JSON Response not reporting properly - json

Question

I'm using the newtonsoft.dll to deal qwith the proper JSON responses from a site, i have come in to an issue, the delete code:
Dim delPro As String
Dim resPro As String
Dim sB As New StringBuilder()
For Each row As DataGridViewRow In dataGridProjects.Rows
If (row.Cells(4).Value IsNot Nothing) Then
' JSON
delPro = srFunctions.postURL("http://www.ste.com/ajax_task.php?act=add&task=projectDelete", "project_ids=" + row.Cells(0).Value.ToString(), varCookieJar)
resPro = srFunctions.postURL("http://www.ste.com/ajax_task.php?act=status&task=projectDelete", "", varCookieJar)
' purely for debugging
sB.Append("1: " + delPro)
sB.Append(Environment.NewLine + "----------------------------------------------------------------" + Environment.NewLine)
sB.Append("2: " + resPro)
sB.Append(Environment.NewLine + "----------------------------------------------------------------" + Environment.NewLine)
' responses
Dim tempPost = New With {Key .message = "", Key .error = 0, Key .done = False, Key .jsdata = ""}
Dim obj = JsonConvert.DeserializeAnonymousType(resPro, tempPost)
Dim com As String = obj.message
Dim obj2 = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(Of saperJsonObject)(resPro)
If CBool((CStr(obj2.done))) Then
dataGridProjects.Rows.Remove(row)
Me.returnMessage("Project has been deleted!")
Else
dataGridProjects.Rows.Remove(row)
Me.returnMessage("Site returned an unknown response! (The action still most likely was executed)" & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & "Returned response was: " & (CStr(obj2.done)))
End If
End If
Next
The site returns 2 different success responses, this one:
{"error":0,"done":0,"message":"\u0412\u044b\u043f\u043e\u043b\u043d\u044f\u0435\u0442\u0441\u044f \u0437\u0430\u0434\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0435: 0/1","data":[true,true,0,1]}
Has true,true,0,1 at the end which is a success (the action is still completed) the other one looks like:
{"error":0,"done":1}
or similar, the done:1 also denotes a success, i'm not sure how to look for both success values, i know i need to edit here : If CBool((CStr(obj2.done))) Then but i'm not sure how to go about it.
any help would be great guys!
cheers
Graham

Answer 1

Without a class structure, DeserializeObject is problematic (resPro at least is defined as String). It works, and you can get the done property, but requires Option Strict Off, which is not usually a good idea.
You can also just parse the response if that status is all you need to know.
Public Class Russianobject
<JsonProperty("error")>
Public Property JError As Integer
Public Property done As Boolean
Public Property message As String
Public Property data As Object() ' object array
End Class
This is what the longer message looks like (you didnt post what your saperJsonObject looked like) . I had to change the Error property because it is a reserved word in VB. Also, I changed done from Int32 to Boolean. The last item, data is just an array of objects, and it is not clear which element you need.
Even though the short response does not have all these elements, you can use the same class, message will be empty and datawill be Nothing, so you will have to check!
Dim jstr = from whereever russian objects come from
Dim jobj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(Of Russianobject)(jstr)
If jobj.data IsNot Nothing Then
Console.WriteLine("0: {0}, 1: {1}, 2:{2}, 3: {2}", jobj.data(0),
jobj.data(1), jobj.data(2), jobj.data(3))
Else
Console.WriteLine(jobj.done)
End If
This should work whether you get a long or short response. To simply parse it, you do not need a class:
' using the short one:
jstr =...from whereever
jp = JObject.Parse(jstr)
Dim jd = jp.SelectToken("data")
If jd IsNot Nothing Then
Console.WriteLine("0: {0}, 1: {1}, 2:{2}, 3: {2}", jd(0), jd(1), jd(2), jd(3))
Else
Console.WriteLine("done = " & Convert.ToBoolean(jp("done")))
End If
Note that in this case, the property name is used like a key.
Output:
0: True, 1: True, 2:0, 3: 0
done = 1
The long response results in the first, the short results in the second. Whether you use a class and deserialize to an object or simply parse it, you will have to check the data element for Nothing (as shown) since it wont exist in the short response.