Deserializing JSON to flattened class - json

Question

I found the same question here...
Deserializing nested JSON structure to a flattened class with Json.NET using annotations
...but without a proper answer. One of the best suggestion is to wrap the nested object in a new class but this approach introduces another issue: lego name. In my example the most logic name for this class is the same name that parent class and of course is not possible. My example is simple, I just want to eliminate the "language" property in the parent class. Can somebody help me to do it?
using Newtonsoft.Json;
public partial class NamedType
{
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public class Proficiency
{
public string Level { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
public class Language
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
//public Language Language { get; set; } //Compiler error
//public Language Value { get; set; } //Not correct
//public NamedType Language { get; set; } //Compiler error
//public NamedType Value { get; set; } //Ugly, isn't?
public Proficiency Proficiency { get; set; }
}
List<Language> languageList = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<Language>>(json);
Example of json:
{
"languages": [
{
"id": 1,
"language": { "name": "Spanish" },
"proficiency": {
"level": "native_or_bilingual",
"name": "Native or bilingual proficiency"
}
},
{
"id": 2,
"language": { "name": "English" },
"proficiency": {
"level": "full_professional",
"name": "Full professional proficiency"
}
},
{
"id": 3,
"language": { "name": "Japanese" },
"proficiency": {
"level": "elementary",
"name": "Elementary proficiency"
}
}
]
}

Answer 1

In cases where JSON property names conflict with c# naming conventions, you can use DataMember or JsonProperty annotations to substitute a different name during serialization.
For instance, the following works with both DataContractJsonSerializer and Json.NET:
[DataContract]
public class Language
{
[DataContract]
class NamedType
{
[DataMember]
public string name { get; set; }
}
[DataContract]
class ProficiencyType
{
[DataMember]
public string level { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string name { get; set; }
}
[DataMember(Name="id")]
public int Id { get; set; }
[IgnoreDataMember] // Do not serialize this property
public string Name { get; set; }
[IgnoreDataMember]
public string ProficiencyLevel { get; set; }
[IgnoreDataMember]
public string ProficiencyName { get; set; }
[DataMember(Name="language")] // serialize this nested class property with name "language"
[JsonProperty(ObjectCreationHandling=ObjectCreationHandling.Replace)] // When deserializing, always create a fresh instance instead of reusing the proxy class.
NamedType LanguageName
{
get
{
return new NamedType { name = Name };
}
set
{
Name = (value == null ? null : value.name);
}
}
[DataMember(Name = "proficiency")]
[JsonProperty(ObjectCreationHandling = ObjectCreationHandling.Replace)]
ProficiencyType Proficiency
{
get
{
return new ProficiencyType { level = ProficiencyLevel, name = ProficiencyName };
}
set
{
ProficiencyLevel = (value == null ? null : value.level);
ProficiencyName = (value == null ? null : value.name);
}
}
}
If you find the opt-in nature of DataContract attributes to be a nuisance and prefer to use Json.NET-specific attributes, then the following is equivalent:
public class Language
{
class NamedType
{
public string name { get; set; }
}
class ProficiencyType
{
public string level { get; set; }
public string name { get; set; }
}
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "id")]
public int Id { get; set; }
[JsonIgnore]
public string Name { get; set; }
[JsonIgnore]
public string ProficiencyLevel { get; set; }
[JsonIgnore]
public string ProficiencyName { get; set; }
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "language", ObjectCreationHandling = ObjectCreationHandling.Replace)]
NamedType LanguageName
{
get
{
return new NamedType { name = Name };
}
set
{
Name = (value == null ? null : value.name);
}
}
[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "proficiency", ObjectCreationHandling = ObjectCreationHandling.Replace)]
ProficiencyType Proficiency
{
get
{
return new ProficiencyType { level = ProficiencyLevel, name = ProficiencyName };
}
set
{
ProficiencyLevel = (value == null ? null : value.level);
ProficiencyName = (value == null ? null : value.name);
}
}
}