Parsing JSON with Dart - json

Question

I want to be able to parse a string to an object that I can access using the dot notation e.g. myobject.property, instead of the array notation e.g. myobject['property']. The array notation works fine. Here's what I have so far.
I have some XML:
<level1 name="level1name">
<level2 type="level2Type">
<entry>level2entry</entry>
<entry>level2entry</entry>
</level2>
</level1>
Which converts to the JSON:
{
"level1": {
"name": "level1name",
"level2": {
"type": "level2Type",
"entry": [
"level2entry",
"level2entry"
]
}
}
}
I have the following Dart code:
Object jsonObject = JSON.parse("""{
"level1": {
"name": "level1name",
"level2": {
"type": "level2Type",
"entry": [
"level2entry",
"level2entry"
]
}
}
}
""");
print("my test 1 == ${jsonObject}");
print("my test 2 == ${jsonObject['level1']}");
print("my test 3 == ${jsonObject['level1']['name']}");
which produce the (desired) output:
my test 1 == {level1: {name: level1name, level2: {type: level2Type, entry: [level2entry, level2entry]}}}
my test 2 == {name: level1name, level2: {type: level2Type, entry: [level2entry, level2entry]}}
my test 3 == level1name
But when I try:
print("my test 1 == ${jsonObject.level1}");
I get the following:
Exception: NoSuchMethodException : method not found: 'get:level1'
Receiver: {level1: {name: level1name, level2: {type: level2Type, entry: [level2entry, level2entry]}}}
Arguments: []
Stack Trace: 0. Function: 'Object.noSuchMethod' url: 'bootstrap' line:717 col:3
Ideally, I want an object that I can access using the dot notation and without the compiler giving warning about Object not having property. I tried the following:
class MyJSONObject extends Object{
Level1 _level1;
Level1 get level1() => _level1;
set level1(Level1 s) => _level1 = s;
}
class Level1 {
String _name;
String get name() => _name;
set name(String s) => _name = s;
}
...
MyJSONObject jsonObject = JSON.parse("""{
"level1": {
"name": "level1name",
"level2": {
"type": "level2Type",
"entry": [
"level2entry",
"level2entry"
]
}
}
}
""");
...
print("my test 1 == ${jsonObject.level1.name}");
but instead of giving me 'level1name' as hoped, I get:
Exception: type 'LinkedHashMapImplementation<String, Dynamic>' is not a subtype of type 'MyJSONObject' of 'jsonObject'.
What am I doing wrong here? Is there any way to do what I'm trying? Thanks.

Answer 1

At the moment, JSON.parse only returns Lists (array), Maps, String, num, bool, and null
(api ref).
I suspect that until reflection makes it way into the language, it won't be able to re-construct objects based upon the keys found in json.
You could, however, create a constructor in your MyJsonObject which took a string, called JSON.parse internally, and assigned the various values.
Something like this works in the dart editor:
#import("dart:json");
class Level2 {
var type;
var entry;
}
class Level1 {
var name;
var level2;
}
class MyJSONObject {
Level1 level1;
MyJSONObject(jsonString) {
Map map = JSON.parse(jsonString);
this.level1 = new Level1();
level1.name = map['level1']['name'];
level1.level2 = new Level2();
level1.level2.type = map['level1']['level2']['type'];
//etc...
}
}
main() {
var obj = new MyJSONObject(json);
print(obj.level1.level2.type);
}
A non trivial version would needs some loops and possible recursion if you had deeper nested levels.
Update: I've hacked together a non-trivial version (inspired by the post below), it's up on github (also taking Seth's comments re the constructor):

Answer 2

Chris is completely right. I will only add that the JSON parser could be modified to return a little richer object (something like JsonMap instead of pure Map) that could allow jsonObj.property by implementing noSuchMethod. That would obviously perform worse than jsonObj['property'].