Deserializing JSON files

Question

I have a json file (text) that has 908 rows worth of data, with multiple hardware Class types.

Each grouping has these, where Properties changes based on the component type.

"HardwareID": "ACPI\\AuthenticAMD_-_AMD64_Family_16_Model_4",
"Count": "8",
"Class": "Processor",
"Properties": { }
"DeviceType": "Cpu",
"Description": "Quad-Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 2373 EE"

I believe the first part is to a Public Class (i.e. Devices), that breakdowns how the json file structured. Is this correct? If so, how do I add the Properties?

Then once loaded, I can deserialize the object in the following manner.

Devices device = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Devices>(json);

Am I on the correct path? It was my plan, as I load the different Class(es) [i.e. Processor, HDD, etc] to load them into a specific DataTable. Once the file has been completely evaluated, to the output the different DataTables to a csv file. This will give me the ability to evaluate the different components.

namespace jsonReader
{
    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Runtime.Serialization;
    using Newtonsoft.Json;

    [DataContract]
    public class RootObject
    {
         public class Devices
         { 
              public string HardwareId { get; set; }
              public int Count { get; set; }
              public string Class { get; set; }
              public  IList<string> Properties { get; set; }
              public string DeviceType { get; set; }
              public string Description { get; set; }
         }
    }

Here is what my json file looks like.

{
    "Devices": [
        {
            "HardwareID": "ACPI\\AuthenticAMD_-_AMD64_Family_16_Model_4",
            "Count": "8",
            "Class": "Processor",
            "Properties": {
                   "CPUIDBrandString": "Quad-Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 2373 EE",
                   "CPUIDString": "AuthenticAMD",
                   "CPUIDMultithreading": "1",
                   "CPUIDBrandID": "0",
                   "CPUIDExtFamily": "1",
                   "CPUIDExtModel": "0",
                   "CPUIDSteppingID": "2",
                   "CPUIDNumberOfCores": "0",
                   "CPUIDLogicalCPUCount": "4",
                   "CPUIDFamily": "15",
                   "CPUIDVMExt": "0",
                   "CPUCount": "8",
                   "CPUIDProcessorID": "1696726757271408450",
                   "IsNuma": "true",
                   "CPUIDType": "0",
                   "Cpu_Temperature": "0.000000",
                   "CPUIDCapable64bit": "1",
                   "CPUIDModel": "4"
              },
              "DeviceType": "Cpu",
              "Description": "Quad-Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 2373 EE"
           },
       ],
}

Answer 1

I believe the first part is to a Public Class (i.e. Devices), that breakdowns how the json file structured. Is this correct?

Yes it is. Basically you crate a class which represents your Josn.

If so, how do I add the Properties?

The Properties in your case is itself a class, so you should create a class representing it.

So your classes will look like this:

public class RootObject
{
    public Device[] Devices { get; set; }
}

public class Device
{
    public string HardwareID { get; set; }
    public string Count { get; set; }
    public string Class { get; set; }
    public Properties Properties { get; set; }
    public string DeviceType { get; set; }
    public string Description { get; set; }
}

public class Properties
{
    public string CPUIDBrandString { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDString { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDMultithreading { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDBrandID { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDExtFamily { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDExtModel { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDSteppingID { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDNumberOfCores { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDLogicalCPUCount { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDFamily { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDVMExt { get; set; }
    public string CPUCount { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDProcessorID { get; set; }
    public string IsNuma { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDType { get; set; }
    public string Cpu_Temperature { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDCapable64bit { get; set; }
    public string CPUIDModel { get; set; }
}

Note that you don't need too use DataContract attribute and for deserialize your Json (using Json.NET) you need to write:

Devices device = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<RootObject>(json);

As a tip, you can easily create these data classes using Visual Studio's (2012 up) Edit > Paste Special > Paste JSON As Classes menu item. Just copy your Json string data into clip board (Ctrl + C) then use Paste Special.