"Cannot deserialize the current JSON object" How to fix this error?

Question

I'm not sure how to fix the following error and am looking for some help in this code I found that I have attempted to adapt for use in application embedded VB.Net:

Cannot deserialize the current JSON object (e.g. {"name":"value"}) into type 'System.Collections.Generic.List`1[System.Object]' because the type requires a JSON array (e.g. [1,2,3]) to deserialize correctly. To fix this error either change the JSON to a JSON array (e.g. [1,2,3]) or change the deserialized type so that it is a normal .NET type (e.g. not a primitive type like integer, not a collection type like an array or List) that can be deserialized from a JSON object. JsonObjectAttribute can also be added to the type to force it to deserialize from a JSON object. Path 'error', line 1, position 9.

Below is the code That is generating this error

Dim OutputText As String
Dim Worksteps = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(Of List(Of Object))(responseFromServer)
Dim token As JToken
Dim SheetName As String
Dim SheetStatus As String
Dim Completed As Boolean
For Each value As Object In Worksteps
    token = JObject.Parse(value.ToString())
    SheetName = token.SelectToken("name")
    SheetStatus = token.SelectToken("status")
    Dim parts() As String = SheetName.Split(" "c)
    If parts(0) = "Sheet_1" Then
        If SheetStatus = "COMPLETED" Then
            Completed = True
            Exit For
        End If
    End If
Next value
Select Case Completed
Case True
    OutputText = "Sheet_1 Status is COMPLETED"
Case False
    OutputText = "Sheet_1 Status is NOT COMPLETED"
End Select

Here is the JSON I'm attempting to parse. My assumption is that I somehow need to first parse for the Worksteps before trying to make a list of worksteps but I'm not sure how to do that.

{
  "error": null,
  "worksteps": [
    {
      "id": "_210504_125916572_029875",
      "name": "Sheet_1  4/4",
      "job": {
        "id": "060671-21",
        "name": "2021 Laramie High School"
      },
      "status": "COMPLETED",
      "amountPlanned": 544,
      "wastePlanned": 60,
      "amountProduced": 169,
      "wasteProduced": 69,
      "deviceId": "114",
      "types": [
        "ConventionalPrinting"
      ],
      "sequenceType": "SheetfedPrinting",
      "start": "2021-05-05T09:46:06-05:00",
      "end": "2021-05-05T09:48:38-05:00",
      "startPlanned": "2021-05-05T07:52:22-05:00",
      "endPlanned": null,
      "setuptimePlanned": 0,
      "prodtimePlanned": 0,
      "actualTimes": [
        {
          "timeTypeGroupName": "Production time",
          "timeTypeName": "Execution time",
          "duration": 33
        },
        {
          "timeTypeGroupName": "Production time",
          "timeTypeName": "Setup time",
          "duration": 79
        },
        {
          "timeTypeGroupName": "Auxiliary time",
          "timeTypeName": "Auxiliary time",
          "duration": 40
        },
        {
          "timeTypeGroupName": "",
          "timeTypeName": "",
          "duration": 0
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "_210506_072306983_020035",
      "name": "Sheet_2  4/4",
      "job": {
        "id": "060671-21",
        "name": "2021 Laramie High School"
      },
      "status": "WAITING",
      "amountPlanned": 0,
      "wastePlanned": 0,
      "amountProduced": 0,
      "wasteProduced": 0,
      "deviceId": "XL106_Pool",
      "types": [
        "ConventionalPrinting"
      ],
      "sequenceType": "SheetfedPrinting",
      "start": null,
      "end": null,
      "startPlanned": null,
      "endPlanned": null,
      "setuptimePlanned": 0,
      "prodtimePlanned": 0,
      "actualTimes": null
    }
  ]
}

Answer 1

Here is the solution I came up with to convert JSON sample above to XML and then extract the values for the sheet and status:

'Parse the JSON responseFromServer into an XMLDocument
Dim xdoc As New XmlDocument
' "job_worksteps" is the name being provided 
xdoc = JsonConvert.DeserializeXmlNode(responseFromServer,"job_worksteps")
' Look in the XML to determine the if a specified sheet has been completed
Dim nodes As XmlNodeList = xdoc.DocumentElement.SelectNodes("/job_worksteps/worksteps")
Dim Completed As Boolean
Dim SheetName, SheetStatus, OutputText As String
Dim TargetSheet As String = "Sheet_" + triggerEvent.String2 ' Integer as string included in the Prinergy RBA Trigger HTTP Post
' Loop through the XML nodes to find the SheetName node "name" and SheetStatus node "status"
For Each node As XmlNode In nodes
    SheetName = node.SelectSingleNode("name").InnerText
    SheetStatus = node.SelectSingleNode("status").InnerText
    Dim parts() As String = SheetName.Split("  ")
    ' Validate the TargetSheet name has a Status of "COMPLETED"
    If parts(0) = TargetSheet Then
    If SheetStatus = "COMPLETED" Then
        Completed = True
        Exit For
        End If
    End If
Next
' Format the output we want for this test
' (The final Boolean value will actually be used to trigger another function if it is True)
Select Case Completed
Case True
    OutputText = "Sheet_1 Status is COMPLETED"
Case False
    OutputText = "Sheet_1 Status is NOT COMPLETED"
End Select

Here is the resulting XML from some additional code to append it to the OutputText variable:

Sheet_1 Status is COMPLETED

<job_worksteps>
    <error />
    <worksteps>
        <id>_210505_073301677_027121</id>
        <name>Sheet_1  4/4</name>
        <job>
            <id>060671-21</id>
            <name>2021 Laramie High School</name>
        </job>
        <status>COMPLETED</status>
        <amountPlanned>544</amountPlanned>
        <wastePlanned>60</wastePlanned>
        <amountProduced>169</amountProduced>
        <wasteProduced>69</wasteProduced>
        <deviceId>114</deviceId>
        <types>ConventionalPrinting</types>
        <sequenceType>SheetfedPrinting</sequenceType>
        <start>2021-05-05T09:46:06-05:00</start>
        <end>2021-05-05T09:48:38-05:00</end>
        <startPlanned>2021-05-05T07:52:22-05:00</startPlanned>
        <endPlanned />
        <setuptimePlanned>0</setuptimePlanned>
        <prodtimePlanned>0</prodtimePlanned>
        <actualTimes />
    </worksteps>
    <worksteps>
        <id>_210505_073301714_027146</id>
        <name>Sheet_2  4/4</name>
        <job>
            <id>060671-21</id>
            <name>2021 Laramie High School</name>
        </job>
        <status>WAITING</status>
        <amountPlanned>0</amountPlanned>
        <wastePlanned>0</wastePlanned>
        <amountProduced>0</amountProduced>
        <wasteProduced>0</wasteProduced>
        <deviceId>XL106_Pool</deviceId>
        <types>ConventionalPrinting</types>
        <sequenceType>SheetfedPrinting</sequenceType>
        <start />
        <end />
        <startPlanned />
        <endPlanned />
        <setuptimePlanned>0</setuptimePlanned>
        <prodtimePlanned>0</prodtimePlanned>
        <actualTimes />
    </worksteps>
</job_worksteps>

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