How to do recursive descent of json using json.net?

pm100 picture pm100 · Apr 24, 2013 · Viewed 21.5k times · Source

I am trying to parse a json file using json.net. The file looks like this

{X:
   {
      Title:"foo",
      xxxx:xxxx
   }
}
{Y:
   {ZZ:
        {Title: "bar",...}
    }
}

I am trying to recurse down this structure processing all objects with a Title attribute. But I am confused about JToken, JProperty, JContainer, JValue, JObject. Reading the source code has not left me much wiser and none of the samples help. I want something along the lines of

WalkNode(node, Action<Node> action)
{
    foreach(var child in node.Children)
    {
        Action(child);
        WalkNode(child);
    }
}

Parse()
{
   WalkNode(root, n=>
    {
        if(n["Title"] != null)
        {
           ...
        }
    });
}

Answer

Brian Rogers picture Brian Rogers · Apr 25, 2013

The code below should be pretty close to what you are looking for. I made the assumption that there is an outer array, and that arrays can appear anywhere in the hierarchy. (If this is not true, you can simplify the WalkNode method code a bit, but it should work either way.)

using System;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

namespace JsonRecursiveDescent
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string json =
            @"[
                {
                    ""X"":
                    {
                        ""Title"":""foo"",
                        ""xxxx"":""xxxx""
                    }
                },
                {
                    ""Y"":
                    {
                        ""ZZ"":
                        {
                            ""Title"":""bar"",
                            ""xxxx"":""xxxx""
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]";

            JToken node = JToken.Parse(json);

            WalkNode(node, n =>
            {
                JToken token = n["Title"];
                if (token != null && token.Type == JTokenType.String)
                {
                    string title = token.Value<string>();
                    Console.WriteLine(title);
                }
            });
        }

        static void WalkNode(JToken node, Action<JObject> action)
        {
            if (node.Type == JTokenType.Object)
            {
                action((JObject)node);

                foreach (JProperty child in node.Children<JProperty>())
                {
                    WalkNode(child.Value, action);
                }
            }
            else if (node.Type == JTokenType.Array)
            {
                foreach (JToken child in node.Children())
                {
                    WalkNode(child, action);
                }
            }
        }

    }
}