How to deserialize JSON which can be an array or a single object

Question

I\'m fairly new to using JSON.net and having trouble with some json I\'m getting which sometime comes in as an array and sometimes as single object. Here is an example of wh

Answer 1

You can generically deserialize to Object and then inspect what you have. You can check for a JArray or JObject and act accordingly. You don't even need to deserialize into a specific type, you can work with the Dynamic objects but that may not be the best idea.

    Module Module1

    Sub Main()
     Dim jsonWithArray As String = "{""Make"":""Dodge"",""Model"":""Charger"",""Lines"": [{""line"":""base"",""engine"": ""v6"",""color"":""red""},{""line"":""R/T"",""engine"":""v8"",""color"":""black""}],""Year"":""2013""}"
     Dim jsonWithObject As String = "{""Make"":""Dodge"",""Model"":""Charger"",""Lines"": {""line"":""base"",""engine"": ""v6"",""color"":""red""},""Year"":""2013""}"

     Dim witharray As Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(jsonWithArray)
     Dim withstring As Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(jsonWithObject)

     Dim jtokArray As Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JToken = witharray("Lines")
     Dim jtokStr As Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JToken = withstring("Lines")

     If (jtokArray.GetType() Is GetType(Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JArray)) Then
        Console.WriteLine("its an array")
     End If

     If (jtokStr.GetType() Is GetType(Newtonsoft.Json.Linq.JObject)) Then
        Console.WriteLine("its an object")
     End If

    Console.ReadKey()

    End Sub

End Module