oneCall.state);
                Console.WriteLine("      from_caller_id_name: " + oneCall.from_caller_id_name);
                Console.WriteLine("      to_caller_id_name: " + oneCall.to_caller_id_name);
                Console.WriteLine("      format: " + oneCall.format);
                Console.WriteLine("      from_caller_id_number: " + oneCall.from_caller_id_number);
                Console.WriteLine("      id: {0}\n", oneCall.id);
                i++;
            }           
        }
        Console.WriteLine("\nEND JSON Deserialization");
    }
}

public class CurrentCall
{
    public string provider { get; set; }
    public string start_time { get; set; }
    public string duration { get; set; }
    public string to_caller_id_number { get; set; }
    public string state { get; set; }
    public string from_caller_id_name { get; set; }
    public string to_caller_id_name { get; set; }
    public string format { get; set; }
    public string from_caller_id_number { get; set; }
    public string id { get; set; }
}

public class CurrentCalls
{
    public List<CurrentCall> current_call { get; set; }
    public string total_items { get; set; }
}

public class Result
{
    public CurrentCalls current_calls { get; set; }
}

public class Response
{
    public string method { get; set; }
    public Result result { get; set; }
}

public class CallData
{
    public Response response { get; set; }
}

Please note, you can use JsonProperty on your POCOs so that you get rid of _ underscores and lowercasing etc in your C# classes.

Ex:

public class Result
{
    [JsonProperty(PropertyName = "current_calls")]
    public CurrentCalls Calls { get; set; }
}