Nested Dictionary collection in .NET

Question

The .NET Dictionary object allows assignment of key/values like so:

Dictionary dict = new Dictionary&l         


        

Answer 1

I think, your case is good place to use DynamicObject. I'll create an example for json using Dictionary internally.

Same idea can be used for xml also.

string json = @"{""Name"":""Joe"",
                 ""Age"":30,
                 ""Address"":{ ""City"":""NY"" }}";

dynamic dynObj = new DynamicJson(json);

Console.WriteLine(dynObj.Name);
Console.WriteLine(dynObj.Age);
Console.WriteLine(dynObj.Address.City);

--

public class DynamicJson : DynamicObject
{
    Dictionary _Dict;

    public DynamicJson(string json)
    {
        _Dict = (Dictionary)new JavaScriptSerializer().DeserializeObject(json); 
    }

    DynamicJson(Dictionary dict)
    {
        _Dict = dict;
    }

    public override bool TryGetMember(GetMemberBinder binder, out object result)
    {
        result = null;
        object obj;
        if (!_Dict.TryGetValue(binder.Name, out obj)) return false;

        if (obj is Dictionary)
        {
            result = new DynamicJson((Dictionary)obj);
        }else
        {
            result = obj;
        }
        return true;
    }
}