Deserialize OneNote JSon result - json

Question

I'm trying to deserialize some OneNote API results. Below is my:
Example result from notebook query
Sample Class
Code to deserialize (two attempts obj1 and obj2
Content-Type: application/json
X-CorrelationId: <GUID>
Status: 200 OK
{
"#odata.context":"https://www.onenote.com/api/v1.0/$metadata#notebooks","value":[
{
"isDefault":false,
"userRole":"Contributor",
"isShared":true,
"sectionsUrl":"https://www.onenote.com/api/v1.0/notebooks/notebook ID/sections",
"sectionGroupsUrl":"https://www.onenote.com/api/v1.0/notebooks/notebook ID/sectionGroups",
"links":{
"oneNoteClientUrl":{
"href":"https:{client URL}"
},"oneNoteWebUrl":{
"href":"https://{web URL}"
}
},
"id":"notebook ID",
"name":"notebook name",
"self":"https://www.onenote.com/api/v1.0/notebooks/notebook ID",
"createdBy":"user name",
"lastModifiedBy":"user name",
"createdTime":"2013-10-05T10:57:00.683Z",
"lastModifiedTime":"2014-01-28T18:49:00.47Z"
},{
"isDefault":true,
"userRole":"Owner",
"isShared":false,
"sectionsUrl":"https://www.onenote.com/api/v1.0/notebooks/notebook ID/sections",
"sectionGroupsUrl":"https://www.onenote.com/api/v1.0/notebooks/notebook ID/sectionGroups",
"links":{
"oneNoteClientUrl":{
"href":"https://{client URL}"
},"oneNoteWebUrl":{
"href":"https://{web URL}"
}
},
"id":"notebook ID",
"name":"notebook name",
"self":"https://www.onenote.com/api/v1.0/notebooks/notebook ID",
"createdBy":"user name",
"lastModifiedBy":"user name",
"createdTime":"2011-07-20T03:54:46.283Z",
"lastModifiedTime":"2014-06-24T20:49:42.227Z"
}
]
}
[DataContract]
public class Notebooks
{
[DataMember]
public bool isDefault { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string userRole { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string isShared { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string sectionsUrl { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string sectionGroupsUrl { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string oneNoteWebUrl { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string name { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string self { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string createdBy { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string lastModifiedBy { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string lastModifiedTime { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string id { get; set; }
[DataMember]
public string createdTime { get; set; }
}
// This sample web string returned from the Web Request is stored in this textbox
string resultStr = resultTextBox.Text.ToString();
var obj1 = DeserializeJSon<List<Notebooks>>(resultStr);
foreach (Notebooks nb in obj1)
{
string id = nb.ToString();
}
DataContractJsonSerializer ser = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(List<Notebooks>));
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(resultStr));
var obj2 = (List<Notebooks>)ser.ReadObject(stream);
foreach (Notebooks nb in obj2)
{
string id = nb.id.ToString();
}
public static T DeserializeJSon<T>(string jsonString)
{
DataContractJsonSerializer ser = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(T));
MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(jsonString));
T obj = (T)ser.ReadObject(stream);
return obj;
}

Answer 1

You are not being able to deserialize the result because the JSON returned by the OneNote API is not a List of Notebook objects. It is one main object with two properties: "#odata.context" and "value". "value" itself is a list of Notebook objects.
I suggest you make a class like the following
public class OneNoteJsonResponse
{
[DataMember(Name = "#odata.context")]
public string ODataContext {get; set;}
[DataMember]
public List<Notebook> value {get; set;}
}
Then try deserializing the response using DataContractSerializer following this example:
Deserialize JSON with C#
I personally would recommend using JSON.NET instead of the DataContractSerializer, as it provides more flexibility and better performance. You can install it easily using nuget.
http://james.newtonking.com/json
Let us know if you have any issues, happy coding!
EDIT: Also, the Notebook object you have is missing the "links" object, which would be another class of its own. (containing the oneNoteClientUrl and OneNoteWebUrl)

Answer 2

response string cannot be used verbatim with your data model. start from "value".
alternatively, have a look at http://json2csharp.com/
hth