Using RestSharp to deserialise JSON array

Question

I have the following JSON object being returned from an API call beyond my control:

{
  "GetBusinessGroupsRestResult": [
  {
    "BgId": 1,
    "NodeLevel": 1,
    "BusinessDescription": "Business Groups",
    "BusinessName": "Root",
    "nodegroupid": 2,
    "nodegroupname": "Root",
    "nodegroupdesc": "Root",
    "sorkkey": "Root",
    "Marked": 2
  },
  {
    "BgId": 2,
    "NodeLevel": 2,
    "BusinessDescription": "Business A",
    "BusinessName": "Business A",
    "ParentID": 1,
    "nodegroupid": 3,
    "nodegroupname": "Business A",
    "nodegroupdesc": "Business A",
    "sorkkey": "Business A",
    "Marked": 2
  },
  ...
 ]
}

I have created the following class structure in an attempt to deserialise it into C# object instances:

public class GetBusinessGroupsRestResult
{
    public List<BusinessGroup> BusinessGroups { get; set; }
}

public class BusinessGroup
{
    [DeserializeAs(Name = "BgId")]
    public int BusinessGroupId { get; set; }

    public int NodeLevel { get; set; }
    public string BusinessDescription { get; set; }
    public string BusinessName { get; set; }

    [DeserializeAs(Name = "ParentID")]
    public int ParentId { get; set; }

    [DeserializeAs(Name = "nodegroupid")]
    public int NodeGroupId { get; set; }

    [DeserializeAs(Name = "nodegroupname")]
    public string NodeGroupName { get; set; }

    [DeserializeAs(Name = "sorkkey")]
    public string SortKey { get; set; }

    public int Marked { get; set; }
}

I am trying to deserialise it using RestSharp, specifying the RootElement as GetBusinessGroupsRestResult. When attempting the deserialisation using RestSharp's IRestResponse<T> Execute<T>(RestRequest), I recieve the following error:

System.InvalidCastException: Unable to cast object of type 'RestSharp.JsonArray' to type 'System.Collections.Generic.IDictionary`2[System.String,System.Object]'.

I've managed to deserialise responses from this API that don't return lists before, for example:

{
  "AcquireSecurityTokenRestResult": {
    "SecurityToken": "SECURITY-TOKEN",
    "SessionLength": 600000,
    "APIVersion": "VERSION"
  }
}

With the following POCO:

public class AcquireSecurityTokenRestResult
{
    public string SecurityToken { get; set; }
    public int SessionLength { get; set; }
    [DeserializeAs(Name = "APIVersion")]
    public string ApiVersion { get; set; }
}

Can anyone point me in the right direction here? Thank you!

Szabolcs Dézsi · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-14 01:08:49Z

2

Managed to make it work. The Execute part:

var client = new RestClient("http://localhost:3000/");
var request = new RestRequest("main", Method.GET);
var response = client.Execute<RootObject>(request);

And the classes:

public class RootObject
{
    public List<BusinessGroup> GetBusinessGroupsRestResult { get; set; }
}

public class BusinessGroup
{
    [DeserializeAs(Name = "BgId")]
    public int BusinessGroupId { get; set; }

    public int NodeLevel { get; set; }
    public string BusinessDescription { get; set; }
    public string BusinessName { get; set; }

    [DeserializeAs(Name = "ParentID")]
    public int ParentId { get; set; }

    [DeserializeAs(Name = "nodegroupid")]
    public int NodeGroupId { get; set; }

    [DeserializeAs(Name = "nodegroupname")]
    public string NodeGroupName { get; set; }

    [DeserializeAs(Name = "nodegroupdesc")]
    public string NodeGroupDesc { get; set; }

    [DeserializeAs(Name = "sorkkey")]
    public string SortKey { get; set; }

    public int Marked { get; set; }
}

Since the main response is an object which contains an array called GetBusinessGroupsRestResult, you need that in your root object as well.

You can basically fix your example by adding a DeserializeAs attribute to the BusinessGroups property in your GetBusinessGroupsRestResult class:

public class GetBusinessGroupsRestResult
{
    [DeserializeAs(Name = "GetBusinessGroupsRestResult")]
    public List<BusinessGroup> BusinessGroups { get; set; }
}

edited Feb 14, 2016 at 1:08

answered Feb 14, 2016 at 1:01

Szabolcs Dézsi

8,84323 silver badges29 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Adam James Over a year ago

It makes so much sense when you see the solution! Thank you! I should note that in my implementation I was creating the RestRequest with a wrapper function that set the RootElement property (e.g. here to GetBusinessGroupsRestResult) - for the other API calls like AcquireSecurityTokenRest this was required, but here it would cause deserialisation to fail and I had to set RootElement to null in order for the [DeserializeAs(Name = "GetBusinessGroupsRestResult")] annotation to have the desired effect.

xmorera · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-14 04:08:47Z

1

More than an answer, piece of advice. Instead of using RESTSharp why don't you use Json.NET?

I ran into issues with RESTSharp that works wonderfully in Json.NET.

answered Feb 14, 2016 at 4:08

xmorera

1,9733 gold badges21 silver badges38 bronze badges

4 Comments

Adam James Over a year ago

I chose to use RestSharp as it allows me to handle the creation and execution of HTTP requests and the deserialisation of the response in one place. For example: var response = client.Execute<RootObject>(request);. It meets my requirements for the moment in a nice, succint manner. What sort of issues did you run into? Thanks.

xmorera Over a year ago

@AdamJames sorry if I did not explain myself correctly. I use RESTSharp as well to make the call, but once I get the response I use Json.NET to work with the JSON response I received. I kept running into exceptions deserializing the response on seemingly proper JSON that was handled fine by Json.NET which is also more powerful and flexible. So in summary RESTSharp I found it to be my preferred library for making calls and then I used the other one for interpreting the response.

Adam James Over a year ago

Thank you for clarifying that - I have a Pluralsight subscription so I'll be sure to watch your course and keep your approach in mind.

xmorera Over a year ago

Hope it helps you. It certainly did for me when I used both libraries together.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Using RestSharp to deserialise JSON array

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

4 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

4 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related