"Cannot deserialize the current JSON object" How to fix this error? - json

Question

I'm not sure how to fix the following error and am looking for some help in this code I found that I have attempted to adapt for use in application embedded VB.Net:
Cannot deserialize the current JSON object (e.g. {"name":"value"}) into type 'System.Collections.Generic.List`1[System.Object]' because the type requires a JSON array (e.g. [1,2,3]) to deserialize correctly.
To fix this error either change the JSON to a JSON array (e.g. [1,2,3]) or change the deserialized type so that it is a normal .NET type (e.g. not a primitive type like integer, not a collection type like an array or List) that can be deserialized from a JSON object. JsonObjectAttribute can also be added to the type to force it to deserialize from a JSON object.
Path 'error', line 1, position 9.
Below is the code That is generating this error
Dim OutputText As String
Dim Worksteps = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(Of List(Of Object))(responseFromServer)
Dim token As JToken
Dim SheetName As String
Dim SheetStatus As String
Dim Completed As Boolean
For Each value As Object In Worksteps
token = JObject.Parse(value.ToString())
SheetName = token.SelectToken("name")
SheetStatus = token.SelectToken("status")
Dim parts() As String = SheetName.Split(" "c)
If parts(0) = "Sheet_1" Then
If SheetStatus = "COMPLETED" Then
Completed = True
Exit For
End If
End If
Next value
Select Case Completed
Case True
OutputText = "Sheet_1 Status is COMPLETED"
Case False
OutputText = "Sheet_1 Status is NOT COMPLETED"
End Select
Here is the JSON I'm attempting to parse. My assumption is that I somehow need to first parse for the Worksteps before trying to make a list of worksteps but I'm not sure how to do that.
{
"error": null,
"worksteps": [
{
"id": "_210504_125916572_029875",
"name": "Sheet_1 4/4",
"job": {
"id": "060671-21",
"name": "2021 Laramie High School"
},
"status": "COMPLETED",
"amountPlanned": 544,
"wastePlanned": 60,
"amountProduced": 169,
"wasteProduced": 69,
"deviceId": "114",
"types": [
"ConventionalPrinting"
],
"sequenceType": "SheetfedPrinting",
"start": "2021-05-05T09:46:06-05:00",
"end": "2021-05-05T09:48:38-05:00",
"startPlanned": "2021-05-05T07:52:22-05:00",
"endPlanned": null,
"setuptimePlanned": 0,
"prodtimePlanned": 0,
"actualTimes": [
{
"timeTypeGroupName": "Production time",
"timeTypeName": "Execution time",
"duration": 33
},
{
"timeTypeGroupName": "Production time",
"timeTypeName": "Setup time",
"duration": 79
},
{
"timeTypeGroupName": "Auxiliary time",
"timeTypeName": "Auxiliary time",
"duration": 40
},
{
"timeTypeGroupName": "",
"timeTypeName": "",
"duration": 0
}
]
},
{
"id": "_210506_072306983_020035",
"name": "Sheet_2 4/4",
"job": {
"id": "060671-21",
"name": "2021 Laramie High School"
},
"status": "WAITING",
"amountPlanned": 0,
"wastePlanned": 0,
"amountProduced": 0,
"wasteProduced": 0,
"deviceId": "XL106_Pool",
"types": [
"ConventionalPrinting"
],
"sequenceType": "SheetfedPrinting",
"start": null,
"end": null,
"startPlanned": null,
"endPlanned": null,
"setuptimePlanned": 0,
"prodtimePlanned": 0,
"actualTimes": null
}
]
}

Answer 1

Here is the solution I came up with to convert JSON sample above to XML and then extract the values for the sheet and status:
'Parse the JSON responseFromServer into an XMLDocument
Dim xdoc As New XmlDocument
' "job_worksteps" is the name being provided
xdoc = JsonConvert.DeserializeXmlNode(responseFromServer,"job_worksteps")
' Look in the XML to determine the if a specified sheet has been completed
Dim nodes As XmlNodeList = xdoc.DocumentElement.SelectNodes("/job_worksteps/worksteps")
Dim Completed As Boolean
Dim SheetName, SheetStatus, OutputText As String
Dim TargetSheet As String = "Sheet_" + triggerEvent.String2 ' Integer as string included in the Prinergy RBA Trigger HTTP Post
' Loop through the XML nodes to find the SheetName node "name" and SheetStatus node "status"
For Each node As XmlNode In nodes
SheetName = node.SelectSingleNode("name").InnerText
SheetStatus = node.SelectSingleNode("status").InnerText
Dim parts() As String = SheetName.Split(" ")
' Validate the TargetSheet name has a Status of "COMPLETED"
If parts(0) = TargetSheet Then
If SheetStatus = "COMPLETED" Then
Completed = True
Exit For
End If
End If
Next
' Format the output we want for this test
' (The final Boolean value will actually be used to trigger another function if it is True)
Select Case Completed
Case True
OutputText = "Sheet_1 Status is COMPLETED"
Case False
OutputText = "Sheet_1 Status is NOT COMPLETED"
End Select
Here is the resulting XML from some additional code to append it to the OutputText variable:
Sheet_1 Status is COMPLETED
<job_worksteps>
<error />
<worksteps>
<id>_210505_073301677_027121</id>
<name>Sheet_1 4/4</name>
<job>
<id>060671-21</id>
<name>2021 Laramie High School</name>
</job>
<status>COMPLETED</status>
<amountPlanned>544</amountPlanned>
<wastePlanned>60</wastePlanned>
<amountProduced>169</amountProduced>
<wasteProduced>69</wasteProduced>
<deviceId>114</deviceId>
<types>ConventionalPrinting</types>
<sequenceType>SheetfedPrinting</sequenceType>
<start>2021-05-05T09:46:06-05:00</start>
<end>2021-05-05T09:48:38-05:00</end>
<startPlanned>2021-05-05T07:52:22-05:00</startPlanned>
<endPlanned />
<setuptimePlanned>0</setuptimePlanned>
<prodtimePlanned>0</prodtimePlanned>
<actualTimes />
</worksteps>
<worksteps>
<id>_210505_073301714_027146</id>
<name>Sheet_2 4/4</name>
<job>
<id>060671-21</id>
<name>2021 Laramie High School</name>
</job>
<status>WAITING</status>
<amountPlanned>0</amountPlanned>
<wastePlanned>0</wastePlanned>
<amountProduced>0</amountProduced>
<wasteProduced>0</wasteProduced>
<deviceId>XL106_Pool</deviceId>
<types>ConventionalPrinting</types>
<sequenceType>SheetfedPrinting</sequenceType>
<start />
<end />
<startPlanned />
<endPlanned />
<setuptimePlanned>0</setuptimePlanned>
<prodtimePlanned>0</prodtimePlanned>
<actualTimes />
</worksteps>
</job_worksteps>
--