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David Day edited this page Mar 12, 2021 · 2 revisions

.NET-JSON-Transformer

A Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) implementation that converts a JSON literal into a .NET XDocument

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Json.Parse Method

Creates a new XDocument from a JSON literal

Public Shared Function Parse(ByVal source As String) As XDocument

Parameters

source String A string that contains JSON.

Returns

XDocument An XDocument populated from the string that contains JSON.

Example

The following example illustrates the Json.Parse method:

Const literal = "{ ""Property1"": 1, ""Property2"": false }"
Dim parsedJson = Json.Parse(literal)
Console.WriteLine(parsedJson.ToString())

' <object>
'   <item>
'     <key>Property1</key>
'     <value>
'       <number>1</number>
'     </value>
'   </item>
'   <item>
'     <key>Property2</key>
'     <value>
'       <boolean>false</boolean>
'     </value>
'   </item>
' </object>

Remarks

  • The parser ignores whitespace, essentially minfying the JSON. For example, if the JSON literal is: 
    {
    "glossary": {
        "title": "example glossary",
        "GlossDiv": {
            "title": "S",
            "GlossList": {
                "GlossEntry": {
                    "ID": "SGML",
                    "SortAs": "SGML",
                    "GlossTerm": "Standard Generalized Markup Language",
                    "Acronym": "SGML",
                    "Abbrev": "ISO 8879:1986",
                    "GlossDef": {
                        "para": "A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.",
                        "GlossSeeAlso": ["GML", "XML"]
                    },
                    "GlossSee": "markup"
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Then it gets parsed as:

{"glossary":{"title":"example glossary","GlossDiv":{"title":"S","GlossList":{"GlossEntry":{"ID":"SGML","SortAs":"SGML","GlossTerm":"Standard Generalized Markup Language","Acronym":"SGML","Abbrev":"ISO 8879:1986","GlossDef":{"para":"A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.","GlossSeeAlso":["GML","XML"]},"GlossSee":"markup"}}}}}

  • The returned XML is a 1-to-1 translation from the JSON. Using the same example as above, the resulting XML would be:

    <object>
  <item>
    <key>glossary</key>
    <value>
      <object>
        <item>
          <key>title</key>
          <value>
            <string>example glossary</string>
          </value>
        </item>
        <item>
          <key>GlossDiv</key>
          <value>
            <object>
              <item>
                <key>title</key>
                <value>
                  <string>S</string>
                </value>
              </item>
              <item>
                <key>GlossList</key>
                <value>
                  <object>
                    <item>
                      <key>GlossEntry</key>
                      <value>
                        <object>
                          <item>
                            <key>ID</key>
                            <value>
                              <string>SGML</string>
                            </value>
                          </item>
                          <item>
                            <key>SortAs</key>
                            <value>
                              <string>SGML</string>
                            </value>
                          </item>
                          <item>
                            <key>GlossTerm</key>
                            <value>
                              <string>Standard Generalized Markup Language</string>
                            </value>
                          </item>
                          <item>
                            <key>Acronym</key>
                            <value>
                              <string>SGML</string>
                            </value>
                          </item>
                          <item>
                            <key>Abbrev</key>
                            <value>
                              <string>ISO 8879:1986</string>
                            </value>
                          </item>
                          <item>
                            <key>GlossDef</key>
                            <value>
                              <object>
                                <item>
                                  <key>para</key>
                                  <value>
                                    <string>A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook.</string>
                                  </value>
                                </item>
                                <item>
                                  <key>GlossSeeAlso</key>
                                  <value>
                                    <array>
                                      <string>GML</string>
                                      <string>XML</string>
                                    </array>
                                  </value>
                                </item>
                              </object>
                            </value>
                          </item>
                          <item>
                            <key>GlossSee</key>
                            <value>
                              <string>markup</string>
                            </value>
                          </item>
                        </object>
                      </value>
                    </item>
                  </object>
                </value>
              </item>
            </object>
          </value>
        </item>
      </object>
    </value>
  </item>
</object>

  • The parser does not parse to the exact specifications of the EBNF found on http://www.json.org/ the following list the deviations in this parser:

    • Number: Checks if the number starts with either a positive sign or negative sign
    • Boolean: Checks for "true" or "false" based on case-insensitivity
    • Null: Checks for "null" based on case-insensitivity
    • String: Does not check for "\u" followed by 4 hexadecimal characters as an escape character

Examples and Demo:

The following example demonstrates the Parse method.

Public Module Module1

  Public Sub Main()
      Const literal = "{
                          ""glossary"": {
                              ""title"": ""example glossary"",
  	                        ""GlossDiv"": {
                                  ""title"": ""S"",
  		                        ""GlossList"": {
                                      ""GlossEntry"": {
                                          ""ID"": ""SGML"",
  				                        ""SortAs"": ""SGML"",
  				                        ""GlossTerm"": ""Standard Generalized Markup Language"",
  				                        ""Acronym"": ""SGML"",
  				                        ""Abbrev"": ""ISO 8879:1986"",
  				                        ""GlossDef"": {
                                              ""para"": ""A meta-markup language, used to create markup languages such as DocBook."",
  					                        ""GlossSeeAlso"": [""GML"", ""XML""]
                                          },
  				                        ""GlossSee"": ""markup""
                                      }
                                  }
                              }
                          }
                      }"
      Dim parsedJson = Json.Parse(literal)
      Console.WriteLine(parsedJson.ToString())
      Console.ReadLine()
  End Sub

End Module

Fiddle: https://dotnetfiddle.net/bYcMYm

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